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House Budget Committee approves $24.7 billion budget

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The House Appropriations Committee has passed a proposed $24.7 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, and it does not include Medicaid eligibility expansion.

Representative Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood) chairs the House Appropriations Committee. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood) chairs the House Appropriations Committee. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The Committee rejected two amendments that would have reinserted federal dollars and projected revenue and savings tied to Medicaid expansion in the House budget proposal.

Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) says the state won’t be able to sustain an expanded Medicaid program without cutting into other areas.

“We get out to 2020 when we become on the hook for some of this stuff, it is still my opinion that we’re going to have to pillage education funding to get to the point where we can make this work. For that reason and that reason alone I would be inclined to not support the amendment.”

Representative Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur) urged the Committee to let the full House chamber weigh in.

“We have an opportunity here to not only expand service but to provide an opportunity for more than 24,000 jobs to be created in the first year alone, to bring money into Missouri that would not otherwise be here and to help develop and build our economy.”

The amendments would have plugged in $46 million in projected savings and revenue and more than $800 million to pay for eligibility expansion. Both were defeated along party lines.

The Committee has put money in place to temporarily fill a gap left by the federal sequester cuts, to fund scholarships for National Guard members. Money pulled from several other places will fund the $2.5 million Show-Me Heroes fund.

Representative Jeff Grisamore (R-Lee’s Summit) says it was important not to leave National Guard soldiers behind.

“We will know possibly by the end of the month if there will be a continuing resolution in Congress that would possibly restore this federal side of tuition assistance for National Guard, but if the cuts of the sequester stick, we want to step up and assist and offset that loss so we can ensure that our student soldiers continue to have the funding they need to further their higher education.”

The Committee also voted to pull $85,000 from the administration of the Department of Revenue. That amendment was sponsored by Representative Robert Ross (R-Yukon), who says he is not satisfied with the Department’s response to questions about its scanning and retention of personal information from Missouri driver’s license and concealed carry permit applicants.

Ross withdrew another amendment that would have taken $3-million from the Department.

The budget proposal will go to the full House for debate when lawmakers return from Spring Break.

Guard contemplates New Madrid disaster

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National Guard officials from eight states have contemplated disaster and hope that by doing so they have a better handle on how to react should the New Madrid fault rupture.

Col_Hagler_Gen_Danner,jpg.jpg The Missouri National Guard hosted a conference to coordinate the emergency response of eight states should the New Madrid earthquake actually strike. The conference considered the damage an earthquake the magnitude of 6.5 would do in southeast Missouri and beyond. Public Affairs Representative for the 70th Troop Command of the Missouri National Guard, Bill Phelan, says the predictions are scary.

"According to the experts who were at this conference, the damage from a 6.5 magnitude or greater earthquake along the New Madrid fault would be a disaster of such magnitude that it would take ten years to recover from," says Phelan.

Phelan says those gathered at the conference in St. Louis looked at Karina as a model of what to expect.

"Katrina was a catastrophe that is similar in scope to what we think would happen if there was a catastrophic earthquake along the New Madrid fault," Phelan says.

The conference allowed the eight states to assess their readiness, to better understand what they will need should disaster strike. The eight states which participated were Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas. The meeting was billed as the first New Madrid Seismic Zone Workshop. It was held at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis.

Download/listen Brent Martin report (:60 MP3)

John and Jessica Byrd serving together in Afghanistan

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Many Missouri National Guardsmen will be leaving their spouses behind as they deploy to Afghanistan, but one couple will be going together. John and Jessica Byrd joined the Army, they said, to see the world. Now they’ll get to see it together. The Byrds met after they enlisted. They say this will be their first trip to the Middle East.

John and Jessica Byrd The Byrds say even though they’re serving in the Middle East together, they’ll still be leaving loved ones behind. They’re already prepared to check in with the moms as often as they can and have set up a Skype account to talk to their parents via video. However, they feel blessed, they say, to be able to go together.

They’re serving with the Missouri National Guard’s Agricultural Development Team to continue working with farmers in Afghanistan. The mission is to help them grow viable crops, build irrigation systems, store food and more so that farmers there no longer have to rely on growing poppies to support the illegal opium trade.

About 60 guardsmen are on this mission, which is headed to Camp Atterbury in Indiana for more training before flying out to the Nanghahar provence.

They were at a deployment ceremony as state dignitaries and families of the civilian soldiers gathered at at the Ike Skelton Training Center in Jefferson City.

They’re not sure yet how long they’ll be there. John says it’s supposed to be for 12 months but could be there longer, and he says the guard is always asking for volunteers to serve longer.

They say they met after enlisting in the military and were going to school in San Antonio. Jessica is from Indiana; John is from Michigan. The couple now lives in Springfield.

They say as a couple going to a war-torn country, their worries aren’t so different than civilian couples’.


Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]

National Guardsmen heading out on mission anything but "routine"

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A contingent of Missouri National Guardsmen will leave Fort Benning, Georgia, on the weekend for service in Afghanistan. And, while many Missourians might consider these missions “routine,” the man who is leading this group of Guardsmen into a war zone wants in known these operations are anything but routine.

Command Chief Warrant Officer Don Muschler Missouri National Guard Command Chief Warrant Officer Don Muschler says going into a a part of the world in which there are hostilities is always a danger.

“We’re in a war zone – real bullets, real bombs, real bad guys wanting to impose their threat on us every day,” said Muschler as he prepared to leave Jefferson City for a week of training and preparations at Fort Benning. “The risk is there and the high threat is there.”

And no one gets accustomed to going to a war zone – no matter how many times a service member has been there.

“It’s one of those things you’ll never get used to – a deployment or multiple deployments,” said Muschler. “You’re away from your family for upwards of twelve months. You can never get back the missed birthdays, you know, the first time the baby crawls, the first time the baby talks. You can never get that back.”

But Muschler sees the big picture.

“We do this for the greater good and, hopefully, our children won’t have to do with what we’re doing now.”

The pilots and other personnel heading to Afghanistan will transport VIPs and others to locations in the theater of operations. These are not combat missions, but that does not mean they are danger-free. The ammunition fired at these planes can do just as much damage as they do to aircraft involved in combat.

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)

Nixon impressed by Missouri troops in Iraq, Afghanistan

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Governor Nixon has returned from his trip visiting Missouri’s military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, reflecting on their dedication to their mission

Nixon_MOTrioops.JPG Nixon joined a Department of Defense sponsored tour with four other governors, touring Iraq, Afghanistan as well as a military hospital in Germany. In the outer reaches of Afghanistan, Nixon met with the Missouri National Guard ‘s Agri-Business Development Team, about 60 Missourians teaching Afghan farmers better methods of agriculture.

“To try to get them to quit growing poppies and making heroin and, instead, grow food crops,” Nixon told the Missourinet. “And also, at the same time, getting out there and dealing with issues on water as well as bringing the opportunity to interact directly with those folks right on the borders of the countries so that we get solid intelligence and that we win not only the war we are in, but the peace afterwards.”

Nixon completed a two-day tour of US military units in Afghanistan after touring Iraq, now largely given back to the Iraqi government. Nixon said the Department of Defense called his office about three-and-a-half weeks ago, inviting him to join a delegation of governors touring the Middle East. He flew to Washington, D.C. Friday, July 17th to be briefed before flying to Kuwait. He returned late on Wednesday, July 22nd. The other governors on the trip are Rick Perry of Texas, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Pat Quinn of Illinois and Jim Gibbons of Nevada.

Missouri has a significant presence in the countries. Along with the Agricultural Development Team, the 1140th Military Police Company serves in Afghanistan. A Military Transition Team serves in Iraq. Six additional Missouri National Guard units are scheduled to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan later this year.

Nixon and the other governors visited the US Embassy and military installations in Kabul, Afghanistan and met with soldiers in Bagram. During the two days in Iraq, Nixon met with Missouri soldiers serving in Baghdad and Basra.

Those Missourians impress their governor.

“These are professional soldiers all of whom have joined and given up parts of their life many with families back here,” Nixon said. “So, the take away for me was the look in the faces of the soldiers and the commitment that they had from top to bottom to lean forward, to be strong and to get their task accomplished.”

Nixon says he wanted to see how the military has integrated National Guard units, the Reserves and the regular Army. He says it seems to be working well. Nixon also, along with the other governors, has requested that once the equipment being used by the American military in Iraq is no longer needed, that some of it can be sent back to Missouri to use in the National Guard’s responsibilities here.

The trip concluded with a stop at a military hospital the United States runs in Landstuhl, Germany.

 

 

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (2 min MP3)
Download/listen Brent Martin interviews Gov. Nixon on military trip (10 min MP3)

Governor Nixon in Middle East on military tour

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Governor Nixon is in the Middle East with a handful of other governors visiting Missouri National Guard members while making a special pitch to the Pentagon.

Nixon_ME_edit.jpg After a day touring Baghdad, Iraq, Nixon spoke with reporters from a military base in Kuwait. Nixon says the purpose of the trip is three-fold, primarily meeting with Missouri Guard personnel.

"And, then to assess where we are and what demands will be in the future," Nixon stated. "Also to say as troop withdrawals begin here and as equipment is moved out that we in the Missouri National Guard are going to making a strong pitch to get some of that equipment back to Missouri."

Nixon said all the governors are pressing the Pentagon to release some of the equipment now being used in Iraq for use back home. The other governors on the trip are Rick Perry of Texas, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Pat Quinn of Illinois and Jim Gibbons of Nevada.

Nixon flew to Washington, D.C. Friday morning and left for the Middle East at around 11:30 Friday morning. Nixon got to tour Baghdad on Saturday.

"For me, it was a transition point," Nixon said of his tour of the Iraqi capital. "To literally stand there where Saddam had stood shooting his shotgun in the air and, instead, see that turf being ours as visitors and the Iraqis being the ones that are in charge of being responsible for it, I thought was a very moving moment."

The governor says military rules won’t allow him to disclose where he will be next…or how long he will remain in the Middle East.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Missouri National Guard member killed in Iraq

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There is sad news involving a Missouri soldier this Memorial Day. The Pentagon reports Missouri Army National Guard Sergeant Paul Faris Brooks, a Joplin native based at Fort Leonard Wood, died in Iraq on May 21st of wounds sustained when his unit was attacked by enemy forces using improvised explosive devices. It happened near Baghdad.

Brooks, who was 34, was serving overseas with Headquarters Company, 1/252 Combined Arms Battalion of the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team. Two of Brooks’ colleagues were also killed in the attack.

Governor Jay Nixon has released a statement in which he says, "The prayers of the First Lady and I go out to Sergeant Brooks’ family and friends."

Brooks began his military service with the Arkansas National Guard in 1997. He later served in the Army Reserves and joined the Missouri National Guard in July 2004. While in the Missouri National Guard, he was a member of the 935th Aviation Support Battalion, in Springfield. Brooks previously mobilized to Iraq in September 2006 – November 2007, with the 20th Combat Aviation Brigade, Sedalia. He had volunteered for his second deployment through the National Guard Bureau.

Missouri National Guard assisting flood victims in North Dakota

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The Missouri National Guard is going to help flood victims in North Dakota.

Governor Jay Nixon (D-MO) has mobilized National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from units in Springfield and St. Joseph, to provide two C-130 aircraft with 14 Airmen and a helicopter maintenance team with 20 Citizen-Soldiers.

A press release from the Governor makes it clear Missouri is up to the task of helping out when it can:

"Missouri is always ready to help its fellow states when they need assistance in the face of natural disasters, just as they have helped us in the past."

The National Guard’s Airmen from the 139th Airlift Wing in St. Joseph and the Soldiers from the 1107th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group in Springfield head to North Dakota on Saturday. The helicopter maintenance team will report to Grand Forks and the C-130s are awaiting specific mission assignments.

The Missouri Guard members, who are mobilized under the Emergency Management Assistante Compact – an interstate mutual aid agreement – will remain in North Dakota until they are released by the Governor of that state. 

Military Preparedness and Enhancement Commission meets

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The commission was joined by legislators, retired military folks and a host of interests from areas surrounding Whitman Airforce Base and Fort Leonard Wood such as school officials, chambers of commerce members, Realtors and others.

Reports were given by the USS Missouri Submarine Commissioning Committee, National Guard and Military Base liasons. Additionally, Pat Kerr with the Veterans Commission talked about how vital it is that veterans and military families are educated about the benefits available to them.

Kerr says with 541,000 veterans in Missouri with their families, that means more than 3 million people are affected by military news. She urged everyone to frequently check the VA Web site for changes in benefits.

Concerns were brought up about K through 12 education rules that affect incoming military transfers. Roger Dorson with the Department of Education says those who must live on base — if they want their children to go to school in a different district — have to pay tuition. Dorson says the concerns can probably be addressed with a change in bylaws.

Retired Col. Dennis Sandbothe talked about the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, spearheaded by Congressman Ike Skelton. He compares the program to ROTC and says Missouri used to have the program but it went away because of a lack of state funding. He says it takes at-risk youth and puts them into a good environment.

There have been four USS Missouri ships throughout history … the fifth is being built in Connecticut.

Sam Bushman with the USS Missouri Submarine Commissioning Committee says the commission date keeps getting pushed up and now the group has about a year to raise $300,000.

Bushman says there are some things the Navy cannot pay for — one is the highly ceremonial and traditional commissioning of a vessel. He says the committee’s fundraising provides amenities on vessels such as home theaters and libraries, and pays for the celebrations surrounding a new ship’s commissioning.

Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]

Bill would make up salary difference for deployed

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A bill before the Missouri House of Representatives would make sure state workers deployed to active duty don’t get short-changed in the process.

Representative Joe Smith of St. Charles says service men in the reserves or National Guard join to make money, not lose money.

If the bill passes, the state would make up the difference for those who make less in the service than their regular salary.

The Office of Administration reports there are currently 281 reservists and guardsmen state workers who are deployed. Proponents of the bill say about 100 of them would be compensated under the legislation.

Some private businesses — such as Sears and Boeing — already continue to pay employees’ salaries who are deployed to active duty.

Governor Nixon said during his campaign that he would sign the legislation if it crossed his desk.

Click here to review the entire bill on the House of Representatives Web site.

Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]