When Jay Nixon proposed his 2010-2011 budget, he included $300 million in federal dollars that had not been appropriated. But now that the Senate passed the jobs bill without the funding, the Missouri budget might be in trouble.
The House previously passed the $300 million in its version of the bill. As the two Chambers work towards putting together an identical version, the Senate might restore it.
As state legislators prepare to cut the budget to the bone, at least one lawmaker has expressed frustration with the budget gamble. Mark Parkinson, a Republican from Charles County, has proposed a bill that would deduct the cost of two Powerball tickets from Nixon's budget each month, and "invest" them for the purpose of the Missouri budget.
The Columbia Missourian points out that the odds are long (almost one in two hundred million) but jackpots have exceeded three hundred million dollars in the past.
Since the $300 million is a one-time injection of funds, it isn't clear that the funds would have done anything except postpone another round of cuts. Creating a sustainable budget should be Nixon's first priority.
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