The federal government expects to spend more than $3 trillion in fiscal year 2008. 
That’s three with 12 zeros after it. To put this in perspective, $1 trillion would be enough money to buy about a 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for every person in the United States.
We have all heard of pork barrel, earmarks and other methods that inflate the budget. While I won’t go into the details of the federal budget, and the many problems with it, I will point out one substantial reason that federal spending keeps going up: Congress has no responsibility to balance the budget.
On the contrary, in Missouri we have a constitutional responsibility, and I believe, an ethical one, to balance our budget every year and spend within our means.  So while our budget for the next fiscal year comes in at $22.4 billion, I can promise you we have taken the time to make sure every single dollar is being spent wisely.
Since I was elected, I have worked with representatives from across the state to make sure we don’t raise your taxes — and in fact, we have cut taxes for many Missourians, including seniors. Many  constituents have asked me how we continue to take in surplus revenues without a single tax increase. I explain that we have helped promote a thriving economic climate, and have in turn actually taken in increased revenue from businesses. We have offered incentives and implemented tort reform and other pro-growth legislation to allow our business community to keep our economy strong. This has let us keep taxes low for the average Missourian, but has also allowed us to continue providing essential services for Missourians across the state.
Arguably, the most essential service we provide is education. As it is every year, one of the top priorities in our state budget is to ensure our young people have exceptional educational opportunities. The FY 2009 budget will allocate more than $5.3 billion in funding for elementary and secondary education. This marks the fourth year in a row we have increased funding to education. One of the key items contained in that increase is an additional $121 million for our Foundation Equity Formula that allocates funding to our public schools. Also included are:
• An increase of $2.5 million for Early Childhood Special Education that provides critical education services to the youngest Missourians who may have a developmental disability.
• Nearly $3.5 million additional funding for our A+ Schools Program, a high successful endeavor that helps to ensure Missouri students are prepared to pursue advanced education and employment.
• $2.9 million increase to educate severely disabled children.
• $15 million for the Small Schools Program, which provides grants to small schools, recognizing that these schools have fewer students, but they still have fixed overhead expenses.
• $5.8 million for the Missouri Virtual School Program (MoVIP), which enables all schools to offer Missouri students equal access to a wider range of coursework and more flexibility in scheduling.
These increases exhibit our commitment once again to our system of education and will further enhance educational opportunities for K-12 students in Missouri.
One of the reasons we put more than 25 percent of our general revenue into funding elementary and secondary education is to help prepare Missouri students for the future — a future we hope includes further education.  With the FY 2009 budget we also have made a commitment to enhancing funding for our institutions of higher learning.
• The budget for the first time includes more than $1 billion in state funds for higher education funding.
• Included in that is a $43 million increase to Missouri’s public two- and four-year institutions of higher education.
• We also allocated an additional $23.8 million for the Access Missouri Financial Assistance Program, bringing total funding to $95.8 million. We have raised the income cap for this program as well, which will allow even more middle class Missouri families to have access to affordable higher education.
These increases will help support our universities while also making sure we help more students bear the financial burden associated with obtaining a college degree.
In addition to education funding, our budget includes additional dollars for many other programs that will benefit Missourians here at home and across our state. The Missouri Department of Transportation will receive $1.7 billion for road and bridge projects. The budget also includes $30 million for grants aimed at reducing death, injury and property damage on state highways.  Improvements that MoDOT has made over the past few years have led Missouri to have the largest decrease in traffic fatalities in the nation, and we want to continue our efforts to ensure the safety of the millions who drive on our roads and highways every day.
With our budget, we are renewing our commitment to Missouri’s agriculture industry. We have allocated $34.3 million for biodiesel production incentive payments as well as $12.5 million for ethanol production incentive payments. These programs continue to establish Missouri’s position as a leader in the renewable fuels industry. 
We are also continuing to improve safety in our agriculture community. We have allocated $192,803 to continue support for animal disease monitoring and control efforts as well as $1.2 million to continue state efforts to provide access to clean and safe water for drinking and recreation.
We also are continuing to work to provide health services for Missourians. Our budget contains $5.8 billion in total funding for Mo HealthNet, which reflects $420.4 million in new funding. This includes $4.8 million to expand health care coverage for children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and $13 million to provide access to health care coverage for low-income women. We have also approved funding to further improve social services for vulnerable Missourians including:
• $4.5 million for adoption and guardianship subsidy caseload growth.
• $5.8 million to meet increases in demand for the Mo HealthNet Home and Community-Based Services Program.
• We are allocating $6.4 million to address the wait-list for services for autism treatment and $1 million to be used for pilot programs and to implement recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Autism.
• $2.2 million for family support and housing assistance for homeless veterans.
With these and other programs we are giving vulnerable Missourians access to the services they need most while also making certain they are provided in a way that ensures optimal performance and accountability.
We all know that the federal government has a deficit that grows each and every year — right now it comes in at $311 billion. However, here in Missouri, we don’t have the option to spend money we don’t have. So not only are we providing record funding to many of our programs, but again we are putting money away for the future. Our budget once again includes $200 million for the Rainy Day Fund. I am pleased we have been able to create a responsible budget that provides for current programs while also ensuring we will have a safety net for the future. While we can’t always rely on the federal government to plan ahead and create a responsible budget, you can rest assured your state legislators will spend your tax dollars wisely on the programs I highlighted here and our other efforts to help you and your fellow Missou-rians.