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House budget would cut services to the blind, restore higher education dollars

Jacob Fenston
/
KBIA

Budget writers in the Missouri House have approved their version of the 13 bills that make up the state's budget for next year.  Committee members eliminated $28 million for a program that aids the blind, but then put 6 million back into it from another source. 

Republican Ryan Silvey of Kansas City chairs the Budget Committee.

"The money is for people who have too much money to be on Medicaid. So there was some concern about providing a transitional benefit for those that maybe just barely have too much money, but we don't know who those are right now because we don't means-test them. So we thought if we put some money aside for a cushion that the department could then develop some sort of means-tested program."

That $6 million that was restored to the program's budget would benefit about 600 blind Missourians, compared to the 2,800 currently receiving aid. House budget writers also reversed Governor Nixon's proposed cuts to higher education, thereby maintaining current funding levels. The full House will take up the state budget when lawmakers return from spring break, which begins Friday.

Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.