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Mo. House budget chair not pleased with blind pension cut reversal

Nixon meets with blind

The budget chairman for the Missouri House is not happy with the Senate’s decision early today (Wednesday) to restore 28 million dollars for blind pensions.  An amendment by GOP Senator Jim Lembke of St. Louis County reversed the cut that the House wanted to use for Higher Education.

Republican Ryan Silvey authored the original cut, stating that the pension program is for blind residents who have too much money to be on Medicaid.  He calls the Senate’s actions puzzling.

“Senator Lembke was one of the so-called gang of nine, which was chest-thumping about cutting government, by the time Senator Lembke offered his amendment, by his own numbers admitted that it put the budget $7 million dollars out of balance,” Silvey said.

Silvey added that it may not have been necessary to cut pensions to the blind if Lembke and his co-horts had not threatened to filibuster the tax amnesty bill as part of their opposition to the use of one-time monies in the state budget.  The House is expected to reject the blind pension restoration when negotiators work on the final version of the budget.

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.
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