Mo. Senate Appropriates Chair says Nixon's disaster spending is unconstitutional

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - The Senate appropriations chair says Governor Jay Nixon's natural disaster spending is unconstitutional.

Central Republican Kurt Schaefer agrees with the state auditor that Nixon's funding of natural disaster relief violates the Missouri constitution.

He says there's no basis for Nixon's spending on disaster recovery without approval of the state legislature.

"The basis of withholding money on public education, on the concept that we have to spend it somewhere else--on natural disasters, for example--there's nothing that backs that up," Schaefer says.

The state auditor's office previously released a statement condemning Nixon's spending.

A spokesman at the Governor's office refused to be recorded.

Scott Kanowsky, Missouri Digital News

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