Special session - Rep. Catherine Hanaway

The prepared text of House Speaker Catherine Hanaway's speech Thursday to the Missouri Legislature, which is convened in a special session:

Fellow members of the General Assembly, at the end of the day, when the debates and speeches have finished, when the arguing stops, when the reporters have written their stories and broadcast the news, when we have retired to our offices to continue our work, and when this chamber is quiet, the essential truth of this great debate over the state budget will remain.

Each and every member of the Missouri General Assembly, whether Republican or Democrat, pursues a course of action that he or she believes is best for the people of this state. And, while we spend most of the legislative session debating the intricacies of hundreds of bills, we are united in our desire to serve the best interests of our communities.

Today, we stand divided, not by facts and figures, programs and dollar amounts, dedication or strength of conviction, but by a difference in how to solve those problems.

For 48 years, we have tried to serve the people by growing government and raising taxes.

And yet, government still cannot satisfy every need and the bureaucracy has grown too big too fast to be sustained by the taxes paid by Missourians.

Maybe, it is time to try another way. Maybe, it's time to trust that Missourians will use their hard-earned dollars better than government, that instead of growing bureaucracy, Missourians will create jobs, take care of themselves and their families and increase our capacity to solve the state's problems.

Today, the governor has asked the question: Should we solve our state problems by raising taxes or should the government live within its means? The answer is that the time has come for government to live within its means.

Make no mistake: We are not here as representatives of government; we are here as representatives of the people. The people elected us to come here and represent their interests in the government.

Representing them means living up to the greatness that lies within those Missourians. We stand with them, we stand for them and we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. And, our fellow Missourians have had to live through much tougher times than these.

They pioneered this state, survived a Civil War, recessions and depressions and world wars. They made sacrifices for us, for our freedoms and for the greatness of this state. They and we are a generous and compassionate people and a people who share some fundamental values.

Missouri values

Missourians value hard work, self-reliance, self-sacrifice, education, freedom, family.

And Missourians take responsibility for those who can't possibly provide for themselves.

And Missourians take responsibility for the quality of the public schools.

And, Missourians understand this fundamental truth, when anyone receives a benefit of any kind from state government the people of Missouri have to pay for it. Missourians capacity for love of their fellow man and desire for the best in public schools is boundless, but Missourians ability to pay for their fellow man and schools is bounded by the earnings of the working men and women of this state.

When Missourians work more and earn more, they can do more for themselves and their fellow man.

That's why during this legislative session the only litmus test applied to legislation was: will this proposal create jobs or kill jobs? And make no mistake this litmus test was critical, the real crisis facing this state isn't that taxes are high enough; it is that the state has lost more jobs than any other state in the country.

And, when Missourians lose their jobs or earn less money they pay less in taxes. Then, the government collects less money, and the government can't spend as much.

It is a very delicate balance. When I think about our state's budget problem, I try to put faces on that problem. First, I think about a child, maybe a child with Down syndrome, or an elderly grandmother in a nursing home. Then, I think about the family, with a mom, a dad and three kids, where mom and dad are both working. I think about the sacrifices they are making to make ends meet, to take care of themselves, to pay for their health insurance and to pay their taxes to support our schools and those can't do for themselves.

Then, I look at the competing proposals for balancing this budget and the effect those proposals will have on all these people.

The governor's approach would increase taxes on corporations, the rich, cigarettes and gaming.

And, he says these aren't taxes on any working man or woman who doesn't want to pay them.

But that's where he is wrong, every one of the $700 million in taxes he would take for state government is money that could be spent to hire more people or to pay overtime or to make house payments or to buy school clothes.

Making less money

Each of the last two years, tax collections for the state have declined, not because we have had a tax cut, but because Missourians are making less money. Consequently, each of the last two years, state government, like the citizens who pay for it, has been able to afford a little less. It is time to stop this downward slide.

Increasing taxes by $700 million may result in a momentary increase in state revenues, but it will also immediately mean a $700-million cut in what Missourians have to provide for their families and take care of themselves.

All the jobs that could be created and purchases made with that money would mean more tax revenue to the state. Instead, if we tax more, all those dollars come to state government and don't increase productivity and ultimately result in a further decline in state revenues.

In other words, a tax increase means we will hurt the child with Down syndrome, the grandmother in the nursing home and the working family, because the people of this state will continue each year to be able to afford less and less for themselves, for their government and their fellow Missourians.

Nearly 50 years ago, one Missourian, a worker at McDonnell Douglas named Earl Walker, had an idea. He thought he could build a better bolt. So, he bought some tools and starting building that bolt in his garage on nights and weekends. He was right. He could build a better bolt, and soon, he needed help.

So he hired three of his friends, rented a warehouse and founded a company that now employs hundreds of people, making it possible for hundreds of families to provide for themselves and pay taxes that help others and support schools.

There are thousands of stories just like that of Missourians who started with nothing and ended up providing for many. But, what would have happened to Earl Walker, and to the thousands like him, if just as he started growing his business and employing more people we taxed him out of business? The governor began the legislative session saying that we must raise taxes by more than $700 million.

After months of difficult decisions, the legislature met the governor halfway, increasing revenues by more than $350 million. We did that by closing corporate loopholes, collecting from tax cheats and some bonding, and we closed the rest of the budget gap by reducing spending by more than $400 million.

Then, the governor did something that no governor has ever done, not through all those tough times faced by past Missouri governors, not during the Depression, not during the world wars, not during any of those much larger crises. He vetoed the appropriations bills for public education and some of the state's most vital services.

And, he said, "I still need more than $700 million in new taxes."

Next, we received some very good news from President Bush. Missouri state government will receive a check from the federal government for almost $400 million -- so now the governor would have more new revenue than he had originally asked for.

Still, he said, "I need $700 more million in new taxes."

And, he wrote each of us this letter and asked us -- and I quote -- "to turn our full attention to finding the revenue needed to prevent the devastating cuts to education and vital human services," and he specified four areas where he believed we needed to restore reductions in spending.

Well, we have done that.

Addressing request

The budget passed out of committee yesterday addresses each of the governor's requests.

First, some of the additional federal money was used to add $72 million to spending for elementary and secondary schools, restoring schools to their current level of funding.

Second, higher education will receive a $14-million increase. Third, reductions in spending for health and mental health were restored, and Finally, 13,000 people were put back on the Medicaid rolls.

And, after all of that, the governor said, "I still need $700 million in new taxes."

Governor, we have addressed your concerns, you have more new revenues than you asked for at the beginning of the year, and we have spared the people a tax increase.

You should sign the budget. You should not shut down this government.

You should end your fight to raise taxes. If you choose to continue this fight, it will be abundantly clear to all Missourians that you can only be satisfied with the largest tax increase in Missouri history and that you are far more interested in creating a crisis than in finding solutions.

The governor has asked why not let the people decide. The answer is that the people have already decided. Three times since last August the people have said no to tax increases and they have elected a majority of representatives who oppose tax increases. If we ask them again, they'll say, "What part of 'No' don't you understand?" It is time to listen to the people we represent. The history books are filled with accounts of Missourians rising to greatness. We don't shrink from hard times; we conquer them. And we will conquer this. Missourians are warm people; they're hardworking people; they are an ingenious and energetic people; and they're there for their families and neighbors during times of hardships.

As representatives of these wonderful people, we should not ask for more when they are earning less. It is time to place our trust in our fellow Missourians and to know if we don't increase their burden now, they will make this an even greater state.

Now let's get back to work and put Missourians back to work.