FEDERAL MANDATES DON'T SEEM SO BAD UNTIL YOU GET OUT THE CALCULATOR AND ADD THEM ALL UP

If you add up all the federal mandates imposed on Missouri government in just the past three years, the cost comes to $1 billion.

This is $1 billion of funds generated by state, county and city governments that must be spent on programs required, but not funded, by the federal government.

This is $1 billion that the state, counties and cities can't spend on their own programs.

Unfunded mandates are not only costly, they affect key spending decisions at every level of government. As state legislators go through the budget process, they are forced to consider the implications of unfunded federal mandates every step of the way.

Some mandates have been with us so long that they are pretty much accepted as a way of doing business. It's only when you get out the calculator and add it all up that you see how much Washington costs each of us.