Each Mississippi legislature member was elected for one job. Go to Jackson, get together and figure out stuff that helps the Magnolia State moving forward and upward and onward. But they didn’t. Then they left with the job unfinished. The state budget sits there not over the finish line and now the boys and girls have to get back in the legislative sandbox and play nice so the state can keep running.
Now we’re talking about $7 billion. That’s a lot of money, right? The internet tells me you could buy nearly 2,900 Ferraris with just one billion, but what does the state of Mississippi need with that many Ferraris? The state could buy a chain of Dollar Stores with that money and then we’d have that passive income but I’m not sure we’d be able to find enough folks to work at and stock all those stores.
Speaker of the House Jason White said something interesting and yet profound on talk radio awhile back.
“There's never been a disagreement about the budget, per se. There's been a disagreement that if we are going to spend money, then how much and who is going to be the beneficiaries of that."
I’d say that’s a budget disagreement. Who’s gonna spend it? Who’s gonna get it? Most folks are good at the spending part and the getting part. But it’s the constituents who are the folks paying. And this $100,000 per day for this special session? That comes out of the state’s general fund. So, let’s drain down the savings account because we can’t figure out how to spend what’s in the checking. That’s political common core math, I reckon? We broached this subject back in April when the legislature had their sine die and left with plenty of things not tied up.
It's the first “extra innings” session since 2017, and before that, 2009. However, perhaps they’ll tie things up so they can take in the NCAA baseball regionals, or maybe we should refer to it as the SEC Tourney, Part 2, with 13 SEC teams across the 16 regionals. USM, MSU, and Ole Miss are all in and playing, with Ole Miss and USM hosting. I’m sure there are plenty of black and gold, maroon and white, and red and blue legislators who’d like to be in attendance in Oxford, Hattiesburg, and Tallahassee, cheering on their teams. Perhaps that will give them the needed prod to get business done.
If only the NCAA Basketball tournament had the same allure to get business done back in April.
Perhaps the rules should be amended, and those legislators should pay their own way. There aren’t many jobs outside of government work where you fall short in completion and then are able to get paid more to go back and finish the job. Tick, tock, legislators, don’t spend all the savings that should be for a rainy day, not the sunny days you’ve squandered, not getting it done.
