Recent online polling found more than 86% of Missouri opposes Kehoe’s $1.5B “Bailout for Billionaires.”
Despite the public outcry, the Missouri Senate passed this economic disaster in the middle of the night by a single vote above the constitutional minimum. Today, the House of Representatives finished the job.
Welcome to Mike Kehoe’s Missouri.
The stadium “Bailout for Billionaires” is just the latest fiscal failure inside the hallways of Jefferson City.
The string of failures began with the budget as a whole. Kehoe’s FY2026 $52 billion budget proposal was a historical spending record, almost two and half times more than what the state government spent in 2010.
Kehoe’s budget will spend over $2 billion more in general revenue than the state government expects to take in next year. This is not a balanced budget. Almost half of that money is coming from Washington, D.C. – a higher percentage than any other state in the country. With federal money, comes federal strings.
The budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for pretty much every special interest in the state—unions, big business, and a long line of local spending priorities from individual legislators. Making matters worse during the budget “process,” the appropriations bills got virtually no scrutiny when they came to the Missouri Senate floor—all the bills totaling $50B were passed in a single legislative day in a cool four and half hours. There were no amendments and no serious objections.
Even with this monstrosity of a budget passing, Governor Mike Kehoe was not satisfied with this level of fiscal irresponsibility and called a special session to… spend more money.
This begs the question: where have all our fiscally conservative champions gone in Jefferson City?
Many followers of Jefferson City noted a dramatic increase in fellowship and camaraderie among legislators this session—it felt like the dream of “getting things done” was a true reality. But “getting along” meant members of both parties agreeing to grow the government to a size never before achieved. In the haste to make deals with the charismatic Kehoe, consistently conservative legislators are suddenly voting to pass stadium subsidies and utility hikes.
In hockey terms, there is no goalie; every bad idea in Jefferson City is hitting the back of the net.
Despite the massive spending increases that have taken place the last decade and a half, Missouri ranks in the bottom half of states for GDP growth, trailing most of our immediate neighbors according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. On a per capita basis, the numbers are even worse. The Show-Me state ranks 36 out of 50 states in terms of individual productivity.
Still, Kehonomics keeps charging right off into the fiscal abyss.
The 61% of Republicans that did not vote for Mike Kehoe in August 2024 must regroup. But where should they turn their attention?
Missouri’s 114 counties provide over a hundred new frontiers in the fight against government growth and our loss of economic liberty. While some counties may resist reforms that curb Jefferson City’s excesses, many others are eager to embrace sound fiscal policies. These counties can align with President Donald J. Trump and other reformers to challenge outdated government institutions that are stifling our communities’ economic vitality.
There will come a time when responsible fiscal thought will make a challenge for relevance in Jefferson City again. But until then, we should focus on building our efforts locally, identifying a new generation of conservative champions that may one day restore fiscal sense in the state Capitol.
Former State Senator
