Still Over $50 Billion: Missouri House Budget Proves Spending Is Still Out of Control
The Missouri House says it is tightening the belt. But after years of growth under a Republican supermajority, the state budget is still above $50 billion, and citizens now have a tool to see exactly who helped keep the machine moving.
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Bottom line
If the Republican supermajority will not control spending, voters should not trust it with broader taxing power or new revenue streams.
The Missouri House passed the FY 2027 operating budget package this week, moving twelve operating budget bills to the Senate. Supporters will emphasize that the plan came in below the governor’s original request and slightly below last year’s after-veto operating total. But citizens should not let that talking point hide the bigger truth: this is still a budget above $50 billion, and it comes after lawmakers already had to pass a supplemental budget this year topping $3.1 billion just to get through the current fiscal year.
What actually passed this week?
According to the House Journal, HCS HBs 2002 through 2013 were on the House calendar for third reading as appropriation bills on Thursday, March 26, 2026. Those are the twelve operating budget bills that make up the core FY 2027 package. We also track HB 2014 on the scorecard because it is part of the broader budget-voting picture, even though it is the supplemental bill for the current fiscal year.
The House can say it “cut” the budget compared with the governor’s first draft. Fine. That does not change the scale of what it approved. The House plan was reported at about $50.3 billion, with about $15.4 billion coming from general revenue. That is still enormous. And because the House already had to pass a supplemental bill for the current year, citizens should be cautious about pretending this year’s spring headline is the whole story.
Three facts citizens should keep in mind
- 1The House package is still above $50 billion.
- 2Missouri already needed a $3.1 billion+ supplemental this fiscal year.
- 3Budget growth since FY 2019 is not a Democrat story. It happened under a Republican supermajority.
Why “slightly lower than last year” is not enough
A budget can be marginally lower than the previous after-veto operating total and still be far too high. Once government ratchets spending upward, even a small dip gets sold as fiscal discipline. But if spending remains massively above pre-COVID levels, that is not real reform. It is just slower growth from a much higher base.
How much has the budget grown since 2019?
Missouri’s own official FY 2019 operating budget was $28.75 billion. The House’s FY 2027 operating budget plan is about $50.3 billion. That means the operating budget has grown by roughly $21.55 billion since the pre-COVID baseline — about a 75% increase. That is the long view citizens should keep in mind when they hear politicians talk about “tightening the belt.”
This is the point voters should remember: Missouri’s budget did not explode under some left-wing trifecta. It ballooned under a Republican supermajority that keeps talking like it sees danger ahead while continuing to govern as if the money will never run out.
That is why the next step in the debate matters so much. When the same lawmakers who presided over this spending growth start talking about new tax structures, broader tax bases, or “modernizing” the tax code, citizens should ask a very basic question: why would we trust them with more revenue flexibility when they have not shown the discipline to control spending with what they already have?
Who opposed the budget — and who helped pass it?
This is where the scorecard becomes useful. It turns an abstract budget fight into something local and personal. Instead of hearing generic talking points, citizens can check whether their own representative voted no, voted yes, or avoided clear opposition while still helping the package move forward.
Credit where it is due: Bryant Wolfin voted NO on all 13
Representative Bryant Wolfin is the only member marked as a Budget Hawk on the scorecard, meaning he voted NO on all 13 bills being tracked. That includes the supplemental. For accountability purposes, that is the cleanest and most consistent anti-spending record in the chamber.
| Scorecard bucket | What it means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Budget Hawk | Voted NO on all 13 bills | Shows consistent opposition to the entire tracked package. |
| Supported All | Voted YES on all 13 bills | No ambiguity. These members backed the full package from top to bottom. |
| Zero NO votes, but missed some | No recorded no votes, but one or more absences/present votes | Important distinction: not opposing the budget is not the same as opposing it. |
The scorecard shows a large bloc on the other side as well. Forty-four current House members are tagged Supported All, meaning they voted yes on every one of the 13 tracked budget bills. Another 18 current members show zero NO votes but also have one or more missed or non-yes entries. That distinction matters, because citizens should not confuse non-opposition with actual opposition.
Interactive tool
Use the House Budget Scorecard to check your representative
Don’t stop at headlines. Open the scorecard, find your representative, and look across the full row. A clean line of N votes tells one story. A full row of Y votes tells another. Rows with A or P entries deserve closer scrutiny, especially if the member never cast a no vote at all.
Quick tips
- Start with the Opposed column.
- Then scan the full row bill by bill.
- Y means yes. N means no.
- A or P should trigger more questions, not fewer.
Why we include HB 2014
HB 2014 is the supplemental bill, so it fits the current fiscal year more than the FY 2027 operating package. But for vote-accountability purposes, including it helps show who has consistently enabled large spending bills.
Embedded scorecard
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About those missed votes
Citizens should be careful here. A missed vote is not automatically proof of anything. We cannot always know from the roll call alone why a member missed a vote. But we can say this much: the twelve operating budget bills were on the House calendar for third reading on Thursday, March 26, 2026. So when a member missed some of those votes while participating in others, the safe conclusion is not “they opposed the budget.” The safe conclusion is that they did not cast a no vote on those measures.
A practical rule for citizens
If a representative wants credit for opposing runaway spending, there should be actual no votes to point to. A record with no no votes and a handful of absences should not be marketed to voters as fiscal courage.
That is one reason the scorecard is so useful. It helps separate the members who clearly resisted the package from those who voted for it, and from those who avoided a clean break while still never truly opposing the spending machine.
Why this matters even more with HJR 173/174 on the table
We have already warned that HJR 173/174 is not a simple, clean elimination of the income tax. It is part of a broader “income tax swap” debate that opens the door to expanding sales taxes onto services and weakening important guardrails in the process. Whether a lawmaker calls that modernization, reform, or tax restructuring, the practical question is the same: should voters hand politicians broader revenue options when those same politicians have grown spending by roughly 75% since the pre-COVID budget?
What spending discipline would look like
- Real structural reductions, not tiny trims from a bloated base
- No pretending the supplemental bill is someone else’s problem
- Clear proof that lawmakers can say no before asking for new tax authority
What citizens should reject
- “Trust us with a bigger tax toolbox” messaging
- Claims that a still-massive budget proves restraint
- Tax swaps sold as reform while spending remains out of control
The message to voters should be simple
Before Missouri Republicans ask for broader authority to shift taxes, expand sales taxes to services, or rework Hancock-era protections, they should first prove they can govern responsibly with the revenue they already have. This budget does not make that case.
Budget terms made simple
Budget talk gets technical fast. Here are the terms that matter most for this debate.
What is “general revenue”?
What is a “supplemental budget”?
Why are there 13 bills on the scorecard if 12 passed this week?
What do A and P mean on the scorecard?
Final takeaway
Missouri’s budget problem is not just about one year. It is about a pattern. The House budget that moved this week is still above $50 billion. It comes after a supplemental bill topping $3.1 billion. And it is the product of a Republican supermajority that has overseen massive budget growth since before COVID.
Citizens do not have to guess anymore. Open the scorecard. Find your representative. Then ask a direct question: did you vote to keep the spending insanity going, or did you actually oppose it?