Missouri lawmakers could have to cut about $370 million from Governor Jay Nixon's budget if they don't want to go along with his financial assumptions.
Republican legislative leaders were still fuming Wednesday about Nixon's budget proposal, a day after he outlined it as part of his State of the State address.
During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Chairman Kurt Schaefer told the Democratic governor's budget director that Nixon's plan "is an absolute political fiction."
Nixon's budget assumes stronger revenue growth than Republican lawmakers believe will occur. It also assumes lawmakers will generate new revenues or cost-savings by expanding Medicaid eligibility, offering amnesty to overdue taxpayers and tweaking various revenue-collection laws.
If lawmakers reject those things, they would have to trim about $370 million of spending from Nixon's budget.