Federal Budget Decisions to Have Major Impact on Mississippi
December 9th, 2011
An opinion piece by Charlie Mitchell in the Sun Herald that ran Tuesday, December 6th highlights the effect that federal budget decisions have on our state. Mississippi receives a great deal of federal funds to support state services.
Federal stimulus funds were integral to keeping the state a float during the recession, but their effect didn’t begin and doesn’t end there. As shown in the figure below, for FY 2012 federal funds made up almost half of all state appropriations.
FY 2012 State Appropriations by Source
Total=$18.95 Billion
This was also true for pre-recession appropriations. In FY 2008, federal funds also made up 48% of total state appropriations.
As spending debates continue in Washington, it is critically important to understand that many of our state services here in Mississippi are inextricably connected with what happens to the federal budget. Similar to our calls for a balanced approach that includes raising revenue instead of a cuts only approach here at home – the same formula is even more important at the federal level for maintaining jobs and the quality of services that we expect.
Source: FY 2012 Appropriated Budget
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