Legislative leaders win; Reeves backs down

After weeks of asserting that he had the sole authority to spend $1.25-billion in federal coronavirus relief money, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves cried “uncle” today.

Reeves had apparently hoped to follow precedents set by some former governors, who spent federal grant money without it being formally appropriated by the legislature.

Last Friday, May 1, both houses of the Mississippi State Legislature met in a brief session in Jackson, during which they voted with a crushing majority to strip Reeves of any such presumed authority. The vote in the House was unanimous. In the State Senate only two of 52 senators supported the governor’s position.

Reeves held a number of press conferences during recent days, where he made bitter accusations against legislative leaders, threatened to veto the measure they had passed with an overwhelming majority and even threatened court action.

House Speaker Philip Gunn responded with a letter in which he strongly denounced Reeves for his hostile statements about legislative leaders.

Former Governor Haley Barbour, who is considered Reeves’s political mentor and master, even waded in with strong support of Reeves in a letter to the Clarion Ledger newspaper.

Reeves had until midnight tonight to veto the bill.

Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, May 6, Reeves met for about two hours with Lieutenant-Governor Delbert Hosemann, House Speaker Gunn and other legislative leaders.

MS District 14 Rep. Sam Creekmore IV

The legislature convened again at 1 p.m. today and then went in recess during which GOP caucuses in both houses met. The caucus results were clear beyond doubt that legislators in both houses would stick with their position that they, not the governor, have the constitutional authority to appropriate state money.

An over-ride of his veto would have been a stunning embarrassment for Reeves, especially only four months into a 48 month gubernatorial term.

Between 2 and 3 p.m. today, just hours before the deadline for Reeves to attempt to veto the bill, he was joined at his daily press conference by Lieutenant-Governor Hosemann and Speaker Gunn.

“I have made a determination that the best way, at this time, to get money to the people that need it is to reach out to the lieutenant governor and speaker and find a solution,” Reeves said. “Let me be clear: That is the best path forward for Mississippi today.”

Then, in what was generally seen as an attempted face-saving utterance, Reeves said, “If that changes, so be it.”

Both houses of the legislature went back into session about 4 pm. The Legislature will meet again tomorrow.

Shortly after 5 p.m. today, District 14 State Representative Sam Creekmore told NEMISS.NEWS in a phone call, “We are going to add one other point to that bill [passed last Friday] to speed relief to small businesses. We expect to have that done by Tuesday, and Governor Reeves has agreed to sign it.”

For more details on this story see this Mississippitoday.org link:
https://mississippitoday.org/2020/05/07/lawmakers-not-gov-tate-reeves-will-control-1-2-billion-in-federal-coronavirus-relief/