War of words on last day of regular session at Oklahoma Capitol
House Speaker Charles McCall said he’s appalled and disappointed after Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized state lawmakers for not being transparent enough during the budget process.
House Speaker Charles McCall said he’s appalled and disappointed after Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized state lawmakers for not being transparent enough during the budget process.
House Speaker Charles McCall said he’s appalled and disappointed after Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized state lawmakers for not being transparent enough during the budget process.
It was a war of words on the last day of the regular session at the Oklahoma Capitol.
House Speaker Charles McCall said he’s appalled and disappointed after Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized state lawmakers for not being transparent enough during the budget process. Stitt also said not enough is done to help Oklahomans handle inflation.
McCall said the governor’s desire to attract Panasonic to the state got in the way of more effective inflation relief for Oklahomans.
"I'm appalled at the governor's comments," McCall said.
McCall did not mince words on Friday, just one day after Stitt accused him and fellow leadership of not doing enough to help Oklahomans. McCall said the relief they wanted couldn’t happen because of a $700 million effort to attract a major manufacturer to the state.
"Those types of requests that the governor asked for, that the legislature delivered on, that limits what you can do in other areas," McCall said.
McCall said he characterizes it as going to bat for Stitt and it not being reciprocated.
Stitt characterizes it differently, saying his administration kept him out of the loop consistently.
"This budget is not, was not, an agreement. Agreement requires negotiation, requires consensus, negotiations did not happen in this year’s budget," Stitt said.
Because of that, Stitt said the inflation relief that was proposed of $75 of federally taxed money for all taxpayers in Oklahoma was worthless.
"That's $56 in your pocket, $56, that's not even enough to fill up your gas tank right now," Stitt said.
The relief check part of the budget was vetoed but every single member of the House chose not to override the veto. The speaker said they will meet again next month to craft a relief program that works for the state and its people.