The governor of West Virginia vetoed a budget bill next to a silver platter of bull feces on Thursday, signifying his distaste for the cuts it required.
“We don’t have a nothing burger today,” Gov. Jim Justice (D) said, unveiling silver platters as he went. “And we don’t have a mayonnaise sandwich today. We all should take ownership for this, but what we have is nothing more than a bunch of political bull-you-know-what.”
He lifted a third platter, revealing a pile of feces on top of the legislature’s budget bill.
The crowd in attendance cheered. It seemed an odd choice to leave out an expletive while presenting the excrement itself. The governor continued.
“And for that very reason, I’m signing my veto on the budget bill,” he said, to more applause.
When our legislators play politics with the budget, the people of WV get a pile of bull-?. We deserve a budget that takes us to prosperity. pic.twitter.com/b34o5Azyxb
— Governor Jim Justice (@WVGovernor) April 13, 2017
The vetoed budget would have cut funding for universities in the state and Medicaid, and did not contain tax increases advocated by Justice, including a hike on the state’s consumer sales and B&O taxes, and additional taxes on the wealthy. The veto will require a legislative special session to come up with a new bill before the new fiscal year in July.
