Updated at 3:27 p.m.

JEFFERSON CITY | Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and House Speaker Ron Richard both have statements out today criticizing a bond issue proposed earlier this month by Gov. Jay Nixon.

Kinder and Richard are Republicans; Nixon is a Democrat.

Nixon has said a bond could be an ideal vehicle to finance building projects around the state, given historically low interest rates and assistance available from the federal government.

He hasn't said what projects he thinks should be funded or how much should be spent.

The proposal has been widely interpreted as an alternative to the infrastructure spending lawmakers wrote into the budget for the fiscal year that begins tomorrow. Nixon cut or delayed most of that spending out of concern over declining state revenues.

In their statements, the Republicans' speak out in favor of the spending included in the budget and question the wisdom of taking on additional state debt.

"The governor’s bonding plan is nothing more than another government bailout that will put our state in debt for nearly a quarter of a century," Kinder said in his statement. "I strongly urge the governor to utilize the one-time funds available in the state's bank account and fund the construction projects that legislators authorized just a few months ago."

Richard said the plan could put the state's future in "serious jeopardy."

"The Governor's bonding plan is nothing more than a big-spending debt plan," Richard, of Joplin, said in his statement. "The money he wants to use to pay for yet another new government program will bury our state under a mountain of debt for the next two decades."

Richard's statement seems to conflict, however, with a bill he supported and which passed the House earlier this year.

House Joint Resolution 32 would have allowed voters to consider a $700 million bond for construction projects on college campuses. It passed the House 131 to 28 in mid-April, but was not taken up in the Senate.

Richard voted in favor of the bill.

A spokeswoman for Richard later said the speaker is concerned that Nixon hasn't offered any details along with his suggestion that the state pursue a bond.

The bill passed in the legislature, by contrast, offers specifics on how much money would be authorized in the bond and how it would be spent.

"Nixon's plan is not clear. Not at all," Spokeswoman Kristin Blanchard wrote in an e-mail to Prime Buzz. "He has not defined it and that scares us."