Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves approved the legislature’s annual funding bill this week, while using “a line-item veto to cut out appropriations for several projects” including $250,000 for upgrades at the Pete Brown Golf Course.
On Monday, Reeves explained his x-outs, writing social media: “I am a Republican. I am for LESS government…not duplicative programs! I am for infrastructure investments – as that is a core function of government. I am NOT for spending YOUR money on golf courses.”
Addressing his line-item vetoes, the Governor added: “I am NOT for giving away your money to private companies with no increased job requirements, no metrics and no accountability measures in place.”
I am a Republican.
I am for LESS government…not duplicative programs!
I am for infrastructure investments – as that is a core function of government.
I am NOT for spending YOUR money on golf courses.
I am not for giving your money away to any entity that has wasted millions…
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) April 13, 2026
Critics of Reeves are responding with accusations of hypocrisy, including, “You just give it all away to companies that already have billions and billions of dollars, like Amazon and XAI and Facebook Meta.”
As seen below, Reeves has been celebrating his expanding partnership with Amazon Web Services, which has recently committed $25 billion in Mississippi to build more data centers.
The company, which has bragged to investors about a largely automated, robot-driven future, says it will create “2,000 high-paying jobs” in Mississippi.
$25 billion total investment.
2,000 total jobs. @amazon is investing another $12 billion and creating 800 more jobs across Madison and Hinds County. That makes $25 billion and 2,000 jobs in announcements in Madison, Warren and Hinds counties in just the last two years.
The… pic.twitter.com/rmdBKdjcJi
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) April 9, 2026
Not all Mississippians are pleased with the additional data centers. As one X user replied: “Tate Reeves sold out Mississippians to the highest bidder because his second term as governor is about to end. The data centers will pollute and ruin our way of life.”
Another wrote with sarcasm: “What type of taxes does this trillion dollar business have to pay to Mississippi?” (Mississippi is generally considered the poorest state in the nation.)
It’s not just Amazon stirring up discontent in Reeves’ state. Growing public concern across Mississippi has been reported with “the $20 billion development by Elon Musk-owned xAI in Southaven, and with the $6 billion AVAIO data center project in Brandon, due to loud noises and air pollution allegedly linked to the facilities.”