The West County Democrats hosted our first virtual meeting for our members today. Until the Covid-19 health risk is contained and mitigated, it is likely this will be the preferred means of monthly gatherings. As this was our first attempt, we welcome feedback about the event from any who attended.
Our guest speaker was Nancy Price with the St. Louis League of Women Voters. She presented clarifying information about the upcoming elections, voting process changes and specifics about the newly-permitted absentee voting procedures. For those unable to attend the meeting, her remarks are recorded and available for viewing here:
Because of the great information links Nancy presented, a request was made for a copy of the presentation. When available, that file will be distributed to the membership of the West County Democrats.
Glenn Koenen also addressed the group with his regular legislative update. His notes are presented here:
Legislative Report
July 13, 2020
Glenn Koenen
Federal Items:
“Oklahoma! Where the crowd turnout was really lame And the empty seats were there to greet a man who’s probably insane!
Oklahoma, the speech went horribly awry thanks to TikTok fans and K-Pop stans the upper deck is bluer than the sky.”
Stephen Colbert, A Late Show
It’s impossible for a government to function effectively when the leader cares only about himself, only believes what he says and refuses to learn what is really happening in the world.
This being an election year where the current Senate Majority leader and many of his most reliable cohorts must face voters, it is improbable that the Republican controlled Senate will allow any meaningful measure supported by the Democrat controlled House of Representatives to advance. Political power is now used not to advance the nation: Republicans only use their clout to show they have power.
For example, on July 1st the House unanimously passed a bill to sanction China for its actions against Hong Kong residents. The Senate may never take up the bill because Mitch McConnell doesn’t want to hand the House a victory, and, anger President Trump by making him veto the will veto the bill.
With Congress handcuffed, the president increasingly acts on his own. On July 7th the replacement for NAFTA took effect – despite Trump threatening Canada with new trade sanctions and relations with Mexico ‘iffy’ due to the border wall construction, derogatory remarks by Trump, and, tension over the treatment of Mexicans in the United States.
Per the president’s chief of staff, expect Trump to govern via Executive Orders, such as new missives limiting immigration and ordering prescription price cuts.
Meanwhile, the on-going movement to destroy government programs which help the poor, students and others who are not rich continue. Administrative efforts to reduce food stamp benefits and make stamps harder to get continue. The EPA now spends its time reducing controls on pollution. Student loan programs are not just under attack but at risk of forcing all current loan recipients to accept onerous new payback rules.
The pandemic pushed up the federal deficit by trillions of dollars. (Before COVID 19 the nation was on track for a trillion dollar deficit for the current fiscal year.) Unfortunately, as should have been expected, assistance to big corporations and their rich owners dwarfed aide to working families.
Now, much of the extra assistance to families is scheduled to expire before the economy recovers. The bonus unemployment payments ($600 a week) end at the end of this month even though significant a number of workers are still unemployed. A smaller, second stimulus payment to families may occur but it will not be enough to offset the economic damage on millions of working class families.
And, the lack of effective federal response to the pandemic has resulted in Americans not being allowed to vacation in Europe or Canada or in many other areas.
State Items:
At the end of February 2020 the state’s net General Revenue was running about 7.2% above the same time in the previous Fiscal Year. At the end of the Fiscal Year, on June 30th, net General Revenue was 6.62% below the previous year – roughly a billion dollar swing in revenue!
While Governor Mike Parson cut over $400 million from budgeted state spending, well, that was too little too late. To really balance the budget the governor would have had to cut at least $300 million more from state spending.
Worse, the bulk of the cuts impacted education. For example, the state’s public colleges and universities lost their entire last monthly payment of the year.
The outlook for Fiscal Year 2021 (which began on July 1st) is bleak. The legislature reduced the original budget request from the governor by about $700 million. Trend data suggests Missouri’s actual General Revenue may be down as much as two billion. Since the largest recipient of General Revenue is education, schools and colleges will probably see their meager stipends once again slashed.
The legislature has been asked to hold special sessions on a number of topics, including…
► Action against violent crime;
► Liability “protection” from COVID related litigation;
► Budget adjustments;
► Education funding reform; and,
► The ever popular ‘economic development.’
The governor now supports a session to look at violent crime. It is much less likely that a session to consider budget issues or COPVID liability will be called.
Ironically, the governor vetoed virtually nothing this session. Even his line items cuts to the budget –$11 million out of $30 billion – were much smaller than normal.
Despite being warned of the consequences, the legislature passed a ‘crime bill’ which seems to insure that Missouri will need to build two more prisons. And, while the total number of bills passed by the legislature was very small (just 34), several bills had handfuls to scores of other bills added to them. For example, HB 1692 contained major parts of more than two dozen bills, ranging from declaring September as “Deaf Awareness Month” to allowing pharmacy interns to operate “remote dispensing site pharmacies” where no licensed pharmacist is present. (A law change supported by Walmart.)
Unfortunately, the Republicans appear poised to retain their majorities in the House and Senate in Novembers election. Incumbents seeking additional terms and new Republican candidates are all ready advertising their plans for next year: more bills to cut taxes, protection of all Second Amendment rights, a continued assault on abortion access, and, more ‘protections’ for business.
The pandemic, as was to be expected, created a tidal wave of new Missourians needing food stamps and other benefits. The number helped jumped from 657,317 in February to 766,227 in May. While that increase is impressive, it was also much smaller than I would have expected. Based on the impact of past recessions, it would have been expected that 825,000 or more received food stamps in May.
Part of the problem is that the state has reduced the work force handling benefit programs.
So, what has the governor done to address that issue? Governor Mike Parson ordered that 200 middle managers in the Department of Social Services be let go. This will hurt the department as it responds to the surge in demand due to COVID 19. More importantly, it will weaken the state’s ability to accommodate the influx of newly-qualified Medicaid patients after Medicaid Expansion is approved on the August ballot. This is a backdoor step to stymie the will of the people when the governor and GOP leadership does not like what citizens want.