The West County Democrats hosted Dr. Anita Manion, Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and the political analyst for KSDK news. She presented an engaging review of the politics impacting our nation and state. The complete video of her presentation and the discussion during our general meeting may be viewed here:
Legislative Report- from Glenn Koenen
Federal Items:
The worst case scenario for the Trump-formed Supreme Court appears to have been understated. The bizarre decision to allow the Texas abortion vigilante law to go into force signals a court not only wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade but one willing to denigrate the supremacy clause of the constitution.
Expect more crazy lawsuits from Eric Schmitt and other Republican attorneys general to seize power away from Washington, not just on Covid masks and guns laws and voting rights but on any topic capable of generating headlines appealing to the Trump base.
The Biden administration’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure plan is being held hostage by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Ironically, scuttlebutt points to most conservative anti-Boden Republicans wanting their states to get the billions in aid: they just don’t want to have to vote for any Democrat initiative. The deep scars in the economy caused by Covid make the super stimulus a great idea. Still, without Manchin’s vote the proposal cannot clear the Senate. (Manchin appeared on multiple Sunday morning news shows explaining his strange yet still under development position.)
On a side note, the original proposal for targeted tax increases hitting the super rich and corporations which use shell games to hide their profits seem to by dying. Several former Democrat members of Congress, for example, now lobby against the changes to the tax code to help pay for infrastructure.
No matter what Congress’ January 6 review determines it is highly unlikely that Trump, his followers and the GOP members of Congress will care. Republicans still claim to be the party of law and order.
On the good news front, the Biden administration effectively used obscure administrative processes to dramatically, permanently increase food stamp allocations. Despite GOP claims, the higher benefits will not put a steak on every table. They will reduce the gap between what a typical lower income family gets in benefits and what nutritious food really costs.
And, improvements to Louisiana’s levee system made during the Obama years, coupled with a greater emphasis on competency by Biden’s FEMA officials helped lessen the impact of Hurricane Ida. Things were still bad but a Katrina-like catastrophe was averted.
State Items:
The Parson administration does not feel it must follow the rulings of Missouri Courts. While the decision to not process Medicaid applications till after October 1 received a lot of press, do not forget that Parson has also refused to pay the settlement ordered on correction officer pay, and, his folks continue to fight the recognition of employee-endorsed union representation.
Here’s a shocker…Missouri has money.
While some in Jefferson City like to point to the decline in General Revenue compared to last fiscal year (a slip of $453 million by September 10th), the reality is that income is up. Remember, the tax deadline for 2020 got extended from April 15 to July 15. That pushed $784 million of FY2020 funds in FY2021. Allow for that and this year’s yield is ahead of last year’s.
And, don’t forget that the state has billions squirreled away in pillowcases from the pandemic relief funds hand out by the Trump and Biden administrations.
In other words, the governor could use his discretion to help the state’s economy by authorizing billions in infrastructure projects (roads, school improvements and such) as well as maintain unemployment benefits and other state programs. Mike Parson won’t do that but he could.
By my count almost two dozen potential Special Session topics have been proposed. Two seem credible: a session to draw the Congressional districts, and – a late addition – a session to oppose President Biden’s mask mandate for federal contractors and large employers.
Of course, the state can’t stop the federal mask rules. Missouri can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars stomping their feet in the Capitol to protest federal actions.
With Clean Missouri replaced by Dirty Missouri the process of drawing Congressional and state district lines is doomed to pro-Republican gerrymandering. Unfortunately, recent Supreme Court rulings make very bad district lines probable. It appears that the bloodiest fights will be within the Republican Party.
The City of St. Louis lost population (though less than expected), as did the inner county suburbs. So, despite anemic overall population growth in Missouri (about 1/6th the national average), the physical size of Cori Bush’s district must increase dramatically.
Now, the current 2nd Congressional District gets most of its population from St. Louis County. There are persistent whispers and rumors that some influential Republicans want the new second to be centered on St. Charles County. (The bulk of the county is now in the 3rd District which stretched out to the Jefferson City area.) It is conceivable that a collar district including all of St. Charles County (405,262 people) along with Franklin and a big chunk of Jefferson counties with a smattering of far west or northwest St. Louis County could be made to happen. Stay tuned.
The Second Amendment Preservation Act became law on August 28th. While the constitutional issues will work there way to the courts, some Missouri law enforcement agencies have backed out of gun crime prosecution arrangements with the feds, and, it is possible that the act will do what it promised over the next months or years.
Nationwide the number of Americans receiving food stamp (SNAP) benefits is up by about 12% in the past year. In Missouri the number helped dropped by 10.2% in the past year. In other words, better than 150,000 of our neighbors who qualify for assistance aren’t getting the help. It also means that Missouri grocers are losing out on around $33 million a month in revenue.
The Department of Social Services is short staffed, still suffers from Covid related closings and restrictions, and, utilizes data processing equipment and programs which were outdated at the start of this century. Plus, the Parson administration and many in the GOP see helping struggling families as encouraging laziness and preventing people from taking lousy jobs at crummy pay.
Well, despite ending pandemic unemployment benefits months before it was necessary, not following the law on Medicaid and preventing families from getting food stamps, the state still has tons of unfilled jobs. Reality gets in the way of the stereotype.