PRESENTATION – Effective Democratic Messaging Chelsea Rodriguez, Managing Communications Director of the Missouri Democratic Party
Ms. Rodriquez spoke at length about reaching and informing voters throughout the state, planned activities within the party organization to reintroduce the party to neglected sectors, and the importance of clubs like the West County Democrats for communicating positive Democratic information. Volunteers willing to speak up and speak out are essential to combating the flood of misinformation hitting Missouri citizens from corporate media. For more information about getting involved, please visit https://www.missouridemocrats.org/
Legislative Report – Glenn Koenen
Federal Items:
Trump Watch
The Republican National Committee is now run by a former Trump campaign manager and the former President’s daughter in law. To be a Republican means total devotion to Donald J. Trump.
Trump always gets what Trump wants, even when it means passing on an immigration proposal negotiated by one of the Senate’s most dedicated conservatives or stalling aid to Ukraine. Likewise, the House Speaker exists solely to placate Trump loyalists responding to his whims. For example, 125 Republicans co-sponsored the Life at Conception act in 2023 when it was a pro-life measure. After the Alabama court decision criminalizing IVF in that state, citing the life at conception concepts, Trump spoke against the measure. Now Speaker Johnson says the proposal will not be considered.
The new leader of Senate Republicans, no matter whom they select, will do all Trump demands.
Collateral damage in the failure to pass a true federal budget is the killing of proposals to improve or modernize federal programs. The short term continuing resolutions lock-in current spending levels and rules, even when there is bipartisan support for changes. Further, each threatened shutdown consumes millions of staff hours in preparation for things which may or may not happen. So, despite a $460 billion bill sent to the President on 3/8/24 covering some federal departments till September, another shut-down threat looms later this month (which could be followed by more threats).
Alas, most Washington insiders do not believe that a true budget for the next federal fiscal (10 – 1 – 2024 to 9 – 30 – 2025) has any chance of success.
State Items:
“I wake up every morning and ask myself, how are we gonna sue Joe Biden today.”
MO Attorney General Andrew Bailey at Boone County 2024 Lincoln Day Dinner (per MO Independent)
Bailey is also proud of his attacks on Washington University’s Transgender Center: “His goal, he said, is to end the treatments.”
Meanwhile, at the same meeting, State Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman who is running for the Third Congressional seat, stated “her focus is on preventing medical treatment for gender transitioning for minors: “They are coming for our children, when they want to convince a girl that she is a boy or a boy that she is a girl.”
What’s worse than dysfunctional?
In the Missouri Senate it appears the only way even necessary legislation can advance is if leadership grants the Freedom Caucus items from their list of bad ideas.
The south end of the Capitol faces a barrage of probable filibusters demanding, as examples, an absolute prohibition of Red Flag laws (which remove guns from dangerous people); allow right-wind hate groups to sponsor highways; returning control of St. Louis City police to the state; restrictions on how teachers can teach history (to insure only ‘correct’ history gets mentioned); and, allowing citizens to pay their taxes in gold or silver.
Now, the mainstream GOP agenda is not much better. Initiative petition “reform,” diverting public school funds to charter and private schools, restrictions on voting – including a not yet killed idea of requiring only hand-counted paper ballots – and a variety of other bad ideas are in process.
The House has managed to advance a good mix of bills (though not one bill has yet been passed by the House and the Senate and sent to the governor). A few stand out…
1. Letting school bus drivers up to age 77 avoid annual health reviews.
2. Changing clean water rules but exempting runoff from massive hog operations.
3. Making a special allocation of over $2 million to pay for Missouri troopers and National Guardsmen to work in Texas.
4. Preventing any money going to “abortion providers,” even for other medical services.
5. Eliminating Daylight Savings Time in Missouri.
6. Requiring two administrative rules to be eliminated before a new rule can be enacted.
Think about that last item. If a rule was enacted because it was necessary and survived the legislative and bureaucratic process (and probably court review), why must it and a companion die so another necessary idea can be enacted?
Time to talk money.
The billions of dollars Missouri banked thanks to federal Covid aid and good luck appear to be melting away. The state’s current revenues do not appear to be great enough to meet the current budget. Per Republican legislative reports, at the end of February state general revenue was 1.3% above last fiscal year. Yet, to meet the budget appears to require better than a 3% increase. And, the Daily General Revenue Report from the Department of Revenue for March 4, 2024 showed a net increase of just over a third of 1%!
In light of those numbers, better than 70 new or expanded tax cuts and credits are proposed.
The good news is that an expansion of the food pantry tax credit from $1.75 million to $3 million per year and greater support for the ‘diaper bank’ tax credit have Republican support.