As the calendar year comes to a close, please remember we’re still a long way from the mid-term elections and plenty of opportunity for you to be involved in efforts to support our community and to save our democracy. On our website, you’ll find a calendar with planned events and we encourage you to seek out and join your local township organizations. Next year a very busy and very important year, and your participation is crucial.
Today, West County Democrats welcomed another of the Democratic candidates vying for Missouri’s Congressional District 2 in 2026. Joan VonDras made a compelling case for changing the political narrative by opening small forum person-to-person communications. This is a refreshing change considering the person currently occupying this Congressional seat has deliberately refused to communicate with constituents about issues that matter to her constituents. Ms. VonDras has good energy, communicates clearly and seems to have a good understanding of the shortfalls of our current Congress. Click here to learn more about her platform.
Our second presenter was Rebecca Tallman, Director of the Veterans Community Project-St. Louis. Their mission is building 50 tiny homes for transitional housing and support for the Veteran homeless in our region. Unlike other funded agencies, theirs serves all Veterans regardless of their discharge status or term of service. At any given time, there are 40,000 veterans in the U.S. today who have no housing. The reasons for this are varied and not limited to PTSD or substance abuse. Regardless, the Veterans Community Project hopes to mitigate the homeless problem, and provide resources and a path for these Veterans toward a self-sustaining life.
Legislative Report for December 8, 2025 Glenn Koenen
Federal Items:
Donald Trump doesn’t aspire to be King: he’d rather be a deadly autocrat like Josef Stalin.
The current President of the United States claims by his actions that he has the right to have people anywhere in the world killed.
Beyond the Trump-ordered destruction of boats in international waters, the administration has cut-off food aid to starving children and AIDS medications to infected people. His unwillingness to push Putin’s Russia to cease the destruction of Ukraine has cost the lives of countless civilians.
Note as well the actions of Trump appointees to loosen vaccine protocols, weaken worker safety rules, fire immigration judges, and use the Department of Justice as the Department of Retribution. All these actions have consequences, some deadly.
Congress has ceased to be an operating institution. The Speaker of The House and the Senate Majority Leader do nothing without Trump’s explicit approval. That’s bad news since the current Continuing Resolution expires in mere weeks. While the dust is still clearing from the last shutdown (some federal workers won’t get their ‘back pay’ till after the first of the year), a second shutdown is probable.
More importantly, Congress needs to pass a health care plan which protects tens of millions of Americans on ACA plans and Medicaid. While Republicans have been promising an alternative to ‘Obamacare’ for 15 years they have delivered nothing. The Speaker now promises a plan made up of bits and pieces of previous failed GOP proposals. Unfortunately, even that is unlikely to pass. Even if a comprehensive answer can be found this month, many families will be forced to pay the new higher rates to have coverage in January!
Senate Democrats have announced a continuation of most of the current subsidy structure for three years. While that will be heard in the Senate (as part of the deal to reopen government), it is not expected to get the 60 votes necessary to advance.
A recent poll [KFF 12/4/25] found that one in four ACA households would drop coverage if the posted rate increases went into effect while one in three would go to a lower level of coverage. Some would face quadrupled rates without the current subsidies.
The impacts of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” will continue to phase in over the next two years to three years. A lot of interesting tidbits buried within the bill are coming to light, such as a provision to pay Missouri’s Josh Hawley and other GOP Senators $500,000 or more for the pain inflicted by having their electronic records reviewed after January 6th. And, nursing students would no longer qualify as “professionals” offered special terms on federal student loans.
“Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” Farber College’s Dean Wormer
The need for warm bodies in uniforms has forced ICE to hire less than stellar agents: many are considered fat, illiterate and mean by their established co-workers.
State Items:
Missouri’s House of Representatives will start the new term with at least five empty seats, including the 95th District which has been without a representative since the second day of the term.
As noted time and again, Missouri has a revenue shortfall which Governor Mike Kehoe and friends hope to fix by cutting taxes. With proposed bills now being filed for the session beginning January 7, 2026 a plan is beginning to take shape…
1. Eliminate the Individual Income Tax, replacing some of that $10 billion with higher sales taxes and by taxing services (such as hair styling).
2. Cut by 50% the property tax paid by senior citizens.
3. Reducing taxes on businesses which buy sales-taxed items.
Attacking education on many fronts will be a theme again in 2026. Among the likely actions, revamping the Foundation Formula to lessen its total cost (and direct more state funds to rural GOP areas); linking state aid to district ‘performance;’ doubling the General Revenue contribution to private school scholarships to $100 million; and, placing more restrictions on acceptable curriculum.
The governor has come out against requiring the Ten Commandments in every school room but he’s okay with the above proposals.
House Bill 1722 (Richard West, R – Wentzville) attacks education by making changes to school boards:
1. Making school board elections “partisan” – Democrat, Republican or Independent behind each candidate’s name;
2. Moving school board elections to November in even years, making all terms two years;
3. Limiting members to eight years of service; and,
4. Requiring more time for public comments – on any topic—at meetings and allowing written remarks entered into the record by non-speakers.
Other proposals would only allow education tax increases to be voted on during general elections and create alternative ways to qualify to be a school superintendent.
For decades Missouri’s Department of Social Services has not been able to follow federal regulations for food stamps and Medicaid. Now DSS will be under stricter rules created by the Big Beautiful Bill. Beneficiaries will have to have their cases reviewed more often even as Missouri gets less administrative money to do that.
In addition, citizens without qualified, registered dependents will be subject to Work Requirements—which won’t work for a variety of reasons, including…
· Lack of staff to process case reviews in a timely manner;
· Complicated calculations (feds demand info based on calendar month, many are paid bi-weekly);
· Non-compliance by employers; and,
· Lack of physical records for employees.
Every experiment with enforcing Work Requirements has been a failure. So, now it’s the law.