In the wake of health care reform becoming law, we have been gifted with numerous displays of Missouri's good ole boys in the Grand Old Party trying their best to establish a little street cred with the right of the right wing. So far, the displays have been confined to relatively harmless posturing (nonbinding resolutions, constitutional amendments of dubious legality, etc.). Today, however, a Missouri Senate Committee took concrete steps to make sure that the state's repressive status quo in regard to abortion continues by acting to take advantage of a provision in the federal legislation that allows states to keep the exchanges from offering abortion coverage:
The state Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industry Committee voted 5-1 Monday for legislation would ban any health insurance exchange from offering policies covering elective abortions -- even if women are willing to pay an extra premium for the coverage. The legislation now goes to the Missouri Senate.
According to Planned Parenthood's Michelle Trupiano, if this bill is passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor Nixon, none of which is out of the realm of possibility, the outlook for poorer women will be dire:
...it already is rare for Missouri women to be able to purchase an insurance policy addition for abortion coverage. So they often pay the full cost of an abortion, which she said is about $500 for a first-semester pregnancy.
For people covered through new health insurance exchanges, the Missouri legislation "leaves those particular women with no options for abortion coverage," ... .
What I want to know is where these jerks were when I wanted to keep my tax dollars out of worthless federally funded abstinence only sex education programs, or any of the Bush-era faith based initiatives that gave our tax money to groups like the Salvation Army while permitting them to prosyletize and discriminate against gays, Jews, Catholics, what-have-you, in their employment practices? Abortion is legal and the religious fanatics who oppose it should have no more standing than I do.
"We've become so good at this that Missouri politicians could give seminars to Colombian drug lords on how to launder money,"Missouri State Senator Charlie Shields (R-St. Joseph)
So instead of enforcing the rules on campaign contributions, just chuck 'em? Is that really the message that the state lege is trying to send? That is the net effect of a piece of legislation ramrodded through the state Senate by the wingnut "money equals speech" majority on Wednesday. The legislation, sponsored by Shields, removes limits on political contributions in state and local races. Because, according to Shields, the limits had done little to stanch the flow of money and influence. Instead of operating within the rules, they instead encourage fundraisers and politicians to create ways to sidestep the rules. Never mind that they are sticking a thumb in the eye of the voters, who, in 1994 passed the rules into law by a ballot initiative.
Senator Jeff Smith, Democrat of St. Louis, said the entire Senate should be ashamed. "We are inviting powerful special interests to have even greater sway over the policy process than they already do," Smith said.
An effort to submit the matter to a vote of the people was shot down on a party-line vote, with 20 Republicans overruling 11 Democrats. Republicans also defeated a proposal to delay the repeal until Jan. 1 to avoid changing the rules in the middle of this year's campaigns.
Instead, the Senate adopted a clause that would make the repeal take effect as soon as the governor signs it, rather than on Aug. 28, shortly after the primary election and just before the start of the fall campaign.
Senators gave the repeal preliminary approval on a voice vote after nearly five hours of debate. It still must receive final Senate approval before going to the House, where it enjoys significant support.
The legislature previously repealed the limits effective Jan. 1, 2007, but the law was thrown out by the state Supreme Court. During six months of unlimited contributions, Gov. Matt Blunt received as much as $300,000 from one Texas couple. Several senators received as much as $40,000 from a single contributor.
C'mon Missouri! This isn't what you had in mind when you elected these jackals to protect you from the non-existent threats of gay marriage, abortion and drivable roads, is it? Have you seen enough of these towering dumbasses yet? Can we get a Democratic majority in at least one chamber come November? These greedy Publican bastards simply can't be trusted.
PubDef has some pretty good coverage of the ongoing special session (here, here, and here.) Essentially, the House GOP defeated a motion by State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis) to vote on the Land Assemblage Tax Credit (the one that's basically tailored to one man - Paul McKee in North St. Louis) separately from the rest of the bill. Strangely, the House leadership then ruled out of order an amendment offered by Jeannette Mott Oxford to reduce the acreage requirement from 75 to 30, which would allow smaller developers access to the credit. House Speaker Rod Jetton ruled that it was beyond the scope of Matt Blunt's call for special session. Jetton used the same logic when Rep. John Burnett (D- KC) tried to amend the anti-scalping repeal to limit scalpers to a 20% markup.
In other words, Matt Blunt gets to tell legislators exactly what to legislate, and they have the privilege of being able to vote on it. That ought to be fun when Jay Nixon becomes governor in a year.
