(excerpted from Columbia Daily Tribune 06/13/13

For more details and to take part in the survey   click here

(excerpted from Progress Missouri, High Five at Five 06/13/13 – Progress Missosuri )

Farm bills are panoramic legislation covering food aid, rural economic development, biofuels development and agricultural research along with crop subsidies, food stamps and conservation.

A bruising fight was possible in the House over food stamps. Some 134 of the 201 Democrats in the House signed a resolution against any cuts. And some Republicans want steeper cuts in farm programs as well as in food stamps, which could jeopardize passage of a bill. Click here to read full article 

(excerpted from Reuters 06/10/13

For additional information on the 2013 Farm Bill see Food Action and Research Center

The Democratic governor said lawmakers can either support the tax cut or higher education, but not both. He said he strongly opposes the tax measure and “will use the energy of my office to continue to talk about it.”

The governor has outlined philosophical, financial and technical objections to the proposed tax cut. Among the reasons he has cited for the veto, Nixon contends the legislation would eliminate existing sales tax exemptions on prescription drugs and college textbooks.

“The magnitude of the choice here is significant, very significant,” Nixon said. He added: “Throwing a huge tax cut that’s sloppily worded with huge amounts of unintended consequences like raising taxes on seniors on prescription drugs and students on buying their books is not the way to move our economy forward.”

Click here to read full article

(excerpted from Daily Journal Oneline 06/11/13)

Senator McCaskill, taking part in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing into sexual assaults in the military noted that she and her female colleagues are not going to be happy with a study or a blue ribbon commission. They see some real problems with the system, and are  not going to be deterred from achieving real and effective changes in the military justice system.  

Senator McCaskill discusses her work in the Senate to hold perpetrators accountable and protect survivors.   Clich here to see video

(excerpted from info@clairemccaskill.com 06/04/13)

“Our analysis shows it’s in the best economic interests of states to expand Medicaid under the terms of the federal Affordable Care Act,” said Carter Price, the study’s lead author and a mathematician at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

“States that do not expand Medicaid will not receive the full benefit of the savings that will result from providing less uncompensated care,” Price said. “Furthermore, these states will still be subject to the taxes, fees and other revenue provisions of the Affordable Care Act, without reaping the benefit of the additional federal spending which will costs those states economically.”

Last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act gave states the ability to block the law’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides health insurance to low-income families. The Affordable Care Act provides support to expand Medicaid to include families that earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

The federal government will pay a much larger share of costs for the Medicaid expansion than it does for current Medicaid enrollees. It will cover 100 percent of the costs for expanding Medicaid beginning in 2014 through 2016, and then gradually decrease support to 90 percent of costs beginning in 2020. The federal government currently pays an average of 57 percent of the cost of Medicaid.

The RAND study found that the cost to states for expanding Medicaid generally would be lower than the expense state and local governments will face for providing uncompensated care to uninsured residents after implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Researchers estimate that increased insurance coverage triggered by health reform will reduce state and local spending on uncompensated medical care by as much as $18.1 billion annually across all states. Those savings may continue beyond 2020, when the states’ share of Medicaid costs plateaus.

“State policymakers should be aware that if they do not expand Medicaid, fewer people will have health insurance, and that will trigger higher state and local spending for uncompensated medical care,” Price said. “Choosing to not expand Medicaid may turn out to be the more-costly path for state and local governments.”

(abstracted from Rand Corporation press release “Expanding Medicaid Is Best Financial Option for States” 06/03/13)

Columbia, Mo. – The Boone County Democratic Central Committee expressed its great disappointment in the Missouri General Assembly Friday evening as the Assembly concluded its work for 2013 with a legislative session notable only for its abject failure to address issues of real importance to Missourians. Instead of working to accelerate economic development and expand access to health care by strengthening Medicaid, the Republican supermajorities focused on a narrow agenda tailored to appease their largest donors.

In doing so, Republicans, including Caleb Rowden, Kurt Schaefer and Caleb Jones, have said yes to 9,000 lost jobs and no to 24,000 new ones; yes to $4 billion cut from hospitals’ bottom lines and no to a $9.6 billion boost for the state economy; yes to a 14% uninsured rate and no to health coverage for 300,000 additional Missourians; and, predictably, yes to extreme partisanship and no to over 60 state and local business groups that know this is the right way to grow the economy and increase the quality of life in Missouri.

“Missourians should know that Republicans in the state legislature repeatedly blocked this year’s signature issue: Gov. Nixon and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce’s plan to bring Missouri tax dollars home, expand Medicaid and grow the state economy by $9.6 billion,” said Boone County Democratic Central Committee Chair Homer Page. “In particular, it’s time to hold supposed-moderates Kurt Schaefer and Caleb Rowden accountable for hurting our hospitals and sending our tax dollars to other states.”

As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Schaefer played a key role in rejecting plans to strengthen Medicaid by first excluding Gov. Nixon’s Medicaid proposal from the state’s 2014 budget and then leading committee Republicans in voting against an amendment for its inclusion.

“Sadly, Kurt Schaefer put his 2016 political ambitions before the needs and priorities of his constituents. Whatever hint of moderation Kurt Schaefer once had is now gone,” said Page.

In the House Budget Committee as well as on the House floor, freshman Rep. Caleb Rowden also took the partisan path and sided with Republicans in opposing Medicaid expansion.

“Time after time in Jefferson City, Caleb Rowden joined the ideological extremism and voted with his party to block Medicaid expansion,” said Page. “Yet he also told us he was going ‘to do the tough work and make the tough decisions’ to find a Medicaid solution. Now we know that wasn’t anything more than an empty promise.”

The Boone County Democratic Central Committee represents the Missouri Democratic Party in Boone County and performs such functions required by the laws of the State of Missouri, the Charter and By-Laws of the Democratic Party of the United States, and the Constitution and By-Laws of the Missouri Democratic Party.

He predicted Medicaid expansion would have a huge positive effect on the state.

“This effort has the potential to have the greatest statewide economic impact in terms of job creation, income growth, and revenue growth than any initiative ever considered by our elected officials, impacting residents and businesses in every county and every House and Senate district,” Pierle said.

In a 19-county region that includes Boone County, the report predicts 2,422 new jobs next year, $130 million in additional economic activity and the coverage of 17,729 adults who now have no health coverage.

Rejecting the money doesn’t make sense, Nixon said. “We take a pass on billions of health care dollars that will go to some other state,” he said. “They will get the benefit, and we will get the bill. That’s not right.”

Because almost all Americans will have coverage under the Affordable Care Act, payments to hospitals that accept high numbers of indigent patients, called “disproportionate share” payments, will be drastically cut. The loss of that income, with nothing to replace it, could endanger the financial health of rural hospitals, Nixon said.

(excerpt from Columbia Tribune report 11/29/12)

L

Bob was an internationally renowned ceramicist, sculptor, and painter. He created several original works for recipients of the Margaret Morgett Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded annually by Muleskinners, Boone County’s Democratic Luncheon Club, and was himself a recipient of that award.

Bob also served as Chair of the University Of Missouri Department Of Art, where he was a beloved colleague and mentor to many students over the years. He will also be remembered and dearly missed for his keen sense of humor and dry wit.