I just came back from Washington, and I can report that in the race to win the coveted title of top tea party wing nut, it’s very close!
At first, the House Republicans in D.C. opened up a big lead. But then, as the session was ending in Jefferson City, the tea party super-majority in the Missouri Legislature was closing the gap. And now the race is neck and neck!
I don’t know who’s going to win, but one thing is for sure: the people of this state have already lost, and that’s a shame.
Governor Nixon and I have been friends for almost 30 years, starting when we were both serving in the Missouri Legislature during my 17 years in Jefferson City. I have worked with Democratic governors and Republican governors, but in all that time, we never, ever took hard-earned tax dollars from our own constituents and then gave that money away to other states.
But that’s exactly what happened this session. The Republican super-majority in the Missouri Legislature allowed over $3 billion in federal funding designated to cover the uninsured in Missouri – money already paid in by Missouri taxpayers – to slip away.
I fight to bring back every federal dollar I can find, to lift up the 1st Congressional District, and to strengthen our region and the state of Missouri. And these people gave it away to some other, smarter, more progressive state. Like Governor Jan Brewer in Arizona?
My father, former Congressman Bill Clay, has a saying about that kind of abnormal thinking. He used to tell me: “Lacy, that’s not just regular stupid. That’s a special cut of stupid!”
Just two weeks ago, House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act … for the 37th time. That’s right.
How’s this for the Republican congressional scorecard?
Since Republicans took control of the U.S. house after the 2010 midterm, they have proposed 113 bills about religion, 46 bills attempting to regulate what a woman can do with her own body, 36 bills trying to define someone else’s family for them, 72 bills about guns, but not a universal background check.
And in all that time, not one damn jobs bill has become law!
If the Republicans were in charge of everything in Washington, General Motors and Chrysler would be gone. Our troops would still be dying in Iraq. Social Security would be privatized. Medicare would be turned into a voucher program. And Obamacare would only exist in Massachusetts – because Mitt Romney created it.
So as we look forward to winning back the U.S. House and holding onto the U.S. Senate in 2014, gaining seats in the Missouri Legislature and setting up our statewide Democratic team to sweep to victory in 2016, let me leave you with this. After the 1946 midterm election, President Harry Truman faced Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. And this is what he had to say about them:
“Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home – but not for housing. They say they are strong for labor – but they are stronger for restricting labor’s rights.
They favor minimum wage – the smaller the minimum wage the better. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine – but just for the people who can afford them. And they admire the government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.”
Harry Truman told the truth, and he stood up to the Republicans with backbone. As Democrats today, we must have that same courage, that same backbone.
Edited from a speech made June 8 at the Missouri State Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Days in St. Louis.
