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Sen. Bond: Math doesn’t add up for Obama’s green jobs initiative

April 30, 2009 By

Sen. Kit Bond says President Obama’s green jobs initiative will hurtmanufacturing jobs in the Midwest.

Sen. Bond When putting together a final budget deal, democrats stripped Bond’s amendment to protect workers, which passed the U.S. Senate earlierthis month. Bond’s provision would have given Congress the ability to stop climate legislation that would cost a significant amount of jobs.

He says proposals that raise carbon based revenue and energyprices will also disproportionately hit coal- and manufacturing-dependentregions, specifically the Midwest, Great Plains and South.

The current plan to increase green jobs will cost huge subsidies, he says, to create jobsthat only pay around $13 dollars an hour, not even close to what goodmanufacturing jobs pay.

In criticizing democrats for removing his protective amendment to the bill, Bond says they "are giving a green light to killing Midwesternmanufacturing jobs. As many hard-hit communities in theMidwest know, manufacturing workers are already suffering."

The amendment passed the Senatein March by a vote of 54 to 44

The industrialsectors Bond pointed out as being put at risk are auto assembly, steel, aluminum,plastics, chemicals, glass, fertilizer and pharmaceuticals.

"TheNational Association of Manufacturers estimated that the $6.7 trillionLieberman-Warner cap and trade bill defeated by the Senate last yearwould kill 3 million to 4 million jobs by 2030," Bond’s office reports.

President Obama’s proposal,which contains stricter emissions cuts and full use of cost maximizingauctions, is expected to be even more onerous and kill even more jobs.

Bond’s "Yellow Light on Green Jobs" report can be viewed here.

Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]

Filed Under: Economy, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

McCaskill says immigration agency getting tougher

April 30, 2009 By

Missouri employers who hire illegal immigrants might soon be hiring someone they don’t want–a fake immigrant.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service is launching a more aggressive effort to catch employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. The focus has been on detaining illegal workers. But the Homeland Security Department says it’s making an abrupt change of direction in going after the people who hire them.

Senator McCaskill, who has been pressuring the agency for stronger enforcement against employers since she arrived in Washington, could hardly wait to spread the word in the Senate. She says the new policy will be a major deterrent.

"If you thinik somebody’s going to put you in jail for saying, ‘Hey I don’t care if you’ve got papers or not…I don’t care if you’re legal or not…’ If you don’t think those people being held accountable is going to make a difference, you don’t understand law enforcement."

Immigration authorities say they’re going to shift from relying on tips to running audits of employer records and using undercover agents. The agency expects to improve on last year’s record when almost six-thousand people were arrested in workplace immigration raids. Only 135 of them were employers or managers.

McCaskill calls employers the "magnet" that draws illegal workers. The agency calls them "the root causes of illegal immigration."

Upload McCaskill on Senate floor (3:46 mp3)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Lieutenant Governor Kinder accuses Governor Nixon of playing role in defeat of stimulus bill

April 30, 2009 By

Accusations are flying in the wake of the Missouri House defeat of House Bill 22 – legislation authorizing the spending a lot of federal stimulus dollars. The accusations come from Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, who insists Governor Jay Nixon played a role in the defeat of the bill.

"We now believe it can be confirmed that the Governor asked certain Democratic lawmakers to work to defeat this measure," said Kinder. "And there should be some answers given by the Governor of this state for that."

Kinder points to this information coming from House Democrats.

"It is now an open secret from unimpeachable sources in the Democratic caucus and throughout the House of Representatives’ staff," said Kinder. "That the Governor sent signals that he wanted this bill defeated."

Asked why the Governor might embark on this course of action, Kinder said that would be a question best directed at Governor Nixon.

As the Governor left a Capitol Rotunda ceremony and headed to an elevator to return to his office, he was asked about the demise of the legislation and any role he might have played in it. The Governor said he had been in his office all morning and would comment after he had had an opportunity to look at the vote.

Asked specifically whether he had talked to House Democrats to suggest they kill the bill, he replied, "I didn’t have any significant discussions on this particular bill. I have remained concerned that we make sure that we have the resources available to fund government in years to come."

Kinder expresses concern that there is a good deal of money in this bill to fund the St. Louis Metro transit system. He says failure to pass this bill will hurt the entire St. Louis metropolitan region and, in turn, hurt the state.

There is a chance the bill could be revived or could be attached to another piece of legislation making its way through the General Assembly.

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Legislature Tagged With: ,

Royals hold on for 8-6 win

April 30, 2009 By

John Buck had a memorable game for any player, let alone a catcher.  After a rain delayed start to Thursday afternoon’s series finale at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals wrapped up their series with Toronto with an 8-6 win.

Buck has been hot the last couple of games and he continued that trend going 3 for 3 with two triples, a double, a sacrifice and five RBIs.  The Royals jumped out to an early 8-2 after five innings, but the Blue Jays inched closer getting to within 8-6.

In the 9th, Juan Cruz, filling in for Joakim Soria retired the side for the save.  The Royals take three of four from the Jays.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Big change in House defeats capital improvements bill

April 30, 2009 By

It received 97 votes one day in the House and only 68 the next. A $550 million capital improvement plan funded through federal economic stimulus money has been defeated in the House with its ultimate fate now uncertain.

House Budget Committee Chairman Allen Icet (R-Wildwood) struggles to understand what went wrong from preliminary approval to final defeat.

"I don’t think anybody bothered to read the bill to understand what’s in there," Icet says. "They just wanted to make a political statement"

Apparently a political statement against pork, though Icet bristles at those accusations and demands to know what would be considered pork: an expansion of the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia, repairs to various veterans homes, construction of a mental health facility in St. Louis, purchase of a statewide emergency communication system among other items in HCS HB 22.

On Wednesday, the House debated the bill at length. Democrats reiterated their criticism of the process Republicans used to rush the bill to the floor. In fact, the criticism from the minority focused far more on process than on projects contained in the bill. At the end of the debate, the bill received a firm vote of support upon preliminary consideration: 97-to-56.

The tone of debate shifted a bit on Thursday. Only two Democrats spoke, but both charged Republicans were pushing pork. Icet made a short statement prior to the vote, seeming confident of the outcome.

Support, though, melted away. The bill was defeated 68-to-82; the votes against equaling the 82 votes needed to approve measures in the House.

On final approval, only 54 Republicans voted for the measure along with 14 Democrats; 32 Republicans voted against it as did 50 Democrats; two Democrats voted "present". There were three Republicans absent from the vote and eight Democrats; though earlier all representatives had been present in the chamber.

House Majority Floor Leader Steven Tilley (R-Perryville) gives the bill little chance for a comeback.

"In my mind, I’d say it’s done," says Tilley. "But, around here, I’ve learned you don’t really say ‘dead’. But I will tell you my intentions to bring it up for a motion to reconsider are not high."

Minority Floor Leader Paul LeVota (D-Independence) finds it difficult to speculate about its future.

"You know, I’m still a little shocked that they (Republicans) bring up a bill that they can’t pass," says LeVota. "It rarely happens, so it will be interesting to see if they try to take a run at it again."

Time is running out. Budget bills must be approved before 6pm next Friday.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (1:15 MP3)

Filed Under: Economy, Legislature, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,
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