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Missouri Congressman says college athletes should make money: “They are used”

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Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver is heading up a bipartisan bill that would let college athletes profit from endorsement deals. It would only restrict sponsors involving alcohol, tobacco, controlled substances, adult entertainment and gambling. Cleaver, a Democrat from Kansas City, says the plan would ban universities from putting restrictions on athletes seeking control of their name, image and likeness.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City (September 2018 file photo courtesy of Congressman Cleaver’s office)

“Only a small percentage of those kids will ever play on a Sunday afternoon in an NFL football game or an NBA basketball game,” says Cleaver. “That’s just not likely. But they go to college and they are used. The school is making money.”

Cleaver says legalizing the activity is about civil rights because many of the student athletes are people of color.

“They come out of very poor backgrounds – many of them,” says Cleaver. “I mean, they’re in school with nothing and it’s illegal right now for them to go out and accept a cheeseburger from a big company and ruin their career and then put an early mark on their record for life.”

Many athletes get things like scholarships, free meals, athletic gear and healthcare services. If they play in a bigger bowl game, football players are also awarded items, such as gift cards, Fossil watches and Xboxes.

The bill includes a layer of Congressional oversight. Cleaver admits that corruption will still exist.

“They do it on everything we do, from income taxes to some pastors misusing their position to take advantage of kids. I mean, that’s just going to happen,” says Cleaver. “I don’t think it’s going to be any more prevalent here than anything else.”

There is a bipartisan effort at the state level, led by State Representative Wes Rogers, D-Kansas City, to pass a similar measure.

To view Cleaver’s bill, click here.

Listen to a Missourinet sports podcast about Cleaver’s bill below:

Patrick is going to be a father, Cardinals playoff preview and U.S. Rep. Cleaver talks NLI (PODCAST)

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Four Missouri U.S. House members vote to give $25 billion to help keep Postal Service afloat

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The U.S. House recently passed a bill that would give $25 billion in emergency funding to help keep the U.S. Postal Service going through the pandemic and expected surge of mail closer to the General Election. The funding level is the amount the Trump-appointed U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors recommends. Four Missouri members voted in favor of the legislation – Republicans Sam Graves and Ann Wagner and Democrats Emanuel Cleaver and Lacy Clay.

The plan would also reverse recent cost-cutting measures to slow service.

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver

The Postal Service has been struggling financially due to a decline in mail volume, the pandemic causing costs to climb, among other things. Cleaver, who represents Kansas City and several rural western Missouri counties, has been sounding the alarm for a while about the agency’s money problems. He says talks of privatizing it is an insult to the older.

“I just think that that’s almost mean spirited,” he says. “We don’t even think about the older people in our country who are not online, who still handwrite all their letters and pay their bills by writing out checks.”

Cleaver co-sponsored the bill, H.R. 8015. He tells Missourinet privatization would also hurt rural communities.

“When you privatize it, can you imagine X corporation delivering mail to a little farm outside of Orrick, where they have to drive from Kansas City to Orrick and then drive down a dirt road to put the mail in a mailbox? They are not going to do it. They are going to say it is not cost efficient – it’s cost prohibitive,” says Cleaver.

Cleaver’s district includes rural towns like Marshall, Richmond and Belton.

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, represents 36 counties in northern Missouri (file photo courtesy of Congressman Graves’ office)

Graves, of northern Missouri, tells Missourinet affiliate KFEQ the legislation affects almost every part of his district.

“The post office is something that I’ve been looking at and working through for years,” says Graves. “I have a very rural district and a lot of senior citizens in my district that depend on postal and making sure that we keep six-day delivery out there and timely.”

Graves’ district includes Chillicothe and Memphis.

President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the bill – and Graves says he and the president don’t always agree on everything.

“This is one of those issues and that’s been the case with every president that I’ve worked with. Whether that was Bush, I didn’t agree with him on everything. Obama, I didn’t agree with him on everything. And obviously President Trump,” says Graves. “We don’t agree on everything as well and that’s part of what representation is. I have the opportunity to be very parochial with my district and I can look out for, and always have, for the interest of my district.”

Graves says in this election, it’s unfortunate that the Postal Service has become political.

Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler and Congressmen Billy Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer and Jason Smith all voted against the plan.

It is expected to have an uphill battle in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has said the delivery of mail-in ballots was a “nonexistent problem.”

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Missouri Democrats rally virtually before Monday’s start of DNC

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The Democratic National Convention gets underway Monday in Milwaukee. The DNC has scheduled four nights, culminating in presumptive presidential candidate Joe Biden’s acceptance speech Thursday. The ongoing spike in coronavirus cases has forced most of the convention into an unprecedented virtual mode. Some party business will still take place in-person, but much of the event will be online.

During a virtual kickoff event tonight, Democrats from Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota came together to rally support for their local candidates and for Biden.

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City said he was not going to spend much time talking about President Donald Trump.

“I think that’s wasted thinking. I think that it gives me a headache. I don’t like to burp a lot. I don’t like to upchuck,” he said. “Because I have spent most of my life in ministry, I am obligated based on the Christian testament to pray for him – which I will.”

Cleaver said Trump is a “bad person and a danger to democracy.”

“He has inflicted pain on the country. He has inflicted pain internationally. These are some tough times,” said Cleaver. “And I would like to believe that Democrats flourish – that we flourish in bad times. In fact, we are bad time specialists and we are going elect a president who will become the CEO of eliminating bad stuff.”

On Twitter, Trump says the world would be laughing and taking full advantage of the United States if Joe Biden becomes president. Trump says America would collapse.

Cleaver ended by pumping up the party. He said Democrats are known for hanging in there and now is no different.

“Why do we need to hang on in there? Because Democrats have been able to hang in there, we have Medicare,” he said. “Because we have been able to hang in there, we have the minimum wage. Because we managed to hang in there, we’ve had the civil rights bill. We’ve had the Clean Air Act. We’ve had Social Security. We’ve had the creation of EEO. We’ve had the Voting Rights Act. We have had the delivery from the Great Depression. We hang on in there. That’s what we do as Democrats. We hang on in there and then we save the nation.”

State Auditor Nicole Galloway – the Democratic nominee for governor – participated in the event. She continued her criticism of opponent, Governor Mike Parson, and his handling of the coronavirus. She said government action to the virus will be on the November ballot.

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D)
(2017 file photo)

“Our response to it. The recovery from it. It will be the defining issue of our times,” said Galloway. “I believe if we are going to get back on our feet, get back to work and come out ahead, we have to start moving in a new direction.”

She said the COVID-19 crisis has put a spotlight on governors around the country due to an “absence of leadership in Washington, D.C.”

“Many governors are rising to the occasion. We have seen around the country what true leadership looks like. Unfortunately here in Missouri, that’s not what we’re seeing,” said Galloway. “I’m concerned that for Missourians recovering from the economic crisis, it will be harder here than in neighboring states – not because the virus has hit us harder but because this governor’s actions in the years leading up to the virus puts so many Missourians right on the edge economically. And now the virus has pushed them over the edge so deep in an economic black hole it will take years to dig out of.”

Parson has said Missouri is so diverse and local governments know what is best for their communities when it comes to slowing the spread of the virus. He has mostly let local leaders decide about what health requirements to enact.

The Republican National Convention will also be held mostly online the week of August 24 in North Carolina.

Missourinet will have coverage throughout both conventions from a variety of Missourians.

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Blunt discusses U.S. Senate GOP’s $1 trillion HEALS Act

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U.S. Senate Republicans have unveiled a $1 trillion coronavirus aid package. The HEALS Act includes $200 per week in unemployment benefits, more than $100 billion for schools, more funding for the small business Paycheck Protection Program and a liability shield to protect businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri

The plan would also give another $1,200 stimulus payment with similar eligibility requirements as the last one. Qualifying individuals earning a gross adjusted income up to $75,000 per year in 2019, and couples earning $150,000, would get the full $1,200 or $2,400. Individuals would also receive $500 for each dependent, just like under the CARES Act.

During a press conference in Washington, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, says the plan would provide $16 billion to help states cover COVID-19 testing.

“Our priority to help with testing through the states is to put a priority on elementary and secondary education, on higher education, on nursing homes and childcare facilities,” says Blunt.

Blunt says the package would give $15 billion to the nation’s childcare providers.

“As people get back to work, some people don’t want to send their kids. There will be some childcare expenses of distancing and other things that have to be done, but you can’t get back to work if you can’t get back to childcare for most families. And if you’re a working parent, particularly if you’re a working single parent, your biggest single problem is being sure that that childcare situation works,” says Blunt.

Congressional Democratic leaders say the bill should include hazard pay for essential workers, provide additional funding for food stamps and address the eviction crisis, among other things. Kansas City Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver hopped on Twitter to criticize the bill.

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Blunt repeats call for U.S. Justice Department to restore federal police reviews

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U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, is calling again for the U.S. Department of Justice to restore federal reviews of police departments to help root out misconduct and make changes. Since the death of George Floyd of Minnesota, adjusting police practices has received greater attention.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri

Blunt says he plans to co-sponsor South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott’s proposed changes to police departments. Scott’s plan would focus on police training and would withhold federal grant money if police departments do not ban the use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants, among other things.

During a press conference in Washington, Blunt says the president can step in and make a difference.

“An even more speedy way to respond than the legislative process is the executive branch doing what they can, as soon as they can, to make a difference. Many of you know I think that the Justice Department has real tools to go in and give advice to departments,” says Blunt. “Sometimes asked for, sometimes the Justice Department needs to insist that they be in there giving that advice,” says Blunt. “That’s not the national government taking over police, it’s the Justice Department looking at one department with a systemic problem and deciding they’re going to help solve that problem.”

Blunt and Missouri Democratic Congressmen Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver all say in the past, the federal agency has successfully used the process, including in Ferguson after Michael Brown, Jr. was killed.

Blunt’s office says U.S. Attorney General William Barr has not responded to Blunt’s request to reinstate the reviews.

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