U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Archives

Blunt says vote on SCOTUS nominee different than 2016

September 21, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday has unleashed a political brawl on Capitol Hill ahead of the November General Election. President Donald Trump says he plans to announce a nominee this week to fill the vacancy and vows to choose a woman.

From left: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, President Donald Trump, Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, says Trump’s nominee will receive a vote. Whether the vote will happen before or after November 3 is unknown but the comments have triggered cries of hypocrisy from Democrats.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, joined the CBS political show “Face the Nation” on Sunday to give his position on the matter. He defended his decision to begin the confirmation process.

“The Constitution is the Constitution. And, you know, it takes two things to replace a Supreme Court judge: one is the president has to nominate and two is the Senate has to determine that they want to deal with that issue at that time,” said Blunt. “And I don’t know that- even with President Obama I said not only will he nominate a replacement in this vacancy, but he probably has a constitutional obligation, just like President Trump does today, to make a nomination– President Trump will.”

Host Margaret Brennan referred to 2016 when she cited Blunt refusing to even meet with President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland.

“And you said at the time, Americans will be voting in just a few months and that election should help determine the next member of the Supreme Court. Why has your position changed? Is it simply because Republicans are in power,” asked Brennan.

Blunt referred to comments he said he made several times during the 2016 vacancy.

“Which is two things have to happen for a person to go on the Supreme Court. And in the tradition of the country, when the Senate and the president were in political agreement, no matter what was the election situation, the judges went on the Court and other courts. When they weren’t in agreement, they didn’t. And we were in a situation in 2016 where the White House was controlled by one party, the Senate by another. And the referee in that case was going to be the American people. In this case, both the- the White House and the Senate have some obligation to do what they think in the majority in the Senate is the right thing to do. And there is a Senate majority put there by voters,” said Blunt.

Should we expect the hearings to start before November 3rd?

“You know, I don’t know. That’ll be up to when we- when we get the nominee, what kind of vetting needs to be done,” he said. “If we get it this week, what kind of vetting needs to be done and then what Chairman (Lindsey) Graham, R-South Carolina, decides he can do. This should take as long as it needs to take,” said Blunt.

He has not heard whether a hearing will be held before Election Day.

“This should take as long as it needs to take, but no longer. There is plenty of time to get this done. But to get it done before Election Day, everything has to work, I think, pretty precisely. There- Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed, nominated and confirmed, in 40 days. Other justices have taken longer than that. And I don’t know how this process will move forward,” he said.

The current U.S. Senate party breakdown is 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and 2 Independents who caucus with Democrats. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has said the upper chamber should note vote to confirm Ginsburg’s successor before the election. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said ahead of reports of Ginsburg’s death that she would not vote to confirm a nominee before the election. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a call with Iowa reporters in July that he would not recommend holding a hearing on a candidate.

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

September 1, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

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.”

(VIDEO) Highlights from today’s coronavirus briefing in Missouri

April 22, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson says almost every Missouri business will be able to reopen their doors May 4. During a virtual coronavirus briefing today, the governor says he’s developing policies and guidelines for communities to follow.

Gov. Parson (Photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

“Social distancing is going to be important,” says Parson. “That’s going to be a key role to how we move forward and I think it’s sort of important that we maintain that social distancing for some time. There will be guidelines we will give to cities, the counties across the state for state policy and it will be where people can get out again.”

St. Louis City, St. Louis County have indefinitely extended their stay-at-home orders. Kansas City’s runs until May 15.

Missouri reports today at least 208 coronavirus related deaths and more than 6,100 people have tested positive for the disease. More than half of the cases are from St. Louis City and St. Louis County.

Beginning next week, the state will use a machine to decontaminate up to 80,000 N95 masks per day. Parson says the device will help with the state’s mask shortage and prevent the spread the coronavirus.

“Hospitals, healthcare providers and first responders will have the opportunity to utilize the Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System to safely decontaminate N95 masks,” says Parson.

Missouri MO Health Net Director Todd Richardson (Photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Missouri Medicaid Director Todd Richardson says a federal grant paid for the entire cost of the cleaning system. The state is expected to have the device for at least the next six months.

“This system uses hydrogen peroxide vapor to sanitize N95 masks up to 20 times per mask,” says Richardson. “The Battelle Decontamination System will bolster our supply of necessary PPE.”

There will be up to 13 drop-off and pick-up sites statewide for health care providers and first responders to drop off their N95 masks. Each organization will be responsible for correctly and safely packaging their contaminated masks and labeling them according to the directions provided by Battelle. The masks are then returned to the original drop-off/pick-up site approximately 72 hours following drop-off.

Any health care or first responder organization interested in using the Battelle CCDS to decontaminate N95 masks should enroll at www.battelle.org/N95.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams (Photo courtesy of governor’s Flickr page)

Missouri is moving to a new phase that will boost coronavirus testing in congregated places with an outbreak, such as assisted living centers and nursing homes. State Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams says the focus needs to be on these places due to the number of deaths occurring from within.

“And so if you’re going to do that, you start moving into what we call comprehensive testing – very similar to what we did this weekend in which you go in and you test a lot of people and you test them quick,” says Williams.

A Festus nursing home near St. Louis has had at least 64 cases and several other nursing homes and assisted living centers have reported coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, says he would rather let states struggling from the coronavirus declare bankruptcy instead of increasing federal aid that would require further deficit spending. Parson says he does not think states should be able to file for bankruptcy.

“I think the states should be responsible for how you spend your money and because you did a poor job of managing it, whatever those states may be, I don’t think the federal government should come and bail you out,” says Parson.

Current law does not allows states to declare bankruptcy.

Today’s briefing: