BuzzChatter Friday: Tax-cut politics return to Missouri in a hurry
We made it! Here’s to the weekend ahead — one week before the Super Bowl: (Denver’s gonna win).
• “This is different than last year’s bills in that it only addresses taxes paid by individuals.” — Missouri state Sen. Will Kraus, a Lee’s Summit Republican, touting his revised tax-cut bill. A similar bill Kraus sponsored last year came close to becoming law, but Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed it. The Senate Ways and Means Committee signed off on his new bill Thursday.
“Last year, the people of Missouri spoke out clearly that they want good schools and good jobs, not risky experiments that funnel money away from public education. But some members of the Legislature are back at it again, trying to take even more funding away from our schools and more opportunities away from our children with a billion-dollar experiment.” — Gov. Jay Nixon reacting to the committee’s vote later Thursday.
Here we go again. Tax-cut politics are back in full swing in Missouri. Nixon wants to re-form the same coalition that helped him defeat Kraus’ tax bill last year. He says the cut would take money out of schools, and that’s unacceptable. Kraus contends that Missourians are due a tax cut, and that he’s addressed issues that caused problems in last year’s bill. This appears to be the session’s defining issue — AGAIN.• “Fulton State Mental Hospital is Missouri’s only maximum security psychiatric facility -- a facility is crumbling and in desperate need of replacement.” — Nixon touting his plan to borrow $198 million to build a new center.
• “The Supreme Court is clear: The United States Constitution is the law of the land, the supreme law of the land. I believe the freedom to marry is a fundamental right and I intend to ensure that Virginia is on the right side of history and the right side of the law.” — Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring
to seek a federal court order striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, which he said is unconstitutional.
The gay marriage parade continues. Republicans in Virginia are vowing to fight Herring, contending that he’s overstepping the powers of his office. Herring, by the way, voted against same-sex marriage as a state senator eight years ago, but has since said he’s changed his mind.• “If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it.” — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee urging Republicans to take a more combative attitude toward winning the women’s vote. He spoke at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee in Washington.
If Huckabee wants more combative talk, he started things off in a hurry. But suggesting that some women can’t control their sex drives might not be the best way to woo female voters.This story was originally published January 24, 2014 at 6:00 AM with the headline "BuzzChatter Friday: Tax-cut politics return to Missouri in a hurry."