Top Mass. Senate Dem Spilka to Boston biz leaders: ‘You must speak up'
The top Democrat in the Massachusetts state Senate made a direct appeal to the upper crust of Boston leaders on Wednesday, urging them to 'speak up' as the Republican Trump administration does battle with the Bay State over trade, federal funding and other key issues.
Speaking to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in Boston's Seaport neighborhood, Senate President Karen E. Spilka called on those business leaders to use their combined clout and their voices to 'speak up.'
" I hope you will all use your collective voices to let the Trump Administration, Congress, and the federal government know when their policies are harming your businesses, your employees, your families and your bottom lines—as well as the state we are lucky enough to call home," Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, said in remarks that stretched to 33 minutes.
The business group, she noted, represents 1,200 organizations that include large and small corporations, nonprofit groups, and law firms, adding that she could "only imagine the billions of dollars in economic activity you represent when taken all together."
So, while the Senate will do "all we can to uphold the rule of law, separation of powers and due process, but we are limited in what we can do and we can't do it alone,' she continued, casting that effort against the recent celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington.
'That's why we need your partnership more than ever to call out, when appropriate, a president who wants to be king and a Congress that is handing over its power to that president,' she said.
The Ashland Democrat has emerged as one of the most forceful legislative critics of the Republican White House, repeatedly denouncing what she has described as the destructive impact of its policies on Massachusetts.
Spilka beat that same drum during her speech to business leaders, saying she fears that "the massive changes being made by this administration at the federal level are not just reshaping our government, they are also threatening our way of life and our basic democratic principles."
That's easy to see, she continued, 'when you think of our most vulnerable residents, families with children with complex medical needs, and our veterans—among others—who rely on government programs like Medicaid, Head Start or the VA. Or when you think of the people—surely some of you in this room—who have had to fight to be afforded the same rights and privileges as other Americans."
But because she was in a room full of numbers people, Spilka also made a starkly economic argument, noting that 'chaos' brought on by the White House's trade war is " also a threat to our economy — and not just because economies crave stability.'
'Just this past fall—practically a lifetime ago at this point— two MIT economists, together with their colleague from the University of Chicago —won the Nobel prize in economics for their work to show that over time, open, inclusive and democratic countries have stronger economies," she said.
The argument echoed those made by other Bay State pols, including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that Trump's attacks on Harvard University would punch a hole in the state's economy, prompting researchers and innovators to flee to other countries.
On Tuesday, Senate Democrats rolled out a $61.3 billion, no-tax-hike budget plan for the new fiscal year that starts July 1, which is premised heavily on federal funding.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the Senate's top budget-writer warned of potentially catastrophic consequences if Washington carries through on a threat to turn off the spigot.
That's particularly true of MassHealth, a budget beast that serves millions of state residents, Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Michael Rodriques, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth, said.
If the feds hit Medicaid, 'all bets are off‚' Rodriques said.
On Tuesday night, states appeared to get a reprieve, as congressional Republicans ruled out some Medicaid reductions, putting the burden on Trump's loyalists to look elsewhere to pay for the White House's tax cuts, according to Roll Call.
Spilka hit the high points of the majority-Democrat chamber's fiscal blueprint: More money for public education, an effort to tame the state's housing crisis, and public transportation.
But, she warned, 'no state, not even one as strong and resilient as Massachusetts, can fill the massive budget gaps that could arise if federal dollars are stripped away.'
If that happens, she continued, 'it will put serious pressure on our budget, our families, our communities, and our businesses.'
The Senate is scheduled to start debate on its budget proposal on May 20. The majority Democrat House passed its $61.4 billion version of the budget last week. Both proposals are below the $62 billion that Healey proposed earlier this year.
'As we navigate the coming months and years, we truly will need to continue to work closely together to solve the most pressing problems before us and stand up for the state that we love,' Spilka told the crowd.
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