Latest news with #EmanuelCleaver
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘An attack on working class families': Missouri Democrats decry proposed Medicaid cuts
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver speaks at Uptown Theater on Nov. 8, 2016 Kansas City (Photo by). Missouri's Democratic members of Congress decried the proposed GOP cuts to Medicaid in a press briefing Wednesday, calling the move a handout to the rich that would harm the state's most vulnerable. The U.S. House is debating a massive reconciliation package that, as written now, would slash roughly $800 billion from Medicaid and Affordable Care Act provisions, and $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, according to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat who represents a district which includes Kansas City, said the proposed changes would have 'disastrous consequences' in Missouri, where Medicaid access can be a 'matter of life or death' for millions of enrollees. 'It will lead to sicker and more pain-filled communities. It will be a massive economic weight holding down Missouri families and small businesses alike, as more of our neighbors are stricken with increased medical debt,' Cleaver said. The Congressional Budget Office found the House's plan would result in the lowest-earning households seeing resources decrease while the highest-earners gain. One in five Missourians is on Medicaid, or over 1.2 million people. Missouri's Medicaid program covers 39% of all children in the state and pays for two-thirds of nursing home care. Congressman Wesley Bell, a Democrat who represents the district including St. Louis, said Medicaid cuts would cause people to delay care. 'Medicaid serves as a stabilizing force for entire communities, and when it's cut, the consequences show up everywhere, from overcrowded ERs to delayed treatment and preventable illness,' Bell said. 'And when those folks don't have access to quality health care and preventative medicine, they go to the ER so we're going to pay for it one way or the other.' The GOP budget includes adding work requirements and other changes to Medicaid that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would boot millions nationally from the rolls. In Missouri, work requirements alone could kick over 90,000 people off the rolls, many of whom would be working or eligible for an exception but get caught up in red tape. The changes taken together, including proposed increased eligibility checks and limitations on state-levied provider taxes, could remove around 166,000 people from the rolls in Missouri, a KFF analysis found. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley has been a rare Republican voice against Medicaid cuts, calling them morally and politically wrong. 'Far be it for me to agree with Senator Hawley, but his point is well taken,' Bell said. 'This is a slap in the face. It is an attack on working class families.' The bill is still being hashed out. It would also cut billions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides food aid to low-income people and families. 'We all know what's at stake,' Bell said. 'We all know the folks who are at stake are some of our most vulnerable folks, seniors, children, working families. So we hope and expect that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle do the right thing.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Four-term US Sen. Christopher 'Kit' Bond remembered for training a generation of Missouri leaders
Christopher 'Kit' Bond, a Republican who was Missouri 's youngest governor before serving four terms in the U.S. Senate, was remembered Tuesday as a beloved statesman who helped train a generation of leaders. The Missouri State Highway Patrol escorted his body from St. Louis, where he died last week at the age of 86, to the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, where hundreds of people gathered for a memorial service. Bond is to lie in state through Wednesday so members of the public can pay their respects. 'Over and over again, Kit launched the careers of young people, talented, committed, dedicated people who later, after appointment, found opportunity beckoning them to achievement levels they hadn't anticipated,' said John Ashcroft, who was a governor, senator and attorney general under President George W. Bush. 'Kit was a person of both individual and governmental integrity. I have no recollection of anytime where Kit failed to live up to his commitments.' As a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond secured federal money for big and small projects in Missouri, scoffing at government watchdog groups that considered him a master of pork-barrel spending. Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver recalled that while he was serving as mayor of Kansas City, a monument to honor World War I veterans known as Liberty Memorial had fallen into disrepair. He likened the 217-foot (66-meter) tall structure that was built after a burst of postwar patriotism to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He said Bond stepped in with federal dollars to help restore it. 'Working together as friends was the propellant that allowed us, with others, to alter the landscape of Kansas City,' Cleaver said. Early in his career, Bond was considered a political wunderkind. When he took office at age 33 as Missouri's youngest governor, he was also the state's first Republican chief executive in about three decades and garnered consideration as a vice presidential candidate. His early success stalled when he lost a reelection bid, but he later rebounded to win another term as governor before being elected to the Senate in 1986 and eventually becoming the patriarch of the Missouri Republican Party. Testaments to Bond's longevity in the public arena are stamped across Missouri. A federal courthouse in Jefferson City and a life sciences center at the University of Missouri-Columbia are named after him. A highway bridge crossing the Missouri River in Hermann and one in Kansas City also carry his name. 'Kit Bond was an exceptional person who was blessed with many talents," said former U.S. Sen. John Danforth. 'He was very smart. He was highly educated. He had boundless energy. He wanted for nothing. He could have clung on to what was his and lived comfortably only for himself. But that was not what he did. He invested his talents, put them at risk, and he produced such a great return to the state.' ___ Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri.
Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Four-term US Sen. Christopher 'Kit' Bond remembered for training a generation of Missouri leaders
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Christopher 'Kit' Bond, a Republican who was Missouri's youngest governor before serving four terms in the U.S. Senate, was remembered Tuesday as a beloved statesman who helped train a generation of leaders. The Missouri State Highway Patrol escorted his body from St. Louis, where he died last week at the age of 86, to the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, where hundreds of people gathered for a memorial service. Bond is to lie in state through Wednesday so members of the public can pay their respects. 'Over and over again, Kit launched the careers of young people, talented, committed, dedicated people who later, after appointment, found opportunity beckoning them to achievement levels they hadn't anticipated,' said John Ashcroft, who was a governor, senator and attorney general under President George W. Bush. 'Kit was a person of both individual and governmental integrity. I have no recollection of anytime where Kit failed to live up to his commitments.' As a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond secured federal money for big and small projects in Missouri, scoffing at government watchdog groups that considered him a master of pork-barrel spending. Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver recalled that while he was serving as mayor of Kansas City, a monument to honor World War I veterans known as Liberty Memorial had fallen into disrepair. He likened the 217-foot (66-meter) tall structure that was built after a burst of postwar patriotism to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He said Bond stepped in with federal dollars to help restore it. 'Working together as friends was the propellant that allowed us, with others, to alter the landscape of Kansas City,' Cleaver said. Early in his career, Bond was considered a political wunderkind. When he took office at age 33 as Missouri's youngest governor, he was also the state's first Republican chief executive in about three decades and garnered consideration as a vice presidential candidate. His early success stalled when he lost a reelection bid, but he later rebounded to win another term as governor before being elected to the Senate in 1986 and eventually becoming the patriarch of the Missouri Republican Party. Testaments to Bond's longevity in the public arena are stamped across Missouri. A federal courthouse in Jefferson City and a life sciences center at the University of Missouri-Columbia are named after him. A highway bridge crossing the Missouri River in Hermann and one in Kansas City also carry his name. 'Kit Bond was an exceptional person who was blessed with many talents,' said former U.S. Sen. John Danforth. 'He was very smart. He was highly educated. He had boundless energy. He wanted for nothing. He could have clung on to what was his and lived comfortably only for himself. But that was not what he did. He invested his talents, put them at risk, and he produced such a great return to the state.' ___ Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Cleaver on budget battles; latest on City Manager Brian Platt
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Congress is wrapping up its spring break and headed back to work in Washington Monday. Having passed a resolution that keeps the government open until September, budget battles will be front and center. See the latest headlines in Kansas City and across Kansas, Missouri This week Democrat Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri's 5th District joins us to talk about why he voted 'no' on the resolution and discusses efforts by the Trump administration to cut jobs and agencies. Then, joins to discuss the fate of Kansas City Manager Brian Platt. The council , but Mayor Quinton Lucas says issues should be resolved in a matter of days, not months. Malik Jackson, who's been covering the story, shares his insights. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver hosts tele-town hall on concerns in U.S. Congress
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Concerns in Congress was at the forefront of a tele-town hall meeting Thursday night hosted by Missouri's 5th District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. Joining Cleaver during the tele-town hall, Wil Franklin, the CEO of KC Care, a nonprofit community health clinic and local attorney, Michael Sharma-Crawford, who works in immigration laws. The calls were taken from Kansas Citians, asking questions about the immigration laws and the future of Medicaid. 'That's something I didn't think they would touch but they have and so that's going to be something we will not back up on,' Cleaver said. Video shows speeding snow plow driver clearing Kansas City street too quickly President Donald Trump said he wants to protect Medicaid, but that clashes with the House GOP's budget plan, which appears to cut Medicaid over the next decade. The effects of cutting of the program were discussed on Thursday. 'One in five Missourians are covered by Medicaid and the current budget proposal has significant cuts to Medicaid that would significantly not just health care access in Missouri but also to the states budget,' Franklin said. Attorneys on the call answered questions about how long Visa approvals are taking. 'There's a huge backlog in visas and unless we can get a change to the visas numbers or a change in the way they deal with the unused visas at the end of the year those backlogs are going to get longer and longer,' Sharma-Crawford said. Cleaver said he's also been flooded with phone calls from people with and ramping up . Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android 'Immigration is about a lot of things but it is also about making sure our economy can move and our economy moving is connected to having a sensible immigration policy,' Cleaver said. Cleaver said he plans on hosting another tele-town hall soon and will have someone else form Congress join in. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
