MOScout Weekender: Senate Passes 3-Year FRA - Poll Finds Partisan Divide on Racism - Hallway Worries About Senate - WWTW and more...
Senate Passes FRA
After a long day and night, the Senate passed the FRA renewal. It was a three-year renewal. And it included language that prohibited funding for “any abortifacient drug or device that is used for the purpose of inducing an abortion.”
Sen. Bob Onder had pushed for stronger language, but it was defeated 12-21 with eleven Republicans (Bernskoetter, Brown, Cierpiot, Eslinger, Gannon, Hegeman, Hough, Riddle, Rowden, Schatz, and White) joining all ten Democrats.
Who Won the Week?
Jeanie Riddle and Jill Schupp – In the words of one hallway denizen: This week in the Senate was like watching a slinky fall down the stairs…together, apart, together, apart…but somehow nailed the landing. The women in the Senate don’t want the credit, but they deserve it. They were the difference tonight under bi-partisan leadership of Jeanie Riddle and Jill Schupp. More than anything they broke the stalemate and got Senators talking and listening to each other. And props to Wieland for hashing out a deal that got the ball rolling on a compromise.
Remington/MOScout Poll: General Issues
Survey conducted June 23 through June 24, 2021. 941 likely 2022 General Election voters participated in the survey. Survey weighted to match expected turnout demographics for the 2022 General Election. Margin of Error is +/-3% with a 95% level of confidence. Totals do not always equal 100% due to rounding. Survey conducted by Remington Research Group on behalf of Missouri Scout. See full results here.
Q1: Generally speaking, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your local school district?
Satisfied: 51%
Dissatisfied: 26%
Not sure: 23%
Q2: Have you been vaccinated for COVID-19 or do you plan to be vaccinated for COVID-19?
Vaccinated: 46%
Plan to get vaccinated: 26%
Do not plan to get vaccinated: 28%
Q3: Thinking about racism in today’s society; do you think it is hard to find or do you think it is widespread?
Hard to find: 32%
Widespread: 36%
Not sure: 32%
Q4: Thinking about the future; do you think the next generation of Americans will have a better quality of life or a worse quality of life than people today?
Better quality of life: 20%
Worse quality of life: 57%
About the same: 13%
Not sure: 10%
Q5: What is the greatest long-term threat to the American way of life?
The rise of China: 24%
Global warming: 17%
The national debt: 19%
Something else: 22%
Not sure: 18%
Q6: Do you believe aliens have visited our planet?
Yes: 28%
No: 47%
Not sure: 25%
MOScout’s Hallway Index: Next Session
I asked lobbyists… What's the biggest threat to a productive 2022 legislative session? 21 replies…
RESULTS
1. Factions in the Senate… 28.6%
2. House-Senate relations… 0%
3. 2nd floor-3rd floor relations... 4.8%
4. Individuals positioning for 2022 elections… 51.1%
5. Something else… 9.5%
Sample of Comments
· I have never seen three caucuses - and with the leadership issues- see big trouble ahead
· All of the above? It's an election year and I think dysfunction will be at an all-time high. Maybe folks will feel differently by January after they've had more of a break but relationships between members seem pretty bad right now.
· Too many candidates for too few offices will encourage ideology over pragmatism = dysfunction.
· The continuation of MRL as a wrecking ball to state government… MRL is just another membership organization that intimidates members to do things that will ultimately hurt citizens. I love listening to all the pro-life rhetoric without a single mention of elderly in nursing homes and people with disabilities who will be the carnage in the wake of another attack…
· If history is any indication, it’s not the relationships between the various bodies…house, senate, Governor. Those fights might result in some specific bills failing, but many still pass. It’s the Senate itself that can completely shut down a session…it happened a few years ago with Schaaf where just a few non-budget bills passed and to a some extent this past session.
· Conservative Caucus is going to dominate session while leadership runs for Congress.
· Senate factions are always going to cause problems, but Roy Blunt retiring really rocked the world of Missouri politics.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Kirk Mathews, Mark Coulter, Kurt Bahr, and Steve Cookson.
Sunday: May Scheve and Ross Branson.