By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson doesn’t expect much from this legislative session.
Parson, a Republican, says the legislature likely will complete its main task, passing the state budget, and not much else.
“Look, it’s a political year, I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of movement out of anything too much,” Parson tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “I hope we get the budget done. If we get that done, across the finish line, I think that’s the main, number one issue that we have to get done. We’ll see what else happens with some of the other legislation out there, but it’s too early to find out what’s going to get across the finish line.”
The big hold up in Jefferson City is the Missouri Senate. Very conservative Republican state senators have broken away from Republican leadership to create their own caucus: the Freedom Caucus. That Freedom Caucus has shut down the Senate at times with filibusters, holding hostage a host of bills, limiting what the legislature has approved this session.
Parson says little is getting done in Jefferson City, because of politics with some senators, the governor believes, holding up legislation and launching filibusters to raise their own profiles going into this election year.
Parson worries national politics will also take its toll.
“There’s a lot of division on the federal level,” Parson says. “We just hope that that don’t really get down to the state level and we start just dividing up amongst ourselves and fighting, in-fighting along with just all the other political things you’ve got to deal with. Everybody just needs to sit back and take a step back and say, look, we got sent up here by the people of Missouri. We’re supposed to be here representing them, not our personal careers or not who we think we are, but you just got to remember we’re public servants.”
Parson, a former state senator, suggests a little reflection, especially on the first day they entered the state Capitol in Jefferson City, would do legislators a lot of good.
“Everybody needs to go back to that day when they first entered that building, realize how humble they were to be there and remember that’s what the real reason we’re there for.”
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.