Ashcroft: Legislature Adjourns with A Whimper
As the Missouri legislature limps out of a disappointing session, Republican voters have to wonder what’s missing?
Republicans control every statewide office in a state Donald Trump won by fifteen points. Both chambers of the legislature have 2/3 Republican supermajorities and Democrats are bystanders to the policy-making process. Yet you’d look at the results and wonder if Republicans are actually in charge?
For starters, the explosion in government spending is hard to fathom in a Republican stronghold. In 2018, our state budget was $28 billion dollars. Last week, the legislature closed the books on a jaw-dropping $51 billion budget. Even as deep blue Democratic states like Illinois grew just 25% over the same five-year period, Missouri nearly doubled government spending.
While massive government spending increases united Jefferson City lobbyists and politicians, the massive threat from China seems to be uniting Republicans and Democrats in Washington. It was just a few months ago that a Chinese spy balloon flew over Missouri, was allowed to continue gathering intelligence by the Biden Administration and was then shot down off the Atlantic Coast.
Recognizing the threat here in Missouri, the House passed legislation that my office helped write to prevent China, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and North Korea from buying or owning Missouri land. But in the final weeks of the session, the Senate added a loophole, with support from Senator Bill Eigel, inexplicably allowing each of these countries to buy as much Missouri land as they want as long as they don’t use it for farming. That loophole blew up the bill and ended our chances to protect Missouri land in 2023.
While the legislature did pass a ban on biological males competing in women’s sports, they allowed it to expire in four years. As the father of a young daughter, I testified before the legislature for a permanent ban because I think every female deserves to have their rights and opportunities protected. As Governor this will be a priority.
The legislature also advanced a flawed bill to ban sex changes for children, allowing it to also expire in four years. If we believe these things are wrong, why would we add provisions that allow these protections to end? As Governor, Missouri parents will know they have an ally who will make sure our kids are protected from this contagion.
The legislature also let our kids down by failing to pass an open education enrollment bill, giving parents more flexibility in putting their children in schools and academic settings that best serve them. The education bureaucracy is too focused on inputs, and not enough on outputs, and it is time we gave parents more say in their kids’ educational development. Republicans have long carried the banner of school choice advocates but when push came to shove, it didn’t get done. I’ve been a long-time advocate for school choice and will prioritize it in my administration.
When Republican voters look at the long list of failures in Jefferson City this legislative session and ask what’s missing, it is the conservative leadership that those who voted for us expect of us. Republicans cannot continue to fumble the ball when so much is at stake. I’m running for Governor to lead Republicans in creating more opportunity for Missouri families, better jobs for Missouri workers, stronger schools for Missouri children, while defending time-tested values that have made America the greatest country in the world.
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