Archive for May 2023

The latest episode of Politically Speaking features U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt discussing his initial impressions of federal legislative service and the ongoing standoff over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

After serving as a state senator, state treasurer and attorney general, Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate last year to succeed Roy Blunt. He currently serves on the Senate Armed Services and Commerce committees.

Here’s what Schmitt talked about during the show:

• How he is one of several GOP senators who oppose raising the debt ceiling without major changes to federal spending policies. While that stance clashes with President Joe Biden and the Democratic majority in the Senate, Schmitt said he’s optimistic that a deal will be beneficial toward curbing spending.
• His initial impressions of serving in the Senate. This marks the first time Schmitt has ever served in the political minority, limiting his ability to enact his policy goals. But since the Senate is closely divided, Schmitt says there are still opportunities to make an impact, including on presidential nominations.
• His legislation aimed at reducing administrative rules that come out of federal agencies. The bill would require administrative agencies that issue a new regulation to repeal three existing regulations before the new one takes effect.
• His bill that would remove what’s known as Section 230 protections for technology companies if they are found to be “colluding with the government to censor speech.” Section 230 provides general immunity to technology companies for third-party content generated by users.

Schmitt is an attorney who was first elected as a state senator in 2008. After reaching his term limit in 2016, he successfully ran for state treasurer and served in that post until Gov. Mike Parson appointed him attorney general in early 2019.

After winning a full term as attorney general, Schmitt entered a crowded primary to succeed Blunt. His main rivals were former Gov. Eric Greitens and then-Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler. Schmitt emerged victorious in the GOP primary and went on to soundly defeat Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine in the 2022 general election.

Tom Oldenburg doesn’t plan to stay an alderman forever.

“I don’t have any aspirations beyond the city of St. Louis. That is a fact,” he said. “But there’s always the itch in the back of my mind to stay as an urbanist and go citywide.”

But when the 2023 election cycle rolled around, he decided his experience was needed in the Board of Aldermen chambers to make the transition to 14 aldermen – “effectively a new government” – easier.

Even though the job of alderman now pays $72,000, Oldenburg plans to remain in his role as a vice president at US Bancorp Community Development Corporation, which is permitted under the new pay bill.

“I think that’s wisdom for the founding fathers and mothers of our city that have said, ‘We want aldermen to seek other employment so they can bring their subject matter expertise to the board,’” he said.

Here’s what else Oldenburg discussed on Politically Speaking:

• How his role at the development corporation enables him to understand the difficulty involved in bringing financing together for economic development. “It’s hard work,” he said. “You have to gain the trust of the sponsors of a particular project, the trust of the community where the given project is, and you’ve got to move all those folks together in a collaborative way that produces a project at the end of the day that creates tax revenue for cities but also has a deeper community impact.”
• Oldenburg was one of two aldermen eligible to chair permanent committees who were not chosen to do so. “It was unexpected. But look, the rules changed,” he said. And he added that he’s happy with his assignments on the budget and public safety committees.
• Even though he was not chosen to chair a permanent committee, Oldenburg has been asked to lead a special committee on reducing red tape in the city. While he jokes that the most boring politicians always get the good government assignments, a self-deprecating reference to Al Gore’s 1993 commission on red tape, he said there is a lot of work to do. “I think there’s alignment with my colleagues and with the president’s priorities and the mayor’s priorities, quite frankly, around how do we grow wealth, particularly how do we grow BIPOC and Black wealth,” he said.

On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, Sen. Lauren Arthur talks about the just-completed budget and unfinished business as the 2023 session starts its last week.

Arthur represents the 17th District, which takes in a portion of Clay County. She was first elected to her post in a 2018 special election and reelected to a full term in 2020. Because of term limits, she will not be eligible to run again for the Senate in 2024.

Here’s what Arthur talked about on the program:

• A member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she discussed how Senate Republicans teamed up with House and Senate Democrats to prevail on most of the contentious issues around the state budget.
• The impact of a proposal adding another lane in each direction to Interstate 70. The project, which is expected to cost around $2.8 billion, is one of the biggest transportation-related moves made by the legislature in decades.
• Arthur is the handler of a tax credits bill aimed at shoring up the state’s day care centers. She said that she’s been frustrated by Republican opposition to these ideas, especially since child care can often be critical for working parents.
• The status of a bill creating an open enrollment program for public schools and another banning gender-affirming care for minors. 

Arthur is a native of the so-called Northland, the part of Kansas City that’s north of downtown. She graduated from Smith College with a degree in history and worked as a teacher and in the advertising industry.

Many see Arthur as a potential candidate for statewide office once she leaves the Senate after 2024, though she has made no announcement about her future.

U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, of Illinois’ 12th District, recently returned to Washington, D.C., after a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, where the Border Patrol is struggling with an uptick in agent suicide, he said.

Many of those agents are veterans. As chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Bost said that’s concerning.

More broadly, figuring out how to make the system at the border better is a tough subject, Bost said.

“There’s sensible things we can do — but the politics of it has got so bad that you can’t get anybody to sit down and agree on anything with that,” he said.

The five-term congressman, whose expansive district includes part of the Metro East, talked about the border and a variety of other key issues on the latest episode of the Politically Speaking podcast, including:

• What role migrant farm labor should play in immigration reform.
• The ongoing debate surrounding the country’s debt ceiling and how Republicans want to negotiate with President Joe Biden and Democrats.
• If a primary challenge by Darren Bailey, the former GOP nominee for governor, would concern Bost.

Bost was first elected to the U.S. House in 2014 — flipping a longtime Democratic stronghold. Previously, he served 20 years in the Illinois statehouse. After Democrats redrew Illinois’ districts in 2021, Bost’s 12th district became an apparent lock for Republicans.