Author: Mark Holguin

Sen. Paul Wieland returns to Politically Speaking to talk with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about some of the big policy fights of the 2021 legislative session.

Wieland represents Missouri’s 22nd District, which takes in a portion of Jefferson County. He was first elected in 2014 after serving in the Missouri House and reelected in 2018. Wieland is one of the few Missouri lawmakers who served in the General Assembly when Democrats controlled the legislature, as he represented a Jefferson County-based House district in the 1990s.

Here’s what Wieland talked about on the podcast:

• His bid to have Missouri’s Medicaid program not pay for certain birth control products. He has sought to place that amendment onto legislation authorizing a tax that hospitals pay to help get federal money for Medicaid.
• His opposition to Todd Graves’ appointment to the University of Missouri System Board of Curators. Graves, a former U.S. attorney and Missouri Republican Party chairman, was eventually confirmed after a long filibuster.
• Gov. Mike Parson’s relationship with the General Assembly. Parson entered office with high hopes of improving the relationship between the executive and legislative branches. But there’s been some high-profile spats over the past year, including a blowup over the venue for the governor’s State of the State speech.
• The potential scenarios that could go forward now that the legislature decided against funding Medicaid expansion.

Wieland has a long history in Jefferson County politics. He was elected to the House in 1994, but lost reelection two years later. After more than a decade out of state politics, Wieland made a comeback in 2010 when he defeated Rep. Jeff Roorda to represent a northern part of the county in the House.

Four years later, Roorda and Wieland squared off in a bid for the 22nd District seat. It was one of the most expensive contests of 2014 with Wieland, who spent more than $900,000, winning by more than 3,400 votes.

Since entering the Senate, Wieland has voted against some curbs on organized labor — including a high-profile bid to bar unions and employers from requiring workers to pay dues. He’s also emerged as an opponent of abortion rights and part of a group of GOP lawmakers who oppose the death penalty.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Paul Wieland on Twitter: @WielandNow

Democratic Representative Cori Bush made history when she became the first Black Congresswoman for Missouri, unseating the Clay political dynasty. She brought her background as a nurse, activist, organizer, single mom and pastor to her new role and has jumped headfirst into advocating for issues ranging from reparations for Black Americans to taxing billionaires to Medicare for All. She teamed up with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth to introduce a bill that would bring together federal agencies and create a mapping tool to help allocate environmental funding from the Biden administration. Just last week, she also joined forces with New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce a $1 trillion dollar bill to fund environmental justice projects for the next four years. In this episode, we’ll hear from Senator Tammy Duckworth and Congresswoman Cori Bush about three major environmental justice bills: the Environmental Justice for All Act, the Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act, and the Green New Deal for Cities Act.

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This episode was a collaboration with Jason Rosenbaum, St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent and co-host of the Politically Speaking podcast. You can listen to the Politically Speaking episodes with Senator Duckworth and Congresswoman Bush at stlpr.org or anywhere you get podcasts.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, joined Politically Speaking, talking with St. Louis Public Radio’s Eric Schmid, Jia Lian Yang and Lauren Brown about her environmental justice legislation.

Duckworth was first elected to the Senate in 2016, defeating incumbent Republican Mark Kirk in a landslide. Before becoming a senator, Duckworth served in the House for four years representing a suburban Chicago district. She’s up for reelection in 2022.

Here’s what Duckworth talked about on the program:

• Details of the Environmental Justice for All Act, including how the legislation would improve outdoor areas in low-income and minority communities.
• The ways the legislation would change how the Environmental Protection Agency administers the industrial and business permitting processes. It would have to take into account the total effect on a community.
• How environmental issues have been an endemic problem in Metro East communities like Centreville. Residents in that town have been struggling with consistent raw sewage floods on their property.

Duckworth gained national attention when she became the first American woman to be a double amputee from injuries suffered while serving in the Iraq War. She was in the military for more than 20 years, carrying on a family tradition of service that stretches back to the Revolutionary War.

She first ran for office in 2006, losing a closely watched congressional race against Republican Peter Roskam. Six years later, she made an electoral comeback when she defeated incumbent Joe Walsh in Illinois’ 8th District. She defeated Kirk four years later.

Duckworth serves on the Armed Forces, Commerce and Environment and Public Works committees.

You can listen to an episode of We Live Here that details the efforts of Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis County, to pursue environmental justice legislation later this week.

Follow We Live Here on Twitter: @WeLiveHereSTL

Follow Eric Schmid on Twitter: @EricDSchmid

Follow Tammy Duckworth: @SenDuckworth

In a collaboration with St. Louis Public Radio’s “We Live Here,” St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum, Jia Lian Yang and Lauren Brown spoke with U.S. Rep. Cori Bush about two pieces of environmental legislation that she proposed in her first few months in office.

The Democrat represents Missouri’s 1st District, which takes in St. Louis and parts of St. Louis County. She was first elected last year, toppling longtime incumbent Lacy Clay, and is the first Black woman to ever represent a Missouri congressional district.

Here’s what Bush talked about on the show:

• Her legislation that would prompt federal agencies to map out environmental issues. It’s a proposal that she’s working on with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, that’s similar to what President Joe Biden laid out in a recent executive order.
• Whether overhauling or getting rid of the filibuster would help get some of her environmental legislation across the finish line. She also talked about whether some of her Green New Deal for Cities could make it into Biden’s infrastructure legislation.
• Bush, who was a supporter of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, detailed how her office has collaborated with the White House over the past few months. She said that she’s received a warm welcome in Congress, notably getting high-profile assignments on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees.

Bush is a north St. Louis County native who worked as a nurse before running for office. Her father, Erroll Bush, has been involved in Northwoods municipal politics for many years and currently serves on that town’s Board of Aldermen.

Bush burst into the public eye as an activist who protested in Ferguson. She first ran for office in 2016, losing in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary to then-Secretary of State Jason Kander. After losing to Clay in 2018, Bush defeated him in the 2020 primary and easily won the general election.

“We Live Here” will release an episode featuring both Bush and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, later this week. A Politically Speaking featuring Duckworth will be posted in the coming days.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow We Live Here on Twitter: @WeLiveHereSTL

Follow Cori Bush on Twitter: @RepCori

We wanted to share the stories of the people who are at the heart of the environmental justice movement: urban farmers. In St. Louis, urban farmers have made great strides and continue to educate the next generation about the importance of growing their own food. In this bonus episode, we visit an urban farm, then hear from a food justice director advocating for a healthier environment and the founder of a nonprofit that provides equitable access to food, education, and employment.