Republicans Behaving Badly-The Saga Continues.
The GOP is on a rampage.
Alabama
Alabama lawmakers just passed a law banning almost all abortions, with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Doctors who perform an abortion for any reason other than the pregnant person's life being at risk could face up to 99 years in prison.
The Alabama bill comes on the heels of a wave of
“heartbeat” bills that ban abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks. Georgia just passed a bill that would lead to criminal charges for women who seek abortions or miscarry. (What?!)
A sponsor of the Alabama bill (and WOMAN!!) Republican state Rep. Terri Collins,
told the Washington Post that while she empathized with survivors of rape and incest, the lack of exceptions for those scenarios was necessary in order to force federal courts to intervene on the bill.
“What I’m trying to do here is get this case in front of the Supreme Court so Roe v. Wade can be overturned,” she said.
If you are like me, you are asking yourself, “How did we get here?” The answer is this. Republicans have been playing dirty for years and Democrats have been letting them get away with it.
Republican leaders have been slowly and methodically stripping away and ignoring rules to get their way. In the new abortion ban, Alabama GOP legislatures tried to sneak through the part about denying victims of incest or rape an abortion without a roll-call vote.
Georgia’s own terrible anti-abortion bill was signed by Governor Brian Kemp. He recently came to office under some pretty suspicious circumstances. Remember, he was running for governor and refused to give up his position as Secretary of State. Remember how he disenfranchised (mostly black, poor, Democratic) voters in his very own election?
Think of the Supreme Court which now has a two young, ultra-conservative judges thanks to the fact that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to seat President Obama’s choice, Merrick Garland. McConnell also used the “Nuclear Option” to get Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh in with only a majority in the Senate. McConnell got rid of the “Blue Slip” rule that allowed Senators to object to a judicial nominee from their state. Now our judicial branches being stacked with ultra right-wing, conservative judges who received life-long appointments.
Don’t forget that right now, lots of Congressional subpoenas are being ignored. Some Senators (I’m talking about you, Lindsey Graham) are even saying out loud that it’s okay to ignore them. Scary stuff.
Republicans break the rules time and time again to get what they want. They are leaving a broken government in their path and we have let them do it.
We are not immune here in Minnesota. Why won’t Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and Senator Marry Kiffmeyer allow Minnesota access to $6 million in HAVA money to help keep our elections secure? Why won’t the Republicans in the state Senate compromise on the budgetbill, forcing the legislature into another Special Session?
Check out what I wrote last Wednesday. It’s still relevant because nothing is happening at the Capitol except for a bunch of Republican leaders acting like stubborn babies.
Minnesota
Minnesota’s state legislature has been working on the state’s budget. It’s not been going well due to some major stonewalling by the Republicans. The DFL has created a budget that will maintain revenue as well as raise new revenue for services we need like healthcare, education, transportation. The Democrats came to the table ready to negotiate with the Republicans but instead of working together to come up with a compromise, Republicans simply refuse to raise any new revenue.
Republicans want to take money from our (already underfunded) educations system and healthcare to pay for our crumbling infrastructure.
Here are some of the trouble areas:
Provider tax
This tax on healthcare bills and medical stays helps to pay for MNCare, health insurance for low-income Minnesotans. This tax is set to expire. Democrats want to renew it, the GOP wants to let it expire with no plan on how to replace the money.
Education
The money the GOP wants to provide for education does not even keep up with inflation! Republicans want to take money from Health and Human Services to help pay for budgeting shortfalls.
Transportation
Governor Walz has proposed a gas tax to help pay to improve our terrible roads and bridges. Republicans have put the kibosh on that idea. Republicans want to pay for infrastructure by borrowing money from somewhere else in the budget.
If you want to better understand what’s going on in St. Paul, head to Indivisible Minnesota Legislative Action. They do an excellent job of keeping track of the latest at the Capitol. Read more here and call your state senator. Let them know you expect them to fund our state. At the very least, they should negotiate and behave like adults.
HAVA Money
Senate Republicans are still not allowing Minnesota to access $6 million in federal money for election security. RIDICULOUS. Check out what I wrote in April and make some calls.
Election Security
It’s a fact that election systems in Minnesota were targeted in cyberattacks in 2016. There is no evidence we were compromised, but knowing we were targeted means we must take action. Yet Minnesota is the only state that has not tapped into available federal resources to secure and maintain trust in our electoral systems. The election security funding is being held up by Republicans in the Legislature, because Minnesota is one of the few states that require the Legislature to sign off on use of those funds.
Mary Kiffmeyer, the Republican chair of the Senate committee on elections, has dismissed the need for cybersecurity, stating, “People are being hacked all the time. You’re being hacked all the time, I am. This is no big thing.”
Does that cause rage to swell up inside your belly? Just wait. Yesterday there was an important meeting on election security at the Capitol. Not a single Republican showed up. Shame on them.
If you haven’t called, or even if you already have, please take some time today to contact Senators Kiffmeyer and Gazelka as well as your own senator. Let them have a piece of your mind. Looking for more? A letter written to your local paper about this would be a great idea. Grr.
Mary Kiffmeyer 651-296-5655
Paul Gazelka 651-296-4875
Now call your members of Congress and let them know you want them to be strong and do everything they can (including impeachment) to get to the truth of the matter.
We need to get a Democratic majority in the Senate (state and federal) and maintain a majority in the House (state and federal). Start planning now on how you will help make that happen. It’s going to take a lot of volunteer hours to make good change.
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
