Lawmakers should take swift action to fund repairs to damaged roads and bridges
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As the 2016 legislative session got underway today, House Democrats stressed the need to take all necessary steps to ensure a swift recovery following the sudden and massive flooding throughout Missouri over the holidays.
“Missouri communities must have the resources they need to rebuild as quickly as possible,” said House Minority Leader Jake Hummel, D-St. Louis. “In the short term, nothing is more important.”
A necessary aspect of disaster recovery will be addressing the damage to state highways and bridges. With the Missouri Department of Transportation’s annual construction budget already less than half of what it was a few years ago, the unexpected cost of flood-related repairs will further stretch the department’s limited finances.
“Even before the flood, lawmakers of both parties considered a modest increase in the state fuel tax as vital to the future of Missouri’s transportation infrastructure,” said Assistant House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City. “With the flood, the future is now, and transportation funding legislation should be among the first bills the House passes.”
For the fourth straight year, expanding Medicaid eligibility under the federal Affordable Care Act remains a top goal for House Democrats. Expansion would pump billions of dollars in both federal money and private investment into the state, stimulating Missouri’s economy and creating tens of thousands of jobs.
“Missouri’s business leaders want expansion; our hospitals and doctors want expansion; and Missourians without access to health care want expansion,” Hummel said. “The only people who don’t want expansion are Republican lawmakers. The political stubbornness of a few shouldn’t deprive Missourians of the economic and health benefits of expansion.”
