MoHELA Agreement Means Big Benefits for Higher Education

Last week Governor Matt Blunt and our Republican legislative leaders again proved that the education of Missouri’s young people is a top priority by announcing their joint plan to provide $350 million to Missouri’s colleges and universities through the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative.

This plan will fund construction projects for higher education institutions across our state, giving Missouri colleges and universities the edge they need to remain competitive in today’s growing global economy. Governor Blunt and our Republican leaders provided an additional $20 million for higher education in this year’s budget – the first increase in five years. The Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiate ensures that our colleges and universities are provided with state of the art facilities and increases opportunities for Missouri students to get a world-class education through greater availability of scholarship funds.

Click here to read the story from the Associated Press and get more details about how Governor Blunt and our Republican leaders are continuing to move Missouri forward.

Media Criticizes McCaskill for Shoddy Education Policy

Continuing to fall in line with her East Coast liberal buddies Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean, Claire McCaskill made another pitiful claim this week when she spoke out against the No Child Left Behind law. An editorial in the Columbia Daily Tribune highlighted McCaskill’s faulty plan. A typical tax-and-spend liberal, McCaskill rants that the law is under-funded by over $40 billion. If McCaskill would do her homework, she would see that some of the lowest achieving school districts in our country have received the greatest increases in funding while districts with the lowest per-pupil funding are more likely to excel. McCaskill is wrong on renewable fuels, wrong on abortion and now has shown that she’s wrong on education. Very simply, McCaskill is wrong for Missouri. Click here to read the editorial in the Columbia Daily Tribune outlining McCaskill’s flawed education stance.

Veterans Across the State Show Their Support for Talent

Senator Jim Talent met with veterans in Columbia, St. Joseph and Springfield to express his dedication to winning the war on terror and discuss how he has defended veterans’ rights.

Senator Talent discussed the improvements made to the Veterans Affairs health-care system, the Senate’s bipartisan legislation protecting our soldiers from predatory pay-day lenders, and the Military Health Fairness Act which he sponsored that monitors the well-being of our troops before and after deployment.

Senator Talent also discussed his position on terrorist surveillance with the veterans saying, “There’s just a lot of distinctions between me and my opponent on issues of terrorist surveillance," he said. "Her positions on the war on terror amount to positions of weakness."

August Recess Recap

During August the Senate and House of Representatives in Washington, DC, pause for the month to allow our Congressional representatives to return to their home states and visit with constituents. Our Republican leaders in Missouri used their time at home to hear the concerns of constituents, discuss the challenges they are facing and work with them to develop the best solutions to take back to Washington.

Senator Kit Bond

Senator Bond spent much of the Congressional break traveling through the state, visiting the Agriculture luncheon at the State Fair in Sedalia, joining Missourians in the bootheel for the downtown revitalization ceremony in Kennett, and attending the Field Day at the Delta Research Center in Portageville. Senator Bond also visited Neosho to voice his support for funding a new visitors’ center at the Neosho Fish Hatchery, the oldest in the nation.

Senator Bond also spent one week of August in Southeast Asia, visiting with government and military leaders to discuss counterterrorism efforts and the possible sale of Missouri-made fighter jets. While traveling the region Senator Bond said, “The United States cannot ignore this part of the world. If we do, this region can either become a breeding ground of terrorist activity for generations or, as long as the U.S. stays engaged, it can be a lifetime partner in the battle against terrorism. It is critical that we lay the foundation for that relationship now.”

Senator Jim Talent

Senator Jim Talent had an extremely busy August, traveling to 50 Missouri counties in just 31 days. During his extensive tour of the state Senator Talent launched the Veterans for Talent kick-off, held a Missouri Values Tour and received several key endorsements including support from the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, the Missouri Corn Growers Association, the Missouri Soybean Association, the Missouri Farm Bureau, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. During the tour Senator Talent said, “I believe it’s important to be accessible to Missourians and to listen to their concerns so we can address those concerns to Washington. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish for Missouri on issues like fighting methamphetamine, providing prescription drug coverage for seniors and passing legislation requiring the oil companies to buy ethanol and biodiesel. I’m also optimistic about what together we can do to continue making Missouri and the country better.”

Meanwhile, Senator Talent’s opponent arrogantly bragged that she has traveled to 50 Missouri counties in the last six months.

To see a detailed description of Senator Talent’s activities in August go to www.talentforsenate.com.

Congressman Sam Graves

Congressman Sam Graves placed a strong focus on healthcare in his district during August, hosting several discussions about prescription drug benefits and other healthcare issues including roundtable discussions in Liberty, Kansas City, Brookfield and Chillicothe. At a healthcare roundtable the Congressman said, “We must provide affordable, accessible, and quality health care for Americans, regardless of age, access to lawyers, or where they live. Every minute you spend filling out a form or filing the paper work is less time that you spend caring for patients. We need to make it simpler to give patients the care they need.”

Congressman Graves also attended many events at the State Fair in Sedalia, spoke to government classes at Kearney Junior High School, and attended a bridge dedication at Excelsior Springs.

Congressman Roy Blunt

The month of August was a busy one for Congressman Roy Blunt as he hosted his 10th annual agriculture tour of the 7th District and hosted the 4th Annual Volunteer Firefighters Ballgame at the Springfield Cardinals stadium. During the agriculture tour, Congressman Blunt discussed the global opportunities for Missouri beef now that Japan has reopened its markets to American beef.

Making many stops at communities throughout the 7th District, Congressman Blunt spoke to four area Chambers of Commerce, attended the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee Field Hearing in Springfield and joined constituents at the Green County TARGET barbeque.

Congressman Blunt also joined Senator Jim Talent at the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association and the Missouri Soybean Growers to discuss ways to support and improve the farming environment in our state.

Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson

The 25th Annual Farm Tour was held during the August recess in the 8th Congressional District. Congresswoman Emerson toured 18 different farming, ranching, and agribusiness operations throughout the district, including a timber grading course in Mountain View. Emerson also spent time working in area pharmacies and toured health centers and hospitals across the district to better understand the challenges faced by rural health care providers.

The Emerson Old Fashion Family Picnic was held in Cape Girardeau and featured Senator Jim Talent and Senator John Thune of South Dakota. The picnic was an opportunity for the people of Southern Missouri to join together and hear from Congresswoman Emerson, and Senators Talent and Thune about the significance of the elections in November and how important it is to have representatives in Congress that understand the common sense, conservative values of Missourians.

Congressman Kenny Hulshof

Congressman Kenny Hulshof highlighted several important issues to his constituents during the August recess including the economic progress taking place in Missouri and throughout the United States, the Medicare Part-D program that is saving seniors in Missouri thousands of dollars on their prescription drug bills and the National Forest land sale that has concerned many citizens in our state.

During a visit to the Hannibal Nutrition Center, Congressman Hulshof was able to sit down with seniors who used the new Part-D program and ask them for their suggestions on how to make the system easier to use. Hulshof said, “There are always ways to improve this program. We're not talking about a wholesale revamping of it necessarily, but are there things that we could do to make it more user friendly? That's one of the things I hope to learn from this group.”

Congressman Hulshof also spent time traveling with fellow Republicans including a trip to the State Fair in Sedalia where he joined other Congressional representatives for the Missouri Farm Bureau endorsement of Senator Jim Talent.

McCaskill’s Husband Cornered for Shady Finances

Claire McCaskill and her husband, Joseph Shepard, have long enjoyed the lavish lifestyle of millionaires, living off the profits of low-income housing projects and subsidies from the state-funded Missouri Housing Development Commission. Recently, Shepard was profiled by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which reported that, despite financial statements filed with the Senate claiming that McCaskill and Shepard have a net worth of between $13 and $30 million, Shepard holds business interests in 192 companies that he reports are worth less than $201 in annual income. It seems odd that someone would continue to hold interests in so many companies that reportedly are not profitable.

To add further confusion, even though McCaskill and her husband report their worth in the millions of dollars, divorce filings from Shepard’s first marriage reveal in 1995 Shepard paid no federal income tax. This summer McCaskill was quoted in a New York magazine vulgarly saying, “Oh damn, I didn’t want you to see that I was a rich lady.” That statement comes as no surprise since the Missouri Republican Party and National Republican Senatorial Committee uncovered that McCaskill and her husband set up offshore tax shelters in Bermuda to further confuse their financial fortunes.

To read the full story click here.

Governor Dedicates Agriculture Building in Memory of Carver

On September 5, Governor Blunt will dedicate the Missouri Department of Agriculture building in the honor of George Washington Carver. The dedication of the George Washington Carver State Office Building will recognize the great strides made by Dr. Carver in the areas of education, medicine, and agriculture for our state and our nation.

Show-Me RED

On the weekend of September 22 – September 24 Republicans across our state will have a great opportunity to demonstrate to Claire McCaskill and her liberal cronies that Missouri is a RED State and we stand behind Senator Jim Talent and our Republican leaders. Please join us in our statewide “Show-Me Red” weekend and show the Democrats that we are proud of our Republican leaders and will give them our full support this November. Please email victory@mogop.org or call 573-636-3146 with any questions and remember to wear your RED!

Find out how our Republican leaders are serving Missouri by visiting their websites