On Thursday, July 3rd, the House of Representatives passed the reconciliation bill with a 218-214 vote. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law tomorrow, July 4th. Empower Missouri condemns the passage of this bill, which will threaten healthcare coverage and food assistance for thousands of Missourians, all while providing huge tax...Lee mas

Submitted by: Traci Gleason | Vice President, External Relations at Missouri Budget Project Note: This morning (July 1st), the U.S. Senate passed the reconciliation bill, which includes the cuts to Medicaid described below as well as major cuts to the SNAP program. The bill is currently in the House of Representatives for a vote. You...Lee mas

Tonight, I’m catching a flight to Washington, D.C. to meet with staffers of Missouri’s congressional delegation and express Missourians’ opposition to the $300 billion in proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Congress’s “one big, beautiful bill.” Empower Missouri’s focus has traditionally been on state-level policy, but the proposed cuts to Medicaid...Lee mas

The 2025 Missouri legislative session ended last week with some controversy and tension as the Senate invoked Previous Question, or “PQ”, to cut off debate. The Senate employed this “nuclear option” to force a vote on two bills that were in direct contradiction to laws passed by the majority of Missouri voters in the November...Lee mas

This week, committees in the U.S. House of Representatives released major reconciliation proposals with cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs. As the title suggests, these proposals will have big impacts for Missouri families, our healthcare, our nutrition, and our state budget. The federal government controls the budgets for most major anti-poverty programs. Unfortunately, many...Lee mas

The U.S. House Agriculture Committee has proposed a $300 billion cut to SNAP, nearly 30% of the federal funding for the nation’s largest anti-hunger program and the largest cut in the 85-year history of the program. One out of ten Missourians use SNAP benefits to put meals on their table. These cuts to SNAP will...Lee mas

For the past several months, a growing coalition of tenant leaders, housing advocates, legal experts, and community leaders in Springfield has been working toward a game-changing goal: securing a Right to Counsel (RTC) for tenants facing eviction. The problem is clear—eviction courts are fundamentally unbalanced. Across the country, landlords almost always have legal representation, while...Lee mas

The latest issue to face intense debate in the Missouri Senate is paid sick leave. HB 567, which would remove paid sick leave for workers, passed the Missouri House in March.  Since then it has progressed through the Senate and is now eligible for discussion on the Senate floor. On Wednesday night, multiple Democratic Senators...Lee mas

This week, Governor Kehoe signed SB 4, an omnibus utility bill that changes financing for utility companies. The bill adds more ways for utility companies to shift costs to consumers and increase utility bills. Empower Missouri denounces this change for these reasons: Consumers Council of Missouri estimates that SB 4 will raise utility bills by...Lee mas