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

At its core, Empower Missouri is an anti-poverty organization. You often hear about our priority issues areas; affordable housing, criminal legal system reform, and food security, but we know that to truly end poverty, we have to address the myriad factors that create and sustain it.  Family Planning and the Impact for Families in Poverty...Lee mas

Date: March 10, 2025 To: Chairman Bromley and Members, House Utilities Committee From: Lucas Caldwell-McMillan, Chief of Policy Staff, Empower Missouri Re: Our opposition to SB 4 Empower Missouri has spent more than 120 years fighting poverty in Missouri. Today, we come to present testimony on a bill which specifically targets our neighbors with the...Lee mas