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...Read More

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...Read More

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...Read More

Date: February 25, 2025 To: Representative Stinnett and Members, House Committee on Health & Mental Health From: Mallory Rusch, Executive Director, Empower Missouri Re: Our support for HB 398 Empower Missouri is the largest and oldest anti-poverty non-profit in our state. We view the experience of poverty holistically, with impacts in all areas of an...Read More

You hear from us often about the complexities of poverty and the need for a variety of policy solutions to address the housing crisis, food insecurity, access to justice, and the inaccessibility of adequate healthcare. Poverty and its effects are far-reaching and impact nearly every aspect of a person’s life, at every phase of life....Read More

There are many ways in which the anti-poverty issues that Empower Missouri works on intersect. Repealing the SNAP ban for people with past drug felony convictions has been a core advocacy issue for the Food Security Coalition and Community Justice Coalition for many years, and we are excited to report on some major bill movements...Read More

Date: February 12th, 2024To: Chairman Haden and Members, House Healthcare ReformFrom: Mallory Rusch, Executive Director, Empower MissouriRe: Our support for HB 1918 and HB 2626 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 lowest incomes....Read More

Date: January 16th, 2024 To: Representative Haden and Members, House Committee on Healthcare Reform From: Mallory Rusch, Executive Director at Empower Missouri Re: Our support for HB 2190 I ask that you vote ‘do pass’ on HB 2190. This bill requires insurance companies to cover a full year of oral contraception, after a doctor prescribes...Read More

A bipartisan group of Missouri lawmakers have proposed evidence-based policy that will help close to half of Missouri’s growing families. They seek to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a full year – to give one year of uninterrupted access to healthcare after a person’s pregnancy ends.   Despite the fact that the bills...Read More

As I look back in my life, one specific policy has impacted nearly every decision I’ve ever made: Healthcare. I was a single mom during Obama’s first campaign. I worked two jobs which barely covered rent. Even while working more than 40 hours a week in a hospital, I didn’t have healthcare. I pieced together...Read More