Add Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, the Senate's Budget Committee chairman, to those who are backing the sovereignty movement. Mayer addressed the subject in his latest capitol report:
The presence in the House Chamber was impossible to miss for those in attendance of the governor’s State of the State speech. Yet our governor failed to acknowledge the elephant in the room, so to speak.
Less than 24 hours earlier, the people of Massachusetts elected a Republican to a U.S. Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy, who spent most of his career as a Democrat campaigning for health care reform. The good people of Massachusetts, by electing Sen. Scott Brown, cast a vote against increased federal intervention and control of health care.
Somewhere toward the end of his speech, the governor mentioned that “if the federal legislation passes” we need to “maximize the benefits for the people of Missouri” knowing full well what happened in Massachusetts. The governor also knew that the Missouri House of Representatives had recently passed a resolution, 111-46, telling the federal government that the massive health care plan is not the answer. I’m guessing that the governor knew that hundreds of Missourians had been in the State Capitol, just one week before, participating in a rally demanding state sovereignty from an overbearing, increasingly imperial federal government.
Let me be clear: My colleagues in the Senate and I will make sure the voice of the people is heard. I’ve co-signed three measures that remind our national legislators that the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives our state the right to decide on our health care, and if they do try to force a health care plan on us, that Missourians don’t have to participate if they don’t want to.
I think the people of Missouri, and the country, have made it clear that they are tired of their hard-earned dollars propping up a bloated government addicted to irresponsible spending. The Massachusetts election illustrates this sentiment. The budget the governor presented to lawmakers this year isn’t even balanced. It’s $200 million short and based on even more money coming from the federal government and legislation that hasn’t even happened yet.
It’s going to take some difficult decisions and some common sense from the governor, but my Senate colleagues and I will work on spurring job creation, protecting taxpayers, and assisting Missourians in finding affordable health insurance without a federal mandate.
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