As Missouri Senate majority leader, Cindy O’Laughlin has a front-row seat to the factionalism and rancor of the General Assembly’s upper chamber.
The Shelbina Republican is responsible for bringing up bills for debate in the Senate. And lately, O’Laughlin bore the brunt of criticism from the recently formed Missouri Freedom Caucus on a number of fronts but primarily for not pushing legislation to conservative legislators’ liking.
During a wide-ranging interview on “The Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air,” O’Laughlin said that much of the focus on the divides within the Missouri Senate Republican caucus could be a media creation as, in her view, “anytime you have something that's negative, it gets the press corps' attention.”
“You don't really hear them report when everyone's getting along and you get something done, because negative news sells,” O’Laughlin said. “So I think that's part of it. And just the personalities involved make it sort of a long-lasting situation that we have in the Senate.”
One of the areas where the tensions among Republicans could come to a head is pending legislation that would reauthorize what’s known as the Federal Reimbursement Allowance. That’s a tax hospitals pay that helps fund the state’s Medicaid program.
Some members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus want to attach language that would bar state funds from going to Planned Parenthood. While abortion is illegal in Missouri except for medical emergencies, Medicaid does reimburse Planned Parenthood for expenses such as cancer screenings and birth control.
O’Laughlin said senators of all factions within the Senate GOP readily admit that the FRA needs to be renewed.
“It’s political theater. I don't like it,” O’Laughlin said. “And, you know, I've made that clear. And ultimately, it will get renewed. It’s an exercise in getting press coverage.”
Support for making it harder to amend state constitution
While O’Laughlin has publicly clashed with some members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, she holds conservative positions on a host of issues. She opposes abortion rights and gun control laws. And she supports efforts to make the Missouri Constitution more difficult to pass.
The most likely proposal that could go to voters is a measure that would require a constitutional amendment to pass in a majority of congressional districts.
Critics say this would effectively dismantle the initiative petition process, while people like O’Laughlin contend it gives rural voters a greater voice in what goes into the constitution. She also said she didn’t like how the ballot initiative process allows for groups to circumvent the GOP-controlled legislature.
“The legislature is largely Republican, all Republicans are not the same, as we see in every one doesn't think alike,” O’Laughlin said. “But issues come before the legislature that after some thought and work and sometimes years of it, we refuse to do something, because we feel it's not in the best interest of the citizens or we don't have the money or whatever the case might be. And that's when the initiative petition process comes into play.”
She also said she wanted to boost the threshold to amend the constitution as a way to stymie efforts to legalize abortion in Missouri. That could happen if voters approve a ballot item raising the bar to amend the Missouri Constitution in August and a proposed abortion legalization initiative goes up for a vote in November.
“I do believe an unborn child is a human being,” O’Laughlin said. “And as far as [a ballot item changing the initiative petition process] goes, if that results in us having more of a voice in the rural areas, which I believe we need and I believe is more conservative than urban areas, and if that will offset an effort to try to reinstate abortion? Absolutely. I think that's a good thing.”
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
