"In the past, previous legislators have stuck their heads in the sand like ostriches," said Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, a member of the Joint Interim Committee on School Finances. "It's been costly to the taxpayers. We have the opportunity to find a cost-effective solution to issues in this state."
Failure to act on the bill could mean political trouble for three Democratic senators who face re-election next year. Sen. Mike Lyber, D-Huggins, Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico and Sen. Danny Staples D-Eminence all voted in favor of the partial birth abortion bill last spring, but switched their votes last week. All three are up for re-election in 1998.
Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, the primary author of the welfare reform bill, said he and the Senate still hope to find a way to pass welfare reform this session.
Rep. Tim Harlan, D-Columbia said he will give his full support to an amendment, offered by Senate sponsor Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, that would ease requirements to which businesses must adhere.
The three black Democrats who voted against the bill met with the Senate sponsor, Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, early Wednesday afternoon to try to reach a compromise. The bill had passed the Senate with bipartisan approval.
Senate Sponsor Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, said the barrage of amendments is "definitely a slow down." Senate Republican Leader Franc Flotron, R-St. Louis County, offered a seven-part omnibus amendment, and several other amendments are lined up for debate today.
JEFFERSON CITY - A standing-room only crowd packed a state capitol hearing room Tuesday night to hear Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, present the Senate version of welfare reform that would eliminate guaranteed support for the 76,000 families in Missouri currently on welfare.
Like Caskey, mid-Missouri Senator Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, said the savings should be earmarked for districts with more poverty, even though his district would get far less money per pupil than Kansas City and St. Louis. However, he would like to see Caskey's bill earmark some of the desegregation savings to capital projects in districts like Columbia, which is in need of more buildings to accommodate over-crowding.
The bill's Senate sponsor, Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, said he plans to introduce the House version in the Senate in hopes of keeping the bill moving through the lawmaking process.
"If you are able-bodied and on assistance, the goal is to work toward self-sufficiency, and that means work," said Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, the sponsor of the bill. "If you are a child we have a plan for you. If your parents play by the rules we are not going to leave you hanging."
"We have to ensure that this new organization is a fair delivery system, that it represents the citizens of Missouri," Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico and sponsor of the Senate bill, said in a speech to the group.
Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, the welfare bill's sponsor, said he plans on working during next week's recess to draft a substitute bill agreeable to Senate Republican Leader Steve Ehlmann, R-St. Charles.
"We ran across things that we consider absolutely appalling," Senate Sponsor Joe Maxwell said of the joint committee's findings on the need for regulation.
In order to guarantee support for their child, both the mother and father have to be in a work-related activity and contributing toward the care of the child. If this money does not meet the federal poverty level, the state will make up the difference. Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, said the estimated cost of this provision is $24 million on state funds.
"The minimum under the federal bill ignores children and our role," said Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico. "We should proceed with concepts that will help protect children."
"We must remember that this is no longer an entitlement program," said Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico and one of the leading welfare experts in the state legislature.
Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, urged Tuesday that the Senate Ethics Committee approve his proposal to impose legal limits on how much legislators can accept from lobbyists.
Committee co-chairs Rep. Tim Harlan, D-Columbia, and Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, said making sure people knew what their health plan covered or didn't cover was important to any reform package.
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