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Congress Passes Farm Bill
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 This week, Congress passed a compromise Farm Bill that is expected to be signed by President Trump. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 87-13 and the House approved it by a vote of 369-47. The $867 million spending measure rejects stricter work requirements for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, that were sought in an earlier House version of the bill. It also provides ongoing subsidies to farmers, who have been struggling of late with commodity prices, giving them a level of certainty going forward.
Current work requirements (80 hours per month) for recipients of food stamps that are able-bodied between the ages of 18 and 49 will remain in place. The Farm Bill, which must be renewed every five years, provides funding for important agricultural programs in addition to programs such as SNAP. The previous farm bill provisions officially expired on September 30th. The MCC thanks its MOCAN members for their efforts in raising concerns to legislators about the stricter work requirements in the earlier version of bill. |
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Supreme Court Declines to Hear Medicaid Case
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 On Monday, the Supreme Court chose to not hear Gee v. Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast. At issue was whether patients may sue states in federal court for removing medical providers, like Planned Parenthood, from Medicaid family planning programs. In Gee, Louisiana terminated its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood after reports that the organization sold fetal tissue for profit. Instead of utilizing the state's administrative appeal process to challenge the decision, Planned Parenthood found plaintiffs to sue the state in federal court.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the plaintiffs had a right to bring suit under federal law to challenge a state's termination of a provider from its Medicaid plan. Four other federal circuit courts have similarly found an individual right of action, while the Eighth has not. This split among the courts led many to believe that the Supreme Court would take up the case to resolve the issue.
While the legal questions raised were not directly related to abortion because Medicaid does not reimburse for abortion as part of family planning, many looked to this case to provide some indication as to how the new conservative majority would rule on matters of concern to pro-life advocates. |
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Missouri Western District Court of Appeals Rules on Board Bills
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This week, the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the practice of collecting board bills for jail time is illegal. "Board bills" are charges for room and board that people charged with crimes in the rural areas are billed for jail time served both before trial and after conviction. The charges are generally around $50 a day. When defendants don't pay the bill, they are brought before the judge who tries to collect the charges due. Defendants are scheduled to appear at a payment review hearing every month, even years after they have pleaded guilty and served their time.
The court wrote that "nothing in [state law] provides specific authorization for the taxation of an unpaid board bill as a court cost." This means that judges in Missouri can no longer threaten defendants with jail time if they can't afford to pay the board bills issued to them by the sheriff. If the ruling stands, it would end a debtors' prison scheme common in rural areas of the state. |
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Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
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 On Wednesday, Catholics celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a feast day that dates back to the 16th century.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, unborn children, and the New Evangelization. Large, lively celebrations of her feast day are widespread in these regions. Our Lady of Guadalupe is unlike any other apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because she was the only apparition where Our Lady left a miraculous image of herself unmade by human hands, and also the only universally venerated Madonna and Child image where Our Lady appears pregnant instead of holding the Infant Jesus.
Do you know the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe? It is truly fascinating. Listen and learn more from the Catholic Company. |
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By now most Missourians are familiar with armadillos, Spanish for "the little armored one." It's a cute name for a pesky creature, one that we see much more often flattened on the side of the road than animated and waddling along. As they continue their northward expansion from Texas, states as far north as Wisconsin are now home to these little creatures. So how and why are they migrating to Missouri and beyond? Read more from the