Dan Clemens

Sen. Dan Clemens (R-Marshfield) and Sen. Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau) aren't sure they can support legislation proposed by their colleague, Sen. Norma Champion (R-Springfield).  She wants to prohibit insurance companies from selling Medicare products by cold-calling seniors, and adopt guidelines established by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Are Clemens and Crowell concerned about the legislation because they think seniors can be better protected with another plan?  Or that seniors ought to hear more from telemarketers?  Nope. Are they concerned that the insurance companies don't like the proposal?  Nope -- insurance companies like the idea of consistent rules from the state and federal governments.

Clemens and Crowell concerned are just not sure they can support a bill that would create rules that happen to have been recommended by federal agencies.  As quoted in the News-Leader:

• Clemens: "It makes me nervous because I don't want to get aligned with the feds whatsoever."
• Crowell: "Just as a philosophy, I have a problem with basically incorporating what the federal government does."

This is not good news:

Senate Majority Leader Kevin Engler [R-Farmington] also is bracing for trouble. Eight of the 10 senators term-limited in 2010 are Republicans. Of the 10 additional senators term-limited in 2012, seven of them also are Republicans.

"Over half my majority is term-limited, and most of them aren't running for higher office, so they have no responsibility to the voters," said Engler, R-Farmington. "Some things that would be tempered before will not be tempered now, because their objective is, 'So what? You sure don't care what the public thinks. I can kill everything if I want, because I'm not up for election."

The idea of Republican Senators being even less "tempered" in their obstructionism and extremism gives me the heebie-jeebies.