On Sunday, Derek Schmidt doubled down on hate.
In his campaign for governor, Schmidt brought in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to rally the crowd against providing a safe harbor for refugees. Last week, DeSantis arranged to have about 50 Venezuelan refugees flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, with the purpose of mocking Massachusetts’s stance on refugee rights, that is, that they should exist.
It was only mid-flight that the refugees, many of whom had made a torturous two-month journey across a dozen countries to reach the U.S. border to flee the repressive dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro, learned of their destination. In an effort to lure the refugees on board, DeSantis’ underlings told them they were headed to Boston where their immigration process could be expedited and job opportunities awaited.
Neither, of course, were true.
SCHMIDT lauded DeSantis’ tactics.
“I want a future for our great state of Kansas that looks a whole lot more like Ron DeSantis has in Florida,” Schmidt said at a rally in Olathe.
If so, that’s truly despicable.
“They were homeless. They were hungry,” DeSantis said, mocking the refugees’ plight.
And, according to DeSantis, “they were basically given a lottery ticket,” when he arranged their flights to Massachusetts.
Because Kansas can’t claim to have a problem with migrants flooding its borders, why else would Schmidt invite DeSantis to headline Sunday’s rally?
Three things come to mind.
Both are against abortion rights for women, protections for the LGBTQ community, and the expansion of Medicaid.
Medicaid, known as KanCare in Kansas, is the health insurance program for our indigent, including low-income children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities. It covers doctor visits, hospitalizations, prescriptions, mental health care, and other basic services.
If its coverage were expanded, more than 165,000 low-wage Kansans would benefit.
Under current state law, a family of three can make no more than $8,345 to qualify for aid.
If it were expanded, families making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level would receive aid on a sliding scale. For that same family of three, they could have an income up to $30,345 and receive some amount of aid.
Schmidt has criticized the program as too generous, despite 78 percent public support.
What’s truly been generous is the fact that Kansans have been paying federal taxes to fund the expansion of Medicaid in states other than our own. Kansas has already lost out on an estimated $5 billion in available Medicaid funds since the program was enacted in 2014.
Currently, the federal government provides 90 percent of the cost. For the dozen states that do not have expansion in place, including Florida, they are eligible for an additional 5 percent match for an additional two years if they sign on.
Despite the 95 percent match, Schmidt stands firm against the aid.
