Omaha senator’s filibuster a shame

Some legislative activity has been going on in Lincoln that has even caught the attention of national publications like The Washington Post. Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh has been in the news for her almost daily filibustering of bills coming forward. It’s all because she doesn’t like some of the legislation proposed dealing with transgender issues.
    She’s following a similar path for which former Sen. Ernie Chambers, also of Omaha, was known—taking up huge chunks of time to talk and talk and talk, so business is stalled.
        LB 574, known as The Let Them Grow Act, would outlaw gender-affirming therapies for those 18 and younger, and when it moved out of committee, that’s when Cavanaugh promised to filibuster every bill that came before the legislature, even ones she supports, according to an AP story last week.
    “If the legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful,” she told the AP reporter last week.
    LB 574’s sponsor Sen. Kathleen Kauth, also of Omaha, said the bill is protecting children from undergoing gender-affirming procedures they may regret later.
    Kauth’s bill doesn’t outlaw such procedures at age 19 or older. She compared Cavanaugh’s actions to “taking the ball and going home.”
    It sounds like Cavanaugh fears there is support out there for the legislation in a conservative state that wants to remain one. Rather than take part in a healthy debate, she prefers making that impossible. Debate on LB 574 reportedly got underway Tuesday, so hopefully ALL of our elected representatives can now express their opinions.