Southern Missouri’s powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee chair Jason Smith (R-Salem) predicts U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) will be elected House Speaker today at noon. U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-Salem) joined us live this morning on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri”, saying he know the House Republican caucus. Congressman Smith also discussed his comments yesterday on Capitol Hill regarding poverty guidelines. Chairman Smith tells listeners that the Biden administration’s new recommended poverty guidelines would mean that a family in Alabama has to earn less than one in California to get services like school lunch and food stamps. He says all states should be treated the same, whether it’s Alabama, South Dakota or California. “This is about robbing resources from rural America to benefit coastal elite,” Congressman Smith said in a committee hearing. He elaborated during the “Wake Up” interview. Congressman Smith also discussed college campuses on the show, telling listeners that publicly-funded universities nationwide are focused more on “preferred speech” than on freedom of speech: