Claire McCaskill

Financial industries need reasonable regulation to prevent future bailouts

September 28, 2008 --WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following another massive bailout on Wall Street, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill in a speech from the Senate floor called for greater accountability and transparency in the banking and insurance industries through reasonable regulation.

McCaskill pointed to the trend in recent years towards deregulation and lax enforcement of existing laws as culprits in the current state of the American economy. She asserts that reversing this deregulation trend is the best way to make sure the country does not see a repeat of recent government bailouts.    » read more »

Current military health insurance denies access to proven therapies

August 5, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this week asked the Department of Defense to expand health care coverage for the nearly 20 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who may be suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI). McCaskill and nine of her Senate colleagues are urging Secretary Robert Gates to expand TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program, to include cognitive rehabilitation therapy, a proven treatment for TBI which is currently excluded from the insurance policy.    » read more »

Barack Obama-Backed Bill Would Require All Lobbyists Representing Foreign Clients To Register with the Justice Department, Eliminating Exemption Carved Out By Lobbying Disclosure Act

June 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) today unveiled legislation that would close legal loopholes allowing U.S. lobbyists to influence government officials on behalf of foreign clients without having to disclose their activities.

The issue surfaced last month in the U.S. presidential campaign, as reports spotlighted a trend of lobbying firms performing work for a range of foreign entities without ever registering with the Department of Justice, as is required in most circumstances.    » read more »

June 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today joined with Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to introduce the Closing the Foreign Lobbying Loophole Act, which would close loopholes that allow American lobbyists, representing foreign clients, to lobby U.S. government officials without disclosing these activities. Obama is an original cosponsor of the bill.    » read more »

High turnover and poor retention hurting ability to oversee defense contracting

June 3, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today took the Department of Defense to task for contracting mishaps in recent years due in part to high turnover and vacancies in the offices responsible for overseeing defense contracts. At stake, McCaskill says, are billions of dollars as the military experiences high-levels of cost overruns and delays.    » read more »

McCaskill votes to expand educational benefits for military men and women

May 22, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today voted with her colleagues in the Senate to overwhelmingly pass legislation that will expand educational benefits for today’s soldiers, similar to the benefits provided to America’s “Greatest Generation” under World War II’s “GI Bill.”

The bipartisan Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (S.22), which passed with a vote of 75-22, will provide those who have served in the military since September 11, 2001, an opportunity to pursue a higher education. McCaskill co-sponsored the bill.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill praised the Bush Administration for beginning the process to close a loophole in a proposed federal regulation that would have exempted federal contractors who carry out their contracts overseas from being required to self-report criminal activity they are involved in.    » read more »