Claire McCaskill

FACT SHEET: Reforming Government Contracting

March 4, 2009 -- Upon taking office, the Obama Administration inherited a fiscal disaster: a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion. This burden is compounded by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. As we get our economy moving again through the Recovery Act, it’s also important that we turn the page on an era of irresponsibility in which taxpayer dollars were used to line contractors’ pockets or maintain projects that do not work. To that end, the President today signed a Presidential Memorandum that reforms how the government does business and that will save taxpayers billions of dollars each year.    » read more »

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 »

Senators Bond and McCaskill Vote on Historic GI Bill Tomorrow; Education Funding Would Help Thousands of Missouri Iraq Veterans

May 19, 2008 -- NEW YORK - Tomorrow, May 20th, the Senate is expected to vote on a World War II-style GI Bill for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

This bipartisan legislation, originally introduced by Senators Jim Webb (D-VA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and John Warner (R-VA), is whole heartedly endorsed by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation's first and largest non-partisan Iraq veterans' organization, and all the leading Veterans Service Organizations.    » read more »

Cape Girareau, MO -- May 13, 2008 -- It's great to be here in Missouri with my good friend Claire McCaskill. This is a state that voted for change when you sent Claire to the Senate in 2006; you voted for change in February when we surprised the pundits and pulled out a victory; and this is a state where we will compete to win when I am the Democratic nominee for President.

Barack Obama speaks at Cape Girareau Town Hall, Missouri: Photo by Barack Obama campaign    » read more »

Missouri senator speaks on Senate floor ahead of amendment vote

March 13, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill spoke on the Senate floor about an amendment she is co-sponsoring with Republican Senator Jim DeMint (SC) that would create a one-year moratorium on all congressional earmarks. McCaskill believes that federal funding is essential to local and state projects but, as a former auditor, feels that earmarking is not a fiscally responsible or fair way to distribute funds.    » read more »

March 3, 2008 -- "Imagine a young Army officer is assigned to a base in Germany in 2005 to serve there for several years. He, of course, brings along his wife. After a 15 month deployment to Iraq, he returns to the base in Germany and the couple has a baby. As patriotic Americans, they have high hopes for their child, instilling a hard work ethic, good values and a deep sense of patriotism. Fast forward to 2064. That child is now a United States Senator who has hopes of running for President. Should that devoted citizen be allowed to run?    » read more »

February 27, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today raised concerns about the possibility that the Administration’s negotiations on a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq – an accord formed between the U.S. and another country in an effort to provide a formal framework for the presence of U.S. military forces in the foreign country – may include immunity from Iraqi law for American contractors. In a letter to President Bush and in a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, McCaskill urged the White House to ensure that U.S.    » read more »

Provision included in spending bill would prevent scenarios similar to TWA-American Airline merger

December 17, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — Less than a week after Lufthansa agreed to purchase 19% of Jet Blue, a struggling U.S. carrier, U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond today secured a provision to the Senate’s omnibus spending bill to provide air carrier employees with a base level of protection during mergers.    » read more »

December 14, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Late Friday, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and her Senate colleagues passed the Food and Energy Security Act of 2007, also known as the “Farm Bill”, legislation vital to sustaining and growing Missouri’s agricultural economy by supporting programs important to America’s farmers and all Missourians.    » read more »