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Sen. McCaskill addresses Democrats at Hannibal Days
Senator McCaskill told Democrats gathered for Hannibal Days that Congress and the White House is doing the hard stuff as Republicans resort to obstruction as a political strategy for 2010.
McCaskill, speaking at the brunch, said some people go to Washington simply to try to win elections. She said Democrats are using their majorities in Congress and occupation of the White House to help the country move forward. [Read more...]
A letter from United States Senator Claire McCaskill (Download PDF) asking state budget leaders what they would do without federal economic stimulus dollars has sparked a war of words between Washington and Jefferson City.
In a letter to Sen. Rob Mayer (R-Dexter), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Allen Icet (R-Wildwood), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, United States Senator Claire McCaskill asks what the state would do without the billion dollars in federal money it is using to make up for lost state revenue. [Read more...]
It appears President Obama’s strategy for winning the war in Afghanistan is winning over key members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation.
West-Central Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, says President Obama struck the right notes.
“I thought the West Point speech was excellent,” Skelton tells the Missourinet. “The most important part was calling for America to unify against the common enemy.” [Read more...]
A proposed overhaul of health care narrowly passed the House. Now, the focus is on the Senate.
Senator McCaskill, a Democrat, dismisses Republican criticism that Senate Democratic leaders drafted the Senate health care bill behind closed doors without Republican input. McCaskill points out that two separate Senate committees approved different bills. The two had to be merged before the Senate could debate health care. McCaskill insists it is the Senate leader’s responsibility to merged different pieces of legislation.
“But the point is, after the bills are merged, that’s when the work begins on the bills and that’s when the amendment process opens up,” McCaskill says, “We’ll see during the debate if they (Republicans) want to participate or if they object to every single thing that happens.”
Work on health care legislation in Washington has dragged. The House had hoped to take up debate on health care prior to leaving on August break. That didn’t happen, giving opponents the opportunity to build opposition during town hall meetings held by members of Congress throughout the month. Earlier this month, the House narrowly approved a health care bill on a 220-to-215 vote. The Missouri delegation largely opposed the measure, with only three of our nine members of Congress voting in favor of it.
McCaskill says she hopes the Senate bill will focus more on the cost of health care than the House bill does. She says Congress must get a handle on costs. McCaskill believes that most members of Congress agree on most of the bill. She says the contentious debate centers on only 20-to-25% of the legislation.
Will Congress get a bill to President Obama before the end of the year?
“I don’t know that it will be on his desk by the end of the year,” says McCaskill. “I’m hopeful that we will complete the work in the Senate by the end of the year. And then it will be a matter of the conference committees, between the House and the Senate, coming together after the first of the year to fashion the final piece of legislation that we all can agree on or that the majority can agree on and then the bill will go to the president’s desk.”
And if health care legislation is defeated?
“Well, I think we’d have to start over again and try to work at it,” McCaskill responds. “This is a problem that we can’t afford to ignore”
A new report suggests that the reverse mortgage industry might be heading down the same disastrous road that led the sub-prime mortgage industry into ruin. Senator McCaskill believes Congress can erect a roadblock.
The report from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) warns that senior citizens face some of the same aggressive pitches for reverse mortgages that became common in the sub-prime lending boom. The report claims that well-funded marketing campaigns target the equity in the homes owned by senior citizens. It also states that many of the same players in the sub-prime mess have moved into the reverse mortgage industry.
Senator McCaskill says a reverse mortgage can be appropriate in certain circumstances.
