Senator McCaskill still hasn’t succeeded in getting her cap on government growth passed, but she thinks it’s getting closer.
McCaskill has teamed up with Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama on a domestic spending cap amendment that has come up for a vote numerous times. It’s gotten as many as 59 votes when it needed 60.
“There are 17 Democrats that are working on this and there is a united Republican caucus, so it is a bipartisan effort. It is serious, and we have sustained this effort, and I am very optimistic that we actually may get some progress on this,” McCaskill said.
McCaskill says there’s some promising news this week.
“The Republican appropriators have said they will not vote for any appropriations over those spending cap amendments, even though the amendment has not yet been adopted. I think that will put added pressure on the remaining members of the Senate who have not joined this effort,” McCaskill said.
She says spending needs to be under control for the long-term health of the U.S. government and the economy.
“I think it’s the right approach right now, because Draconian cuts right now could have dramatic consequences in the economy. On the other hand, limiting the growth sends the right signal that we get it. It sends the right signal to international markets that we know we have a serious problem we need to get busy on. It’s not going to have the negative impact on the economy that some kind of Draconian cuts right now at the federal level would, because of how tenuous the recovery is still,” McCaskill said.
She doesn’t seem to care if Senators only vote in favor of it to appease voters.
“If people are listening and being responsive to the people they work for that’s what this government’s supposed to be about, so I don’t think that’s anything to be ashamed of. I think that’s a positive thing,” McCaskill said.
AUDIO: Ryan Famuliner reports [1 min MP3]
