Senator Claire McCaskill’s touring Missouri military installations with an eye on November’s election.
McCaskill’s accused House Republicans of being irresponsible with the country’s defense by financing it with money from an off-the-books fund, the “Overseas Contingency Operations” fund, which doesn’t have to be replenished. She claims lawmakers are then forced to quickly find more money to refill the fund to keep the military running.
She thinks there’ll be changes if Democrats retake the Senate in the upcoming election. “If that happened, I think there is a likelihood that I could be chairman of the Homeland Security Committee” said McCaskill. “This would be an important time to be chairman of that committee, because as we all know, as we take the fight to ISIS in their home ground, they are encouraging asymmetrical attacks across the globe.”
McCaskill serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and thinks the current stalemate over defense funding will be fixed when lawmakers address the country’s overall budget needs. “I frankly think we’ll end up with an omnibus bill that will pull a lot of those budgets together.”
McCaskill is backing fellow Democrats running for office in the state. And she likes her chances for re-election in 2018, regardless of who Missourians choose in the upcoming presidential contest. “If you look at 2012, Mitt Romney won the state by double-digits. But every other Democrat on the statewide ticket won, with the exception of lieutenant governor.”
McCaskill insists she’s not worried about the state’s Republican tendency. “My work doesn’t depend on which parties win in various elections. My work is helping veterans, taking care of the military, trying to find waste in government, making sure we’re doing consumer protections. And that doesn’t depend on a party label”.
McCaskill’s taking this week to visit various military installations in the state using the theme “Security and Defense”. Part of the tour is meant to showcase the state’s role in national defense.
