WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill announced today that negotiators from the Senate and House of Representatives have agreed to include whistleblower protections for employees who report consumer product hazards in the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Reauthorization bill. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill fired off letters to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the head of the agency which oversees contractors for the Department of Defense regarding a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today uncovering serious allegations of impropriety by agency auditors.  The GAO found in its study that supervisors at the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) used intimidation, harassment, and threats to get their employees to alter audits in favor of contractors. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill voted in the Senate today to pass legislation that would make key improvements to the Medicare program by helping maintain seniors’ access to doctors, improving services in rural areas, and protecting seniors from aggressive marketing of Medicare Advantage.  The legislation – the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act – passed the Senate with a vote of 69–30.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi have named a co-chair and three additional commissioners to the Commission on Wartime Contracting.  Established as the result of legislation introduced by Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) last spring and signed into law January 28, 2008, the Commission is charged with addressing the systemic problems associated with the federal government’s wartime-support, reconstruction, and private security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.   

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill applauded Defense Secretary Robert Gates after reading reports today that he had asked Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Michael Moseley to resign. This occurred after a series of recent scandals came to light, including an inquiry McCaskill made less than two months ago about potential improprieties surrounding a $50 million Air Force contract. Reports also indicate that Moseley has offered his resignation and Wynne is still expected to resign. McCaskill offered the following statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a last minute effort to keep wasteful spending out of the farm bill, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today challenged the inclusion of an “air dropped” earmark and forced a vote on whether that earmark should remain in the bill using a procedural tactic allowed under new ethics rules.  The earmark in question was added during farm bill negotiations between the House of Representatives and the Senate, bypassing scrutiny during committee and floor debates.  Despite her efforts, McCaskill’s objection was overruled by a vote of 62-34, just shy of the votes necessary to strip the earmark from the bill.