Since President Obama was to be in St. Louis today on Wednesday pushing for health care reform, Rep. Todd Akin (R - 2nd) thought he would jump the gun and rally the president's right-wing foes via a video town hall in St. Charles. Attended by about 2,200 people, the event consisted of presentations of the same ol' same ol' talking points by Akin and a handful of other retrograde Missouri politicians, including Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, and, via video, Akin's congressional fellow travelers, John Shimkus, (R-IL) and John Shadegg, (R-AZ).
According to KSDK TV, Akin was in his usual obstructionist form:
I want to say and I want to be completely clear, ... That the bill that we're talking about today is the worst bill that I've seen in all my time in Congress. In fact, it is so bad, it is at least two times worse than the next bad bill, which was the cap and tax bill to supposeably fix global warming.
Not exactly the most profound or relevant analysis - but then this was Todd Akin speaking and we all know that unsubstantiated invective and slogans like "cap and tax bill" seems to work very well with his support base. Other speakers hit the grace notes; State Senator Jane Cunningham, for instance, pushed her tenther legislation "which could potentially stop socialized medicine mandate at the state level." The real knee-slapper, though, came when Akin:
... credited divine intervention with the January election of Scott Brown, R-Mass., which deprived Senate Democrats of the 60-seat majority needed to block filibusters. Akin said he hoped God would intervene again to prevent a health care bill from getting through Congress.
Amazing how small and parochial the God of some of these so-called Christians seems to be.
It is instructive - and sad - to compare this event to the President's appearance, and to think that there are people who are happy to be led down the garden path by fools like Akin and pals. Sadder still to think about what we all stand to lose because we live in a place where this type of idiocy is taken seriously by anyone.
UPDATE: Today (Mar. 12) on the Dianne Rehm show, a caller from St. Charles reported that Akin went even further out onto the thin ice of tasteless absurdity by comparing the passage of health care to that good old Republican fall-back, 9/11. The response, from even the conservative commentator, was to condemn Akin's excess as insane, childish and, at the least, manipulative. Rehm seemed to have trouble believing that there were people present at that rally that cheered Akin - I have trouble believing that there people in my district that voted for him.
State Representative Denny Hoskins (r - noun, verb, CPA) held an hour long "Idea Raiser" town hall starting at 7:30 a.m. in a meeting room at the Warrensburg branch of the Trails Regional Library. There were approximately fifteen people in attendance (in addition to media and library staff).
Representative Hoskins spent approximately the first fifteen minutes talking about bills that he is sponsoring or co-sponsoring in the upcoming session. In particular, he addressed ethics reform legislation:
Representative Denny Hoskins:...The other hot topic issue it, it seemed like it's got a lot of press these days, is ethics. And, um, we've had, I've had two House colleagues and one Senate colleague that, um, um, basically resigned this past year, Jeff Smith and Steve Brown and [inaudible] El, El-Amin. Most of those names probably don't, may not sound familiar because they're from the eastern part of the state. But, with, uh, the situations that they were in and, uh, one [inaudible] accepted a bribe from a gas station owner. One of them, and then the other two, uh, basically lied under oath, under Federal oath, when they were, talked about some campaign, uh, finance literature, they lied under oath. Now the ironic thing is, um, you know, of course, bribes are never legal. So, [inaudible] you never want to accept a bribe, especially as an elected official. Uh, but then, number two, if my colleagues Jeff Brown and, uh, Jeff Smith and Steve Brown would have, uh, come clean and when they were under Federal investigation, they would have just told the truth under, when they were under oath they probably would have received a, uh, slap on the wrist a maybe a little bit of a fine. So, but because they chose to lie under oath Senator Smith's facing about a year in prison and a fine and, uh, Representative Steve Brown faced a hefty fine and actually had to resign his license to the bar.
So, ethics has been a pretty big topic and currently there's a couple different, uh, bills out there, ethics bills. Uh, Representative Tim Flook and Representative, uh, Kander, both from the Kansas City area, have proposed ethics, some ethics reform. Uh, Representative Steve Tilley has proposed another bill that I'm planning on being a co-sponsor on and just deals with some of the things,as far as [inaudible] lobbyists's gifts and, um, other ethical, uh, I think issues.
Is it illegal to accept a meal or a gift from a lobbyist? No, that, that's not illegal. In fact, uh,just this past week, uh, everybody in the House and the Senate, we all got, I'm not wearing mine today, we all got ties. All, all the men got ties and it has a little picture of the Missouri State Seal on it. So, it arrived in our office and, uh, I imagine that that would be, uh, showing up on our lobbyist report. [audience laughter]
So, uh, ethics and ethics reform is, is a kind of a big, uh, heated topic it seems these days, just with like I mentioned with those three individuals and, uh, perception from the public...
What, nothing about public perceptions about the plane?
After his opening remarks Representative Hoskins asked attendees to share their concerns or ideas for the upcoming legislative session. The majority of the discussion was about the state budget and concerns about funding for education along with ideas about economic development.
Previous coverage on Show Me Progress about the need for ethics reform:
...[Invocation] Reverend John Bennett: God of all people, God of all faiths, father of justice and mercy, seek your guidance as this town hall listening conference proceeds. Prove us to engage in honest and respectful dialog, for all of us are aware of the critical challenge of the health care debate. And we confess our anxiety about its outcome. By your grace you have lead us to a decisive moment in which our nation is poised for health care reform. We are saddened that just at this moment Senator Ted Kennedy has died. For he spent his political life working diligently and forcefully for health care reform guided by his conviction that health care is a basic human right rooted in his belief that you desire health and wholeness, Shalom, for all your people. [loud and exaggerated coughing][laughter] May he rest in peace in your [inaudible]. Now, oh God, empower us to face the challenge of health care reform rooted in the same belief and guided by a holy concern for the common good and by gracious compassion for the most vulnerable among us. Bless Senator Claire McCaskill, our public servant, as she speaks and listens and engages with us in dialog about health care and other matters of public policy. And that as she represents the people of Missouri in our nation's capital grant her discerning wisdom and openness of mind and heart and the courage of her convictions. Grant, oh God, that this whole process of debate about health care will leave us with a truly reformed health care system which offers quality and affordable access to life giving services for all of your people. God of justice and mercy, bring healing to us in every way that we may join with you in the healing of the nation. Amen.
Voices: Amen.
Leaving out the words "a", "and" and "the" in the prayer, the rest of words of the prayer really set off the teabaggers. Their conduct at the town hall was all downhill from there.
....Question:...Well I guess first, what are you hoping that actually comes out of these? A lot of times we see these forums and if, people kind of come with their mind set and don't leave with, with much changed. Are, do you think that this is making a difference on people that disagree with you.
Senator Claire McCaskill: Well, that's really not the point. The point is, is this is my job. You know, I work for the people of this state whether they agree with me or disagree with me. And I have an obligation to get out and listen to them and try to answer questions. I think you're probably right, the vast majority of people who were here probably had their minds made up. But that doesn't mean it's not important...
"...there were clearly a lot of people here that were more interested in disrupting and showing their anger than listening or having any kind of discourse...I feel for the people who come that want to listen. They can't when people start screaming out and, it is bad manners. And by the way, I don't think it's particularly persuasive. I don't think, being the loudest doesn't make you right. And it generally doesn't work very well in terms of convincing other people...."
The press conference was held immediately after the town hall:
....Question: You were very harsh on the Bush administration and Republicans in general in this town hall session. And of the four I've heard this is probably some of the most partisan remarks you made about the, the fiscal condition of federal government after the Bush presidency and the Republican majority. Is that any way to get things done?
Senator Claire McCaskill: No, I, I did in this one which I did in Kansas City. I talked about Medicare D. And how Medicare D was passed and how many of the things that are embraced by Medicare D should be very troubling to people who are opposing this health care reform. And I may have mentioned that that happened under that administration, but in every time I've mentioned it I've said it happened, you know, under the last administration. So, I've talked about Medicare D specifically and I think generally that has been the only time I've talked in any way partisan and also talkin' about the amendment process. [crosstalk] I talked about that]...
Monday, Senators Kit Bond, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and John McCain will be the featured guests at a "Health Care Reform Forum" at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
The 75-100 guests invited to the event have reportedly been "hand-picked" by Bond's office to hear about Republican plans for obstructing real health care reform.
The forum is closed to the public.
Heh. Maybe they're afraid the great unwashed would try to hold them accountable for Medicare Part D.
It's one thing to not do town halls because they've been going badly, it's quite another to hold a fake one and hand pick your crowd.
Senator Claire McCaskill made it to Jefferson City for her second health care town hall of the day. The event started at 6:00 p.m. We arrived at the location at around 5:00 p.m. to a considerable traffic control presence and a distinct lack of available parking. We were able to get to the media entrance and park next to the television satellite trucks. There was also a considerable media and police presence. We were told that only the first 375 of the people waiting in line would be allowed in. After the event I asked a police officer if he knew how many people who were in line didn't get into the town hall. He wouldn't estimate the number, but did state that people who were in line didn't get in.
Unlike the previous three health care town halls I attended people brought in signs. It doesn't add much to the cachet.
Like the Hillsboro town hall there were a number of people at the event who sincerely believed that being rude, loud, and obnoxious makes for a winning argument.
This wasn't Hillsboro. A smaller space and much closer proximity to a smaller crowd made it appear more manic, but no one had their sign snatched away and no one (at least as I was aware of) was arrested.
Not everyone in line got into the event. Attendance was limited to 375, first come, first served.
Probably to the immense frustration of the loudest and most disruptive in the room, there were a significant number of pro reform individuals at the town hall.
Senator Claire McCaskill (D) held another town hall (in a long series of health care reform town halls) at 8:00 a.m. today at the the Johnson County fair grounds a few miles west of Warrensburg. Approximately two hundred fifty to three hundred people attended the one hour long event. The building had been set up to seat five hundred. Those in favor of health care reform appeared to be in the majority, though there were a handful of teabaggers at the back of the audience who shouted on occasion. Other than those individuals the vast majority of people at the event were polite and listened to the questions and responses.
Senator McCaskill listening to a question.
A Kansas City television station had a reporter doing stand ups and short interviews before the doors opened.
Each chair in the hall had a question form.
There were a small number of teabaggers in attendance.
....Question: Wouldn't this battle be a lot easier if you guys would fix the problems with Medicare and Medicaid, the, the fraud and the over expenses and the, the new drug bill? Same thing. Wouldn't this battle be a lot easier if you fixed the problems that are right before you before you took on something totally new?
Senator Claire McCaskill: Well, this is not totally new. I mean this has been, I've said in some of the meetings, it didn't come up in this one, I can't remember a political campaign when there weren't TV ads saying we're gonna fix health care. And the irony is that even though politicians have been campaigning to fix health care for the last twenty or thirty years nothing's happened. The status quo has continued. We're workin' on bringing to justice the people who commit fraud in the Medicare program. In fact there's been great improvements made in that because of the ability of us to do better investigations through computers and data matches and those kinds of things. But we're not gonna fix the health care costs for the Medicare program if we don't fix the rising health care costs for all of health care 'cause they are interrelated. You can't fix the, the rising costs in, in the Medicare program and not have an impact across the board. I mean they, they are, they're kind of interwoven. The hospitals in terms of what they're charging and, and the doctors and what they're charging for Medicare. And that's part of the problem, is you got two or three or four different rates. So, we may end up, you know, who knows what we'll end up with? We may end up with something very incremental. I don't know. I can't tell at this point how much support there's gonna be [crosstalk]...
At the conclusion of today's town hall in Kansas City Senator Claire McCaskill (D) held a press conference. She took questions from a gathering of print reporters, television reporters, and bloggers for approximately twenty minutes:
...Question: ...A lot of, what I hear from employers, including insurance companies, is this scenario, I just wanted to have you respond quickly. First of all, that a public plan would eventually be offered to every business, they're talking about right now just individuals and small businesses. But because of the lower price it would drive the insurers out of business and become a single player plan. At that point the Federal government would heap on more coverage mandates which would increase the cost and eliminate the flexibility employers have to control costs right now by raising the deductible and co-pays. What's just your general response to that argument?
Senator Claire McCaskill: Well, there can be dire scenarios painted with just about any situation as it relates to health care. It's a pretty dire situation if we do nothing. Businesses are, have a competitive disadvantage internationally because of the huge health care costs that they are saddled with in this country. And so, I think, doing nothing is a pretty dire situation and I know that there are many people who want to believe, especially the insurance companies, that any kind of public option would make the government an unfair competitor. And, and, it, what I've said to some of them is you can't have it both ways. You can't say the government is incompetent and delivers an inferior product and then say you can't compete with them. Especially if it's a constrained public option. That's what we're talking about here. We're talking about a constrained public option that is not going to be underwritten to the extent that we don't want to drive all the other private companies out of the market. That's not the goal here. The goal here is to have a constrained public option. And I think people feel pretty strongly that it remain an option and not be the kind of eight hundred pound gorilla that swallows up all the ability of private insurance companies to compete....
We're live at Senator Claire McCaskill's town hall on the campus of UMKC. Blue Girl will be posting via Twitter as the event proceeds. Meanwhile, here are a few photos of the crowd:
The Monday evening town hall meeting between McCaskill staffers and tea party types who want to talk about what's wrong with the energy bill and with health care reform is the upshot of an incident at McCaskill's St. Louis office on the 17th. Protesters showed up that day to complain about Democratic efforts to overhaul health care.
The door to that office is kept locked, but her staff will come out into the foyer and talk to protesters. That day, though, they had only two people working, as opposed to the usual six, and the phones were ringing constantly, so they didn't respond quickly. The protesters began yelling and banging on the windows--to the point that the tenant of a business on the second floor got angry enough to flip them the bird. (They thought it was a McCaskill staffer, but that got sorted out.)
The two staffers called the cops. I couldn't say for sure whether they did it because the obnoxious protesters were annoying them or whether they felt threatened. In any case that apparently wasn't what Claire would have wanted them to do. She issued an apology for the mixup and agreed to have her staffers meet with the protesters this Monday night. She did promise last fall to listen to all her constituents, whether they voted for her or not, and she's making good on that.
But this situation is typical. Democratic office holders extend courtesy even to yahoos acting like five-year-olds. Republican legislators? Not so much. Billinmidmo, for example, wrote here in August of 2007 that a number or voters and organizations requested that Kenny Hulshof (ninth district) attend a town hall forum about the occupation of Iraq. He didn't come because, according to Hulshof and his staff:
the Iraq War is only important to Columbia. The rest of the district, according to them, does not care about the occupation of Iraq.
For contrast, we called Brownback's office to set up an appointment to talk about his ridiculous animal hybrid bill and were told that since we had met with a staffer a month ago to discuss health care we couldn't come back quite yet. We have been routinely protesting outside Pat Roberts' OP office for a couple years now. His staff has NEVER even bothered to come out and talk to us. But since they have yet to call the cops I guess we should feel fortunate. Of course, we haven't banged on the door and created a disturbance either.
Americans for Prosperity (aka teabaggers, aka Carl Bearden) is convening a town hall in St. Louis this coming Monday night, the 27th, to talk about why they're opposed to the clean energy bill. Claire McCaskill's district staff will attend and represent her views.
One can only speculate about whether the atmosphere will be staid, window-rattling, or something in between. I figure to hear at least one participant claim that "cap and tax" will cost every American family $3100 a year. As if. And someone is likely to cite info from the Wall Street Journal's answer to the CBO assertion that it will cost more like $175 per family.
But what I really hope I hear is some sane questions and observations by people from our side of the equation who attend and speak their minds: who debunk the $3100 claim, who point out that national security demands we turn to a green economy, and, finally, who mention that it might be nice to save the planet. (Come prepared with stats to refute silly claims that the planet is actually cooling.)
I'll be there to film it. If they let me in. I hope some of you will show up as well. MO Votes Conservation is urging people on its e-mail list to do so, and Claire's staff would appreciate the support, especially if this turns out to be a wild ride.
Here are the details:
When:
Monday, July 27, 2009, 7-8pm
Where:
St. Louis Community College - Forest Park Campus
Highlander Lounge
5600 Oakland Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63110
Here is a map of the campus. The meeting is in the Student Center. For more information or to RSVP contact Vanessa at vcrawford@movotesconservation.org.
On Friday, June 19th, Representative Denny Hoskins (r - noun, verb, CPA) held town halls in Holden, Warrensburg, and Knob Noster. The events, in the middle of the day, were sparsely attended.
The second question, concerning conceal carry on university campuses, came at the end of the Warrensburg town hall, with the exchanges including a third person in the audience who had been using a small video camera to tape the town hall.
This statement by representative Hoskins early in the exchange "...And I, I received a lot of positive feedback from people who were for that as well, um, through e-mails..." was striking because we don't have any way of confirming the content or quantity of those e-mails on the subject, since Representative Hoskins has asserted through the Clerk of the House that a request for that specific information [addressed to] from Representative Hoskins cannot be honored because the Missouri Sunshine Law does not apply:
"...1. All written and electronic correspondence with administrators, faculty, and students at the University of Central Missouri concerning legislation pertaining to the issue of concealed and carry of firearms in Missouri...."
The transcript of the conceal carry discussion at the Warrensburg town hall:
Question: Can you give me your philosophy as a representative I, and I ask this question within the context of the concealed carry bill?
Representative Hoskins: Yes.
Question: Because on our conversation, we had a private conversation over the phone about this, you told, you did not vote initially for the amendment when it came up, you, you were doing something else.
Representative Hoskins: All right.
Question: The, the [garbled]. And you were going to investigate it and you were going to talk to those people who were directly involved in the conceal and carry. [crosstalk]
Representative Hoskins: Right.
Question: And I know you received then, communication from the Faculty Senate which voted overwhelmingly against [garbled] conceal carry permit holders. The Students, who voted overwhelmingly against conceal and carry. I know you had communications with the head of Public Security, um, the university that said he was against it and moreover, his statewide organization had a resolution in February against it.
On Friday Representative Denny Hoskins (r - noun, verb, CPA) held hour long town hall meetings in Holden, Warrensburg, and Knob Noster. Ten people attended the 9:00 a.m. gathering at the Holden Branch of the Trails Regional Library, approximately fifteen people attended the one at 11:00 a.m. at the Warrensburg branch, and approximately ten people attended the 1:00 p.m. town hall at the Knob Noster branch. Representative Hoskins might note that most people can't attend town hall meetings held in the middle of the day.
The Holden town hall meeting.
Hoskins carried Knob Noster comfortably in the 2008 election. He also carried Holden narrowly. He did not carry the City of Warrensburg, the anchor of the 121st Legislative District. Predictably, the really interesting exchanges came from constituents at the Warrensburg meeting. Here is one of those exchanges, on the subject of Hoskins' votes on regressive taxes:
...Representative Denny Hoskins: ...I've always said that, I think, being accessible to the public is a, is a primary responsibility, being an elected official. And so I'd like to open the questions and comments and concerns that you have. And we can go from there, so do we have any questions?
Question: Um, I have a question about your changing your vote on an important piece of legislation. In fact there was just a demonstration in Jeff City about this, this is that fair tax thing. You told me you voted against it.
Representative Hoskins: Yes.
Question: That's correct?
Representative Hoskins: Yes.
Question: On the third reading you voted against it, this is on April 16th.
Representative Hoskins: Um, hm.
Question: But on April 14th in the perfection, you voted for it. Given the fact that you're a CPA, you're on the budget committee, why'd you change your mind on that bill in forty-eight hours?
Representative Hoskins: I'd have, I'd have to go back and look and see if I can see...
On Wednesday morning in Sedalia, Senator Claire McCaskill (D) held a town hall meeting in the Parkhurst Commons, Stauffacher Building on the campus of State Fair Community College. Our previous coverage:
...Question: Senator, I would just like to, before I start my question, thank you for keeping your promise you wouldn't vote for a bill that had nine thousand pork projects. At least you did your part of it, and the President didn't. But, you know, I, I stand here and bet you that if I looked at the label in everything I have on except my shoes they're all made in a foreign country. [applause] If we ever go to war with China we're, we're gonna be in big trouble. Big trouble. 'Cause we don't make anything anymore. But they makin' 'em. My concern is I, I keep hearing, here in Sedalia, in Sedalia School District 200 we have floated, finally floated an immense bond issue for our schools. We're in the process of building the brand new high school to the tune of around twenty-five million. And we've added on the classrooms here and there. But, I keep hearing from Washington and Congress and President we've gotta build better buildings. And, and the President made a point of calling out the school districts in, in Chicago, inner city school districts in Chicago and Detroit. You know, Senator, buildings don't teach. Teachers teach. And I, I venture to say that, that this state alone was extremely hurt, not by Congress, but by a federal judge who said you have to spend more money in Kansas City and St. Louis, well over a billion dollars put in those two school districts. And they built buildings and did this they did that. They bought computers which I have no idea where they are now. And them districts aren't any, any better off then, then they were before they started. My high school in northeast Kansas, northeast Kansas City was built in nineteen twenty-three. And it's still a very fine building. And it's, they're teaching well. So, why do we have to have the federal government involved with our school systems? And what [crosstalk], if you do get involved, what strings are you gonna put on us?
Senator McCaskill: Well, I think, first of all, there's an argument here about whether or not the federal government should be doing local education. This is one of those examples where you gotta find some place in the middle. I don't want the federal government telling the Sedalia school district what they can build and when and how. The people of this community need to be deciding that. And No Child Left Behind has been a disaster because, you know, [applause] a lot of children have been left behind. We, we've taken the creativity out of the classroom, because it's now about teaching to that test. We are making teachers hit a certain number rather than measuring progress. We're thinking all students are created equal when they're not. The problems in these urban school districts, if you went to Northeast you know that your school was, is, is a magnet now. It's, it's a magnet school and it was converted over, in fact I tried a criminal case there because it was law enforcement and, and public service magnet. And so I went over, we used to go try a case in front of those kids once a year. But it was, it became a magnet school with that money you're talking about. That's how it became that magnet school. And I agree, buildings aren't the answer. A good environment where kids can learn is important. And in urban districts those kids have, I mean, the teachers in those districts, you talk about ones that should earn money. They should make a lot more money than I make. Because they are nutritionists, they're parents, they are disciplinarians, they are, you know, trying to do so much because many of those kids do not have it at home...
On Wednesday morning in Sedalia, Senator Claire McCaskill (D) held a town hall meeting in the Parkhurst Commons, Stauffacher Building on the campus of State Fair Community College. Our previous coverage:
Question: I'm concerned about the gas prices. Since January the fuel, the gas costs in this area have gone up almost fifty per cent. We saw what it did last summer, go up to almost four dollars, a little over four dollars a gallon. Remarkably, just before the election it got back down. But now since [crosstalk]...
Senator McCaskill: Really, after the election is when it happened.
Question: Just shortly after, yeah. But, it's going back up again. And this isn't a commodity like a television where you can go to K-mart, if you don't like the price there you can go over to Wal-mart or you can buy a different brand. It, it's not a competitive market like that. Exxon raises their price ten cents a gallon up to two twenty-nine a gallon, BP does it, Shell does it, all the [garbled] stations. It goes up fifteen cents a gallon here, you can go to every gas station on town, it goes up fifteen cents a gallon. It just smacks of price fixing. Also, earlier this year, on the evening news there was a statement made that Exxon had a full loaded tanker sitting out in the Gulf of Mexico. They weren't bringing it in because they didn't want to flood the market with gasoline. That sounds like price manipulation, like, you know, "We've got the fuel here, we're just gonna manipulate it so we can get our money." We've seen that the oil companies have no shame when it comes to their greed. We, we regulate electricity, we regulate natural gas for our homes, I don't like regulating business, I like the free market like you said, but it's obvious that some companies who kinda have us in a stranglehold here. We have no control of this. I mean, we can't go to another station, someplace else, to another brand and try to get a lower price. It doesn't happen...
On Wednesday morning in Sedalia, Senator Claire McCaskill (D) held a town hall meeting in the Parkhurst Commons, Stauffacher Building on the campus of State Fair Community College. Our previous coverage: Senator Claire McCaskill in Sedalia - May 27, 2009 - part 1
Senator Claire McCaskill (D).
The transcript of the town hall:
[applause] Senator Claire McCaskill: Good morning everyone, it's terrific to be here. I am not here to give a speech, I'm here to listen and answer questions. So, I'm not gonna do a long introductory set of remarks. I will tell you that when they talk about us leaving Washington, I want to reassure everyone that when we get a week off from Washington, at least this senator and I think most of my colleagues don't go home and watch Oprah. [laughter] We do things like this, which is a really important part of my job, is to come out in a public forum, no screening, no, no preset questions, to listen. And to understand what's on your mind. And so, the more we get a few weeks off in Washington, the better it is I think, because that gives us the time to move around the state and have the kinds of meetings and opportunities to talk to the people that we work for. Because you can get to thinking you're a pretty big deal out there. They're very deferential and it's kind of an insulated environment. And I can see how you can lose perspective about what's important and, and how you should conduct, how you should set your priorities.
So, I want to talk about the Economic Recovery Act just for a minute because I found, as I've gone around the state, and we've done a number of these, more than a dozen, in the last thirty days, that there are a lot of people that frankly just think we're printin' money and throwin' it out the window. It feels like things are out of control because there was the TARP, and there was the stimulus, and then there was TARP 2, then there was the omnibus, and then there was the budget resolution. And there really wasn't a very good effort made to explain the differences between those things, what each one of them represented, what it meant, and so I completely understand that many people out here think we're nuts. And I want to make sure that I can answer specific questions about all of those. But I particularly wanted to make sure that everyone understood what the stimulus was really about. First of all, people need to realize that it is one of the largest tax cuts in American history, focused on the middle class. And it's one of the largest tax cuts, period. But this particular tax cut was focused on the middle class. Almost forty per cent of the money spent in the stimulus was direct tax cuts or tax credits. In fact, I guarantee you, there will be many students that will attend this institution [State Fair Community College] in the next year that will take advantage of one of the tax credits that we put in the bill that would allow them to come back to school, or to go to school, and get the kind of training, particularly when you look at the allied health program you have here. I just spent some time over at the hospital, and learning how the nurses they hire out of here. That's what we're looking for. We're looking for job creation. We're looking for sustained job creation to get us out of this economic slump...
This morning in Sedalia, Senator Claire McCaskill (D) held a town hall meeting, taking questions from the audience on the economic recovery (and other issues), in the Parkhurst Commons, Stauffacher Building on the campus of State Fair Community College. There were approximately one hundred fifty people in attendance. After the meeting ended she spent a few moments taking questions from the media. A transcript of that press opportunity follows. Transcripts of the town hall meeting will appear in subsequent posts about the hour long event.
...Senator Claire McCaskill: Well the most important thing is job creation. You know, we've got a, a recession is obviously a retraction, where people lay off people, and, and hunker down, get smaller. We now have to turn that corner and see that growth. We're beginning to see the green shoots of growth. I think the stimulus money has helped. I think the TARP funds have helped in terms of loosening up credit. And now it's just a matter of us continuing to put one foot in front of the other. I think in another eighteen months we should be back to where we were, maybe not when the recession began, but certainly in a much healthier position.
Question: Sure. What do you think of the banking regulations? Should they be back in place...[crosstalk]
Senator McCaskill: Yes.
Question:...like they were twenty five years ago?
Senator McCaskill: Well we have to have some kind of regulation over investment banks. When we unhooked investment banks from regulation everyone thought, well, if we just let 'em go, they'd only act in their best interests, 'cause it's not in their best interests to, to over leverage. Or to slice and dice exotic security instruments. To the point that nobody even understood what they were buyin' and sellin'. But it made their salaries go up. So yeah, we're gonna have to have some more oversight there. The tricky part is making sure we don't go too far. We don't want to squeeze the life blood out of the economy by over regulating, but obviously, we've gotta have some kind of framework of regulations in place.
Since President Obama was to be in St. Louis 
Americans for Prosperity 
This morning in Sedalia, Senator Claire McCaskill (D) held a town hall meeting, taking questions from the audience on the economic recovery (and other issues), in the Parkhurst Commons, Stauffacher Building on the campus of State Fair Community College. There were approximately one hundred fifty people in attendance. After the meeting ended she spent a few moments taking questions from the media. A transcript of that press opportunity follows. Transcripts of the town hall meeting will appear in subsequent posts about the hour long event.
