McCaskill and Blunt sound off on Obama's jobs speech

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says President Barack Obama will be in a challenging position tonight night as he presents his jobs plan to a joint session of Congress.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, McCaskill said most Missourians want Congress to cut spending, but it will be difficult for the federal government to embark on a giant jobs programs without spending money.

"I’m hopeful the president’s plan will be revenue neutral, in other words, not add in any way to the deficit," McCaskill said. "But be significant enough that it could help in a painfully slow recovery. It’s a recovery, but it’s a painfully slow recovery."

People familiar with the White House deliberations on the jobs package say Obama is considering a plan totaling about $300 billion in tax cuts and spending for 2012.

Two of the biggest measures are expected to be a one-year extension of a Social Security tax cut for workers and a continuation of unemployment benefits. Those items would total about $170 billion dollars.

Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt said neither measure would create a single job.

"The unemployment benefit extension eventually becomes another reason for employers to not create jobs because they have to pay into that fund that was never designed to be a never ending benefit," Blunt said.

Blunt says reducing Social Security taxes for workers only robs future social security recipients. But he says he might be able to support the measures if they are part of a bigger job creation package.

Julie Bierach, St. Louis Public Radio

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Blunt: DOD can take cuts

Missouri Senator Republican Roy Blunt says he is willing to accept potential cuts in the Department of Defense budget.

The debt ceiling crisis is now averted, Senator Blunt is focused on cutting spending across the federal government.

He says that the worst thing Congress could have done was increase the debt ceiling without changing behavior.

He now seems willing to accept cuts even in places his party’s platform traditionally supports.

"Everything should be on the table," Blunt said. "The Defense Department needs to justify like everybody else in the federal government does, what they do and why they are gonna do it. I think there’s room for some reductions in defense spending."

Senator Blunt says the cuts should not come lightly and there is not as much room to cut as some Democrats think.

All of this comes on the heels of the passage of legislation that raises the debt ceiling and is expected to shave about two trillion dollars off the debt in the next ten years.

Tim Filla, KRCU

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McCaskill and Blunt look for compromise on debt

Both of Missouri’s Senators view compromise as the only viable solution to the debt ceiling debate.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt says that Republicans will raise the debt limit but Democrats and the President need to accept substantial long term cuts in spending.

Nevertheless he feels that the Republicans will not get the amount of spending cuts they hope for.

"We are not in an environment, not in a moment where one political party is going to get to have the solution that they would most like," Blunt said. "The President is not going to get tax increases, Republicans aren’t going to get spending cuts back to the level of 30 months ago."

Fellow Missouri Senator, Democrat Claire McCaskill, also champions compromise. But she feels that Republicans are not serious about a deal.

"Nobody wants to give up any of the money," McCaskill said. "Everybody wants us to cut spending, my conference room is full everyday of people coming from Missouri saying, ‘don’t cut me’ And that’s were we have got to have some discipline, we’ve got to learn to say no, we’ve go to learn… and if we cant start with the low hanging fruit, which has to be big oil, how serious can take these guys."

Tim Filla, KRCU

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Blunt and McCaskill concerned over Post Office closings

The U.S. Postal Service is scrutinizing 3700 post offices for possible closure. 167 are in Missouri … and many are located in small, rural towns. This action concerns Missouri’s Senate delegation.

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill and Republican Senator Roy Blunt both say they do not fully understand the Postal Service’s process to determine which offices will close.

McCaskill said the Senators composed a letter requesting more details.

“We’re going to work very hard to make sure this is fair, and that it doesn’t harm these small communities,” McCaskill said.

Senator Blunt said that a post office provides small towns with a civic focal point.

“Many of those communities, the post office is the last identity they have,” Blunt said.

The U.S. Postal Service is examining several Southeast Missouri post offices including Blodgett, Brownwood, Daisy, Dutchtown, Gipsy, Old Appleton, Perkins, Sturdivant, Vanduser and Whitewater.

Tim Filla, KRCU

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Blunt hopeful about Missouri River working group

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt is optimistic that the first meeting of the Missouri River working group will bring common ground for both the northern and southern basins of the Missouri river.

The group is spearheaded by Missouri Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and North Dakota Senators Kent Conrad and John Hoeven.

While Senator Blunt says he is not positive any new plans will come out of the first meeting, he is hopeful the meeting will illustrate a newly formed common ground deposited by the unprecedented flooding.

“And you know, this working group is to see how much work we can do together. And I’m optimistic that will be a significantly different discussion, than the discussions of the past decade of so, on the river,” Blunt said.

Senator Blunt says historically there has been little to no consensus between those states in the northern and southern basins of the river.

However, he is now hopeful the unprecedented flooding in the northern basin will allow them to understand the problems the southern basin incurs every year.

Tim Filla, KRCU

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ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - The Missouri River Working Group is holding its first meeting on Wednesday to come up with a policy on flood control.

Missouri Senators Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill launched the group with senators from North Dakota to look for ways to improve flood control along the Missouri River.

Senator Blunt says in the past, states in the upper Missouri River basin like North Dakota haven't had much flooding, but after this year, he expects all states along the river to make flood control a top priority.

"I would expect a good attendance from the Senators from Montana right down to Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, all of whom have been impacted this year by the flooding conditions of the river," Blunt said.

Senators Blunt and McCaskill have also joined Senator John Thune of South Dakota and others to request a hearing on Missouri River flood management with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Paul Johnston of the Corps' Omaha District says the Corps is open to working with the senators, but that this year's need for flood water storage was unprecedented.

"We got an extraordinary amount of rain in the end of May, followed by the highest runoff in a hundred years, in June," Johnston said. "And that essentially filled the reservoirs and took away our flexibility."

Johnston says to get reservoir levels back down the Corps has had to release record amounts of water down the Missouri River, leading to flooding.

Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

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McCaskill and Blunt on federal debt

Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill is heralding compromise as the solution to the nation’s debt crises.

Senator McCaskill, feels that too many in Congress are attempting to fix the problem with only one method.

She also says that more politicians need to focus more on their work and less on elections and appeasing the “far ends of the political spectrum.”

“There is a very important goal that we are working towards and it is called compromise. I think that way too many people are focused on elections and not focused on solving the problems,” McCaskill said.

Senator McCaskill also stressed the importance of reducing tax breaks allotted to wealthy companies and individuals as part of the solution for the nation’s financial woes.

On the other side of the aisle, Senator Roy Blunt feels that the focus needs to be less upon cooperation and more upon reducing government expenditure.

He believes that the citizens as a whole are paying as much tax as they are willing to and that it is up to the government to cut spending and meet them halfway.

Senator Blunt also says that he is not only opposed to raising tax rates, but that raising rates would not increase funds for the government.

“And I think that the best way to create revenue is to create more tax payers. We ought to be talking about how we can create more private sector jobs, how we can establish and create an environment. Where private sector job creators want to create more tax payers, that’s how you raise revenue,” Blunt said.

Both senators will be members of a senatorial group meeting later this week that will look into and possibly make changes to the current plan of action for dealing with the waters of the Missouri River.

McCaskill says hopefully the states will be able to agree on a policy that makes flood control the Army Corps of Engineers’ main priority.

“It’s not navigation, it’s not irrigation, it’s not wildlife habitation. It is in fact flood control. And we’ve got to make sure that that becomes crystal clear after the difficulties that everyone has faced this year,” McCaskill said.

Historic rainfall and high levels of snowmelt have forced the Army Corps to release record levels of water down the Missouri River causing heavy flooding.

Hydrologists expect the river to remain at flood stage until at least August.

Tim Filla, KRCU and Julie Bierach, St. Louis Public Radio

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Senator Blunt: Tax talks are a waste of time

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt is pleased that President Obama is focusing more on the debt, however he is fed up with the talk of raising taxes.

Senator Blunt voiced his opinion Wednesday that the President is using the Republicans’ refusal to increase taxes as a means of avoiding serious financial debate.

Blunt is pleased with the President’s entrance into the financial debate… but he views it as a last minute one.

Senator Blunt says that the focus needs to be on spending … not on taxes.

“His party had total capacity to raise them. If they couldn’t raise them when they had those big majorities, there’s no way they are going to raise them now. So not only would I not be for it, but it’s a waste of time conversation, it’s not going to happen,” Blunt said.

Senator Blunt also says the President needs to stop looking at what he wants to do. Instead he needs to start looking at what he can do.

Tim Filla, KRCU

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McCaskill says Corps is bogged down by special projects

According to Senator Claire McCaskill, the river systems are not the only things flooded in the nation’s heartland.

She feels that the Army Corp of Engineers is also suffering from serious bloating, but not from water.

Senator McCaskill has come out against Senator Roy Blunt’s assessment that a lack of earmarks is to blame for the poor performance of the Army Corps of Engineers.

In a weekly conference call with Missouri reporters, Senator McCaskill stated that to her the problem is not that the Corps isn’t getting enough money but instead they are getting too much.

"The problem is that the Corp has been handcuffed by special projects that have been dictated by congress and hasn’t been allowed to prioritize the project that they need to prioritize for management of the river systems. The earmarking has gotten in the way," McCaskill said.

Senator McCaskill, did state some level of optimism that with the stoppage of Congressional Earmarks, the Corps may be able to get back to work, on their terms.

Tim Filla, KRCU

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Blunt still wants FEMA to pay 100% of cleanup for Joplin and May floods

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt continues to insist that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, should reimburse local governments for 100 percent of the clean-up costs from the Joplin tornado.

FEMA will typically reimburse governments for 75% of disaster-related expenses, but the agency will occasionally pay more for large, atypical disasters. FEMA is paying 90% of the clean-up costs for the Tuscaloosa tornado earlier this year.

FEMA has decided that it will reimburse 90% for the Joplin tornado. But Senator Blunt is not satisfied.

"When they reach extraordinary proportions, like the flood in May, or like Joplin did, the local governments can’t pay 25% of the cost of the cleanup," Blunt said. "Now we’ve got that down in Joplin where it would be 10%. But in Katrina is was 100% and it didn’t matter whether it was Katrina in New Orleans or Katrina somewhere in rural Mississippi. It was 100% reimbursement."

Blunt says that the government should only step in when people can’t take care of certain responsibilities on their own, such as levees and infrastructure.

As an example, he says that the federal government shouldn’t recompense homes that are uninsured when the owners willfully chose to not carry insurance.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Blunt and McCaskill sound off on gas prices

High gas prices are on the minds of both Missouri Senators this week.

A bill co-sponsored by Senator Roy Blunt was on the Senate flood Wednesday to address expanded oil production and other issues.

Blunt says one area of concern is refineries taking time to customize production under the Clean Air Act rather than working on bulk oil refining.

"It really impacts supply whenever you have to make all these special blends of fuels in the summertime for the 19 or 20 or two dozen cities that are under some Clean Air requirements right now. Until we changed the law a little bit a few years ago all of them had to have a unique blend of fuel that had to be produced just for them," Blunt said.

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says alternative fuels is her focus – with a caveat.

"Incentivizing alternatives to oil petroleum is a very good idea," McCaskill said. "I do think we have to be careful that doesn’t turn into an entitlement program. Incentivizing the beginning of a market is much different than an entitlement program that goes on for decades and decades and decades. So we do need to look to the future and figure out at what point and time do we need to wean that market off of the tax dollars that they have received."

The Senate this voted down a McCaskill proposal that would have dropped tax credits for the largest of the oil companies.

Kirk Wayman, KXCV

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Blunt calls Bin Laden raid "appropriate"

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt is calling the death of Osama bin Laden a huge moment for America.

Blunt, a Republican, praised President Obama’s decision to send Special Forces into bin Laden’s Pakistani compound, rather than conducting a bombing raid.

"The risk was appropriate, rather than sifting through the rubble of a compound to try to determine whether or not Osama bin Laden might have been there at that moment," Blunt said.

Blunt hopes the death of Osama bin Laden creates "confusion and chaos" inside al-Qaida and other Islamic extremist groups.

The Senator says it’s clear that al-Qaida cells in countries like Yemen and Somalia have operated more or less independently for several years, carrying out attacks inspired, but not directly ordered, by bin Laden.

"Having him removed as a figure to rally around is important. Eliminating both his money and his ability to raise money is important," Blunt said.

Blunt also praised the decision to bury bin Laden at sea to eliminate a rallying point or a shrine.

He downplayed the idea that bin Laden’s death will inspire revenge attacks, saying al-Qaida affiliates are trying every day to harm American and its allies.

Blunt says although bin Laden has not had operational control of al-Qaida for years, he was an important figurehead and source of financing.

In statements released Sunday night, other area politicians called the raid "justice served" – echoing a phrase the president used during his late-night address.

Rachel Lippmann, St. Louis Public Radio

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Democrats and Republicans point finger at other party for budget delays

A possible government shutdown may be in the cards and Democrats and Republicans are busy blaming each other.

When asked why the Democratic budget plan was not finished at the beginning of the last fiscal year, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill points the finger at bipartisanism.

"There is an equal opportunity for blame here on why we did not get the budget done last year," McCaskill said. "The Republicans were not wanting to help with that process. They wanted to blame us for not getting a budget and they wanted us to hold off so they could try to put their priorities in place which you’re seeing happen right now. This was part of their strategy."

However Missouri Senator Roy Blunt feels the problem has been caused by poor negotiation when the House was under Democratic control.

"We’re dealing with issue that they could have resolved any way they wanted to last year," Blunt said. "So their negotiating position is dramatically impacted by their unwillingness to deal with these issues when they were totally in control."

Daniel Rohr, KRCU

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McCaskill and Blunt sound off on Libya

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says she’s concerned about conditions in Libya.

While the Senator is awaiting briefings from military officials, she says it appears there has been a reversal over the last 24 hours.

The Democratic Senator says the U.S effort must have a clear timeline.

"And I am going to certainly push to hold the President to his word. That this will be limited in scope and limited in time. That this is not going to be a drawn out commitment of the United States military and that it will not involve ground troops," McCaskill said.

Meanwhile, Missouri Senator Roy Blunt says he is hopeful that the U.S’s limited efforts in Libya will be successful in ending Moammar Gadhafi’s 42-year rule.

The Republican Senator says that the efforts come about four weeks too late.

Blunt says he would support the U.S arming rebels.

"I’m eager as a member of the intelligence committee to know a little more about the rebels than we know right now," Blunt said. "But I think if you put planes in the air, and you’re going to spend $500 million to keep those planes in the air to level the playing field, it doesn’t hurt to give some advantage to the playing field on the side you’re trying to help."

Blunt says President Barack Obama must give a clearer definition of what the goal in Libya is.

Julie Bierach, St. Louis Public Radio

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Blunt on debt ceiling

The Obama Administration wants more room for U.S. debt, but that’s not sitting well with Missouri’s Republican Senator.


Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asked a Congressional subcommittee on appropriations on Wednesday to raise the debt ceiling, saying it has to be done because “there’s no alternative.”


Missouri GOP Senator Roy Blunt says unless lawmakers include fundamental changes in the way the feds spend money, he won’t vote for a rise in the country’s debt ceiling.


“I don’t believe Congress would do that and things that both change the budget process and impose controls on the federal government like a balanced budget amendment would are the kind of things that need to be not just part of the discussion by the determination to move forward with the debt ceiling,” Blunt says.


Blunt says last year was the first time since the early 1970s that both houses failed to pass a budget or a single appropriations bill.


Kirk Wayman, KXCV

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Democrats "just aren't trying" on budget, Blunt says

Republican Senator Roy Blunt said on Tuesday that he doesn’t see a whole lot of room for compromise with Democrats on the federal budget.

Missouri’s junior Senator said that if Democrats cannot accept the House’s sixty billion dollar budget reduction, then they quote, “just aren’t trying.”

Blunt then backtracked a bit, laying out fertile ground where both parties have expressed a desire to cut spending: government agency redundancy.

A new Government Accountability Office report, released yesterday, highlights areas where multiple government agencies are essentially doing the same thing.

“The 80 different programs for economic development, the 20 different programs for homelessness, the 15 different programs for food safety. If you just combine the duplicative agencies into one purpose, you would save $100 to $200 billion,” Blunt said.

In other news, Blunt denied having any insider knowledge into Peter Kinder’s potential run for the governorship, but he expressed his confidence in the Lieutenant Governor’s experience.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Senator Blunt will vote “No” on Essential Air Amendment

Senator Roy Blunt announced on Wednesday that he will not vote for the Essential Air Service Amendment proposed by Senator John McCain.

The Essential Air Service program currently provides a guarantee to rural areas that at least a minimal level of scheduled air services will be provided, regardless of whether it is profitable or not.

If passed, the amendment will cut most of the $200 million program and effectively eliminate most small rural airports.

Senator Blunt voiced his concerns regarding the effect such cuts could have on local airports and jobs.

"It’s actually one of the few areas where some government money produces lots of private sector jobs," Blunt said. "It makes the difference in whether jobs at airports in Joplin, Kirksville, Cape Girardeau, and Columbia have air service or not."

The bill was approved by a House committee on Wednesday but has not been voted on by the Senate.

Katie Long, KRCU

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EPA responses to Blunt criticism

EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks says the government’s lawsuit against Ameren for Clean Air Act violations is justified.

Last month, the EPA sued Ameren Missouri for violations at its Rush Island power plant in Jefferson County.

Senator Roy Blunt was quick to defend the company, charging the EPA with a campaign to penalize all coal-fired power plants.

EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks says Ameren made major modifications to its plant without obtaining the necessary permits or adding required pollution controls.

"The government is confident that there were violations of the Clean Air Act and that’s why we initiated the enforcement case against Ameren," Brooks said.

Ameren denies any wrongdoing, saying the modifications were routine maintenance projects that did not increase emissions.

Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

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Roy Blunt speaks to Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce

Senator Roy Blunt is on a tour of Southeast Missouri Chambers of Commerce, including a stop Thursday night in Cape Girardeau. He focused much of the evening slamming the national budget deficit. 

Blunt criticized the federal government for running up an additional 3 trillion dollars in debt in just the last two years, and voiced his concern at this pattern of government spending.

"It's only the government from the local school board to the capital of the United States where you don't care as much as you did the year before because you didn't spend as much money as you did last year. Nobody else feels that way," Blunt said.

Senator Blunt says that he hopes to come up with some budget cuts to help ease deficit spending. He made no specific recommendations except to return spending levels to those that existed in 2008.

Katie Long, KRCU

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Roy Blunt concerned about conditions at St. Louis VA hospital

Senator Roy Blunt joined fellow Senators Dick Durbin, Mark Kirk, and Claire McCaskill in signing a letter stating that the latest issues at the John Cochran VA Hospital in St. Louis had seriously concerned them.

The letter came in response to the hospital canceling all surgeries last week after staff found operating equipment with possible contamination.

"I intend to continue to be engaged there. It's amazing to me that this has gone on that long with that many recurring problems. I'm going to be very interested in seeing if we can't get this facility operating the way the veterans deserve for it to be operated," Blunt said.

Representative Russ Carnahan will meet with VA Secretary, Eric Shinseki, this week in hopes of finding a solution to the hospitals problems.

Katie Long, KRCU

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