McCaskill discusses bipartisanship, Trump, health care during town-hall meeting

SIKESTON, Mo. — U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill admitted some of her colleagues questioned the wisdom of her decision to hold eight town halls meetings this week in Missouri. Many of those meetings, they pointed out, are in areas that had voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump.

McCaskill, a Democrat, told the some 150 people gathered at the auditorium at Three Rivers College-Sikeston, she considered the meetings an honor.

“I really believe that this is part of my job,” McCaskill said. “I have learned, always when I do town halls, what Missourians are thinking, what they are mad about, what they are worried about.”

And that is what she heard Wednesday afternoon. Concerns ranged from health care and access to the internet in rural communities to jobs and energy. For approximately an hour, McCaskill responded to those questions.

Before the meeting, attendees were given the opportunity to write down a question for McCaskill. In an effort to show that none of the questions were scrutinized in advance, Missouri’s senior senator asked for a volunteer, who not only had never voted for her but would probably never vote for her to pick the questions from the bowl. More than one hand shot up.

With many of her questions, McCaskill emphasized she was a moderate. She said it is tough today to work with the extremes on both the left and right to find a middle ground.

The senator also noted she and Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt have worked together on issues facing Missouri, including most recently returning the river cruise boat the Delta Queen to the Mississippi River. On other issues, she said, she has bills that are bipartisan backed.

Anna Voelker posed a question noting Trump had won Missouri and McCaskill had voted against his choice for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. Voelker wanted to know if the Trump voters would hurt McCaskill’s chances for re-election.

“Yeah, probably,” McCaskill responded, saying it would make her an underdog in the election, a role she was comfortable with.

But, McCaskill continued, she thought those senators who looked down at Trump voters made a huge mistake.

“People who voted for Donald Trump wanted someone to disrupt what was going on. They wanted a disruptor. I get it,” she said. “If you have been working really hard and the more behind you get and every four years someone runs for president and says, ‘I’m going to change things,’ and things never really change, how can you blame someone for voting for a disruptor?

“I obviously did not support President Trump for office, but I think it is my job to listen and learn from people who did.”

She went on to say she owed it those people to give her time and her respect. McCaskill said it is the Democratic Party that has fought for the minimum wage and pensions, saying it hurts that those voters no longer had faith in the Democratic Party.

“But time will tell if President Trump keeps his promises,” she added.

As for her Gorsuch vote, she said, it would have made her re-election chances better to cast her vote in favor of his nomination, however, she was particularly critical of his ruling in a case involving a trucker, who had his truck break down in sub-freezing temperatures. As the trucker was beginning to suffer the effects of hypothermia, the company told him he could not leave the truck. When he went to get help and returned to the truck, he was fired, McCaskill said, and Gorsuch ruled in favor of the company.

“At the confirmation hearing, he was asked what he would have done. Gorsuch said he hadn’t thought about it. I don’t want a judge that sits on the Supreme Court and never thought about it,” McCaskill said.

When one of the questions referred to health care as a joke, McCaskill agreed there are problems. The senator disagreed Trump’s proposal was the answer.

“There are a lot of things we can do to improve what we have now, and I stand ready, willing and able, like I have for six years,” McCaskill said. However, she noted the Republicans still have not found the solution.

Trump’s proposal, she said, would provide tax breaks for those earning more than $200,000 annually along with medical suppliers. To pay for those tax breaks, she said, benefits would be cut.

McCaskill called for transparency in health care, particularly in pharmaceutical pricing, pointing out health-care companies charge one rate when it is paid by insurance companies or the federal government but when individuals are paying for prescriptions, the costs can rise substantially.

She also wanted transparency in political advertising. She urged those attending the town hall, when advertisements run and will not reveal who is backing the ad, whether in favor of her or against her, to ignore them. The backers of the ads, she said, should be willing to say who they are.

Patricia Scott of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, applauded much of what McCaskill had to say Wednesday and said she appreciated McCaskill’s moderate stance.

“She is interested in listening to both sides. I think she can appeal to the people in the middle who don’t want to be on the extremes,” Scott said.

Josh Bill of Sikeston called McCaskill a very skilled politician as the meeting came to an end.

But not in all issues.

“I was very disappointed, when Noranda came up. It was very clear she didn’t know anything about it — what has happened, what brought them down or the efforts to resurrect it,” he said. “It was pretty clear she didn’t know anything about it. But frankly I have been disappointed on that from all our officials in the state — both parties, senators, governors. Nobody has said anything while Noranda was going down.”

Pertinent address:

1400 S. Main St., Sikeston, Mo.