tion act.

Skelton wrote, "These reforms are in the spirit of Missouri's own Harry Truman…I sincerely hope your wartime contracting reforms are preserved as the House and Senate engage in conference negotiations."

and dozens of others have something in common, Sen. Claire McCaskill and investigators contend: They lacked smart planning, proper oversight and, in some cases, competitive bidding.

Under legislation engineered by McCaskill, D-Mo., inspectors general in the Pentagon and State Department would have new powers to combat waste, fraud and abuse when the U.S. is involved in war.” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

roud of what we accomplished in the Senate here today—a real victory for accountability in government, and something I’ve been fighting for since my first day in the U.S. Senate. While these wars wind down, we can’t lose the urgency to correct these mistakes, and prevent them from being repeated in the future. Protecting taxpayer dollars isn’t the flashiest issue. But it’s a promise I made to Missourians, and it’s something I pledge to continue fighting for, with dogged determination, until this legislation is signed into law.”

life-saving health services, create jobs, and protect rural hospitals which are at risk of closing from fiscal challenges.

Claire: “I applaud the announcement Governor Nixon made today—expanded coverage will boost the number of Missourians with access to life-saving health services, expand job opportunities, and protect rural hospitals which are at risk of closing from fiscal challenges. An expansion will ensure Missourians benefit from the taxes they pay instead of seeing that money and its benefits flow to other states. This is as commonsense as it gets. The next step is for the folks in Jefferson City to follow our lead. The Legislature should act now to support the Medicaid expansion, and create a Missouri-based health insurance exchange instead of handing its creation over to the federal government. I honestly never thought I’d see the day when the Missouri Legislature would willingly toss responsibility back to Washington and walk the other way.”

More: http://mccaskill.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1744

and the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Claire: “I’m happy for American consumers, who are the real winners here. With the passage of this law we’ve got the tools we need to prevent this tax from happening and protect American jobs.”

7% of the contract’s original value, even though the structures were described as “unsafe, uninhabitable, or unusable.”

Claire: “It looks like we paid $70 million for a contract that delivered next to nothing. I think it’s critical that we really scrutinize what we’re getting for the money we’re spending on projects halfway around the world.”