Missouri GOP on McCaskill earmark legislation: She's a hypocrite

The Missouri Republican Party, as you might expect, was not impressed with Sen. Claire McCaskill's announcement that she was introducing legislation to ban earmarks. The party's news release is printed below:

Chameleon Claire McCaskill has struck again—this time, desperately trying to hide her long Washington record of supporting earmarks.

Today, Claire McCaskill announced new legislation to ban earmarks—but her public position is yet another example of McCaskill’s walk not matching her talk. Despite McCaskill’s anti-earmark rhetoric, she has voted for thousands of earmarks totaling billions of dollars, which she once admitted makes her “part of the problem.”

Throughout her career in Washington, McCaskill has voted for a significant number of spending bills that were filled with earmarks. This includes a spending bill that included more than 800 earmarks totaling $2.5 billion; a spending bill that included more than 1,000 earmarks totaling $562 million; an spending bill that included 296 earmarks totaling $221 million; and a spending bill that included more than 300 earmarks totaling $246 million.

In addition, McCaskill co-authored and vocally-supported the stimulus bill, which she admitted was packed with earmarks. According to CNN, March 5, 2009: And in a prime-time address before a joint session of Congress, Obama last week praised the $787 billion stimulus package signed into law, telling the nation, "I'm proud that we passed a recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities." But some in the audience found that hard to swallow. "There was just a roar of laughter -- because there were earmarks," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri.

In McCaskill’s own words, McCaskill’s support for these earmarks makes her “part of the problem.” According to a December 28, 2007 article in the St. Joseph News-Press about an omnibus appropriation bill packed with more than 9,000 earmarks, McCaskill stated "If I go along with it, then I'm part of the problem."

“After voting for thousands of earmarks that cost taxpayers billions of dollars, Claire McCaskill now claims she wants to ban them. Her hypocrisy proves once again that Missourians simply cannot trust Chameleon Claire,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party.

Chameleon Claire’s earmarking hypocrisy is just the latest in a long line of flip-flops meant to disguise her real Washington record from Missouri voters. On issue after issue—from government spending/job creation to cap-and-trade to the debt ceiling to immigration and many more—McCaskill has said one thing and done another.