Claire McCaskill Quotes & Sayings

When you work in the United States Senate, and you are around people of all different ideas and beliefs, you realize that what our Founding Fathers did that was so genius, is that they made the Senate the place where compromises are supposed to happen because of the makeup of the Senate. — Claire McCaskill

Being a new mother was a joyful and sometimes overwhelming experience - and as the first Missouri female state legislator to have a baby while in office, having heath care for myself and my son gave me some needed peace of mind. — Claire McCaskill

So it is the business community and agricultural community who I think might have the most influence on helping us make this effort more bipartisan. — Claire McCaskill

If you are passed out drunk or if there is a gun to your head, it is the same crime. It is a crime where there is not consent. It is a felony. And we need to start making sure victims understand that, so they don't do the self blame. — Claire McCaskill

Along with my colleagues Mark Warner and Sheldon Whitehouse, I have been working to end the process of secret holds, which is when senators anonymously block legislation or nominations without explanation. — Claire McCaskill

I'm asking regular folks to be my super PAC. — Claire McCaskill

We need candidate schools to recruit more young African-Americans to run for office and more diverse law enforcement communities. — Claire McCaskill

If you look through history, all of the great work we've done in Congress has been around a table of compromise, when it comes to the most difficult problems. — Claire McCaskill

You never know what'll happen in politics. — Claire McCaskill

The price of a college education should never include a 1 in 5 chance of being sexually assaulted. — Claire McCaskill

I'm going to work with Republicans when they do things I agree with and I'm going to fight Republicans when they're doing things that I think are damaging. — Claire McCaskill

I don't know how anyone can keep a straight face and say they are for deficit reduction while they insist on a permanent tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, completely unpaid for. — Claire McCaskill

I think that I was just on the cusp of the generation that was beginning to really challenge some of the assumptions about the role of women and the role of men on campus. — Claire McCaskill

Respecting the Second Amendment does not mean abandoning common sense. The right to own guns in this country must remain, while we also must strengthen our laws to prevent mass shootings. — Claire McCaskill

When the Tea Party comes to town, compromise goes out the door. — Claire McCaskill

There are three legs of the stool; spending, entitlements and making the tax code fair and equitable. That's the three legs of the stool. If we do all of those in a responsible, bipartisan way, I think the American people would all be very, very happy. — Claire McCaskill

I think I'm the last Democrat left in the Senate after Russ Feingold was defeated that won't take earmarks. — Claire McCaskill

I want to compliment the fraternity and sorority organizations for taking the time to meet with us and then removing their support from the legislation that would have been so counterproductive for a goal that I think we all share - and that is making campuses safer and the successful prosecution of people who commit serious crimes. So, good on them that they backed off, and we don't have to fight them. — Claire McCaskill

The NRA grades senators and representatives based on their votes on gun issues - and even on issues that have little-to-nothing to do with guns. — Claire McCaskill

Frankly, earmarking is not the problem. It is a symptom of the problem. — Claire McCaskill

I do not begrudge Bill Clinton's working for his wife, but the one thing I would say is really important to President Clinton to think about right now, because of the larger megaphone he has as a former president, he really needs to be careful with the truth. — Claire McCaskill

The U.S. military is the best-trained, most effective fighting force the world has ever known. And the conduct of the vast majority of our service members makes Americans rightfully proud. — Claire McCaskill

Even though we know sexual assault is still dramatically underreported, I think women are much more empowered today than they used to be. — Claire McCaskill

We shouldn't deny the right of the minority to filibuster, but we need to do a much better job of making them own it. That way, the American people could figure out who is being obstructionist and who is willing to compromise. — Claire McCaskill

Do I want Social Security to be there for my kids and my grandkids? Absolutely. Will I fight like a tiger to make sure that we protect Social Security? I absolutely will. — Claire McCaskill

The notion that the campus has its hands tied if a woman is not willing to go to the police, if the woman is only willing to go so far as, "I just don't want to see him in my dorm anymore," is ridiculous. If that's as far as she's willing to go, then we need to accommodate that. And a university needs to be able to accommodate it. — Claire McCaskill

It seems to me that before we give federal funds to police departments, we ought to mandate that they have body cams. — Claire McCaskill

You know I think the president has to really focus on getting elected to a second term in 2012. And I need to focus on making sure I'm accountable to the people of Missouri. — Claire McCaskill

What we have done with No Child Left Behind is squeeze the creativity out of the classroom because teachers have begun to just teaching to the test. — Claire McCaskill

All the movies where I play nice guys don't seem to do very well. — Claire McCaskill

I've got a really hard election. If you had a really hard election and it was after Labor Day would you go to North Carolina to a bunch of parties and glad-handing or would you stay home and work as hard as you know how to convince Missourians they should rehire you? — Claire McCaskill

You know, we've got to be responsible about our debt. We don't want the United States to ever be a dead beat, and not be able to pay its bills, either to our soldiers who are fighting or to Social Security recipients. — Claire McCaskill

What? You don't trust me? — Claire McCaskill

The political system loves the extremes, it doesn't so much show a lot love for the moderates. — Claire McCaskill

As a member of the Aging Committee, I'm no stranger to fighting for America's seniors. — Claire McCaskill

No commander in chief would ever say, 'I'm not going to listen to the guys on the ground.' — Claire McCaskill

We still have not been able to move into those positions in our country that are really directing traffic among that 1 percent, and that's where women have to break through. — Claire McCaskill

Well, I'm wrestling alligators. — Claire McCaskill

I voted against my party with some frequency, because of my independence. I've just got to remind Missourians that I am independent and that I try to call them like I see them, and sometimes my party is wrong on some things. — Claire McCaskill

You can be a victim of a crime and not exercise great judgment. And when women have been sexually assaulted, they feel like they have to have been perfect in order to have anybody believe them. They think nobody will believe them unless a stranger jumped out from behind a bush with a knife - not that they got too drunk and that a guy they thought they knew, you know, took advantage of them in a physical, assaultive way. — Claire McCaskill

Some of the morays have held on. When I was in school, I remember asking the question, "Why is it that whenever I walk into a fraternity there's alcohol everywhere and there's no alcohol in a sorority? Why is it that sororities won't allow alcohol, but fraternities do? What is that?" You know, nobody had a really good answer, and that's kind of held on. It's one of the issues that's being examined now - the role of alcohol in sexual assault. — Claire McCaskill

There are people who have legitimate concerns about false accusations and the impact that can have on a young person's life when they have been falsely accused. Kirsten [Gillibrand] and I are not unaware that that is an issue we need to be concerned about, and that's why we have made changes in the legislation to address not just the rights of the victim, the accuser, but also of the accused. — Claire McCaskill

When I was a single, working mom with a newborn, I learned just how vital it is to have comprehensive, affordable health care. — Claire McCaskill

It's very American, making a lot of money. — Claire McCaskill

If every crime victim had to have perfect judgment, we could empty our prisons. — Claire McCaskill

We have a lot of things we give away to people who are very, very wealthy in this country. And I'm not sure that our federal government can afford that. — Claire McCaskill

Obviously, I have been a pro-choice candidate for my entire political career, and obviously there is controversy always surrounding this issue. — Claire McCaskill

It's very hard from a distance to figure out who has lost their minds. One party, the other party, all of us, the president. — Claire McCaskill

Universities simply unable to play judge, jury and executioner when they're already having trouble playing educator. Resources are limited and colleges must put their focus on their primary objective: education. — Claire McCaskill

My first obligation is my job. It's very hard to really get into campaign mode when you've got to focus on doing the work. — Claire McCaskill

The goal is not to just have rapists expelled from schools. I don't want rapists transferring schools. I don't want them out there, being able to commit these crimes. I want them to go to prison. But if you understand this crime and you understand what happens in the reporting of this crime and the support that a victim does or does not get, you realize that our legislation increases the likelihood that a young woman will go to the police in a timely manner and that the police will investigate and that they will be able to administer real justice in the criminal system. — Claire McCaskill

Many countries struggle and never get to the point where people have faith that laws are executed fairly. — Claire McCaskill

Only in Washington would the Republican operatives get the entire press corps ginned up over the notion that I'm going to be home campaigning instead of going to a bunch of worthless parties at a convention that's only being held to do something we all know is going to happen anyway. — Claire McCaskill

I'm the only United States Senator in the country that I'm aware of that's had the far left up on TV and the far right up on TV against me at the same time. — Claire McCaskill

I never need to go far if I need a reminder of how important Medicare and Social Security are to Missouri's seniors. My mom, Betty Anne, is one of millions for whom these services provide a reliable safety net. Across the country, these protections are an integral part of sustaining millions of seniors' health and dignity. — Claire McCaskill

Clearly, a large number of African-Americans don't have faith that the laws are being executed fairly in Ferguson, and that's a problem ... We need to ensure Africans-Americans feel confident in the rule of law. — Claire McCaskill

Somehow in the public sector, if you start in the mailroom and spend your life getting promoted, it's unseemly. — Claire McCaskill

There's nothing that irritates Americans more than the fact that some members of Congress think they are entitled to their own set of rules. And it's true - too many people in Washington live in an alternate reality. — Claire McCaskill

Corporate governance is a huge issue too. We don't have women on these corporate boards. More than half of the students in law school are women, more than half of the women, I think, in medical school now are women. — Claire McCaskill

What is most heartbreaking to me is the young women who don't report [being raped] because they were drinking, and they feel like it was their fault that they were drinking. I mean, that is so common. — Claire McCaskill

I am a small-town girl. — Claire McCaskill

I started in the mailroom, literally, as an intern ... in 1974. The legislator I was working for at the time said, 'I want you to get your law degree and come back here and get elected and be the first woman governor.' I kind of took that guy seriously - I thought that sounded like a pretty good idea. — Claire McCaskill

The White House has something in common with the rest of America, and that is disdain for Congress. It is hard to blame them. — Claire McCaskill

When I was a prosecutor in Kansas City, my job was to fight for justice and safety for all citizens in my community. Equal access to justice under the law is an American value embedded in the fabric of our legal and political system - the idea that anybody, powerful or not, can have their day in court. — Claire McCaskill

You have to be willing to offend in order to make progress. — Claire McCaskill

I believe that sexual assault - if this is possible - was even more underreported when I was in school. — Claire McCaskill

I'm a moderate. I hang out in the middle. I vote against my party with some regularity and try to compromise. It doesn't appear right now that the Republican Party is welcoming moderates any more. — Claire McCaskill

I think, first of all, you know, Washington has a bad habit of a very short attention span. — Claire McCaskill

After holding hearings to get input from Missourians, I led the fight to pass legislation that protects seniors from predatory lending in the mortgage industry. I stood up against efforts that would make it harder for seniors to vote, and battled telemarketers bent on defrauding seniors. — Claire McCaskill

[Hillary Clinton] and I are fine. Are we going to be besties for the rest of our lives? No. — Claire McCaskill

The Missourians I hear from just don't buy the idea that the only way to tackle the national debt is to drastically alter Medicare and Social Security. — Claire McCaskill

I have been very independent from day I arrived in Washington. — Claire McCaskill

We work for the public, and I believe that if a senator wants to block a piece of legislation or a nominee, they owe the public an explanation. — Claire McCaskill

It was a very easy way to have a group of friends on a very large campus - a sense of identity. It was a great place to learn how to navigate a variety of personalities, which you kind of have to do in life. You've got the shy woman and you've got the obnoxious woman and you've got the brainiac and you've got the social climber and you've got the introvert and the extrovert, and you're all living together. I think it gave me valuable experience in learning how to live with people that are different than you are. And that's an important lesson. You can bet it comes in very handy in the Senate. — Claire McCaskill

I think there are certain folks in Missouri that don't trust government. And they haven't trusted government for a long time. — Claire McCaskill

I was in the room with, you know, more than a dozen Republicans trying to negotiate the stimulus. Most of them decided the politics of the situation meant they should walk away, even if it wasn't responsible in terms of what our country needed right then. — Claire McCaskill

Many civil rights came about, not when they were passed into law, but because the federal government did what it should and saw them enforced. — Claire McCaskill