releases: https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/the-113th-congress-had-positives-for-the-st-louis-region-members-say
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/the-113th-congress-had-positives-for-the-st-louis-region-members-say | The 113th Congress had positives for the St. Louis region, members say | 2014-12-14 | 2014 | 2014-12 | Democrat | House | MO | Claire McCaskill | M001170 | www.mccaskill.senate.gov | legacy | The 113th Congress had positives for the St. Louis region, members say Sunday, December 14, 2014 By: Chuck Raasch WASHINGTON -- Think Congress has its critics? Some of the fiercest have just left the building, closing the door on the republic's 113th version of the people's houses. "Do-nothing," Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, groused. "We wasted a lot of time and capital with the American people. It is a sad legacy." One of "the least productive and the most needlessly obstructed Congress(es) in the history of the country," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. One "riddled with partisan politics and dysfunction and obstructionism," added Sen.Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. But the Congress that began with leadership challenges to Republican House Speaker John Boehner; cost one of his top lieutenants (Majority Leader Eric Cantor) his job; was marked halfway by a government shutdown, and ended with right- and left-wing revolts and a kitchen-sink spending bill that even the people who voted for it said had major flaws, may also have opened the door for more legislative action in 2015. The massive $1.1 trillion spending bill that passed both Houses in the final hours of the 113th survived with bipartisan support, setting a 10-month course for most of the current year's spending questions. That clears the decks for more traditional debate over federal agency-by-agency spending decisions, when Republicans take control of the Senate for President Barack Obama's last two years in office. The one exception: That kitchen-sink spending bill was written in a way that almost certainly guarantees a fight early next year over Obama's controversial immigration reform executive order. Republicans, now in control of both sides of the Congress, have promised to return to more "regular order" of passing spending bills for the 2016 budget that have been abandoned in the partisan rancor of the Obama years. So in that way, the scorned 113th was a prelude for legislative action on everything from immigration to health care, under more sharply drawn partisan lines as the country heads toward the 2016 presidential election. But local members of congress say the session produced several positive elements: --It expedited the planning process for water projects important for commerce and recreation on the rivers that flow through St. Louis and the region. --It furthered the transformation from direct government price support payments to more of a crop insurance model for farmers, cutting projected future spending, protecting taxpayers, and making sure farmers get more "skin in the game," in the words of Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, who helped write the legislation. --That new farm bill included more than $2.4 billion for agricultural research, important to the region's agribusiness and universities. --Congress reformed the way the military handles sexual assault allegations, an effort led by McCaskill and others. "We have changed forever the ability of victims to be protected and supported," she said, "and that is a huge, huge get." She'll push for similar reforms on sexual assault on college campuses in 2015, and her bill has bipartisan support. --The 113th Congress expanded mental health coverage, an initiative led by Blunt and others. He says the reforms address long-ignored needs to equate mental and physical health in insurance and treatment. --It produced international promotion legislation for tourism that Blunt, a sponsor, said will benefit the region. --And it resuscitated an airplane built in a St. Louis Boeing plant -- the EA 18 Growler -- that was on the Navy's endangered list at the beginning of the year. As one of its last acts, Congress designated $1.46 billion to keep the line open for 15 more planes. "This is huge" for the region's economy and the country's defense, said Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin. She used her position as a new member of House Republican leadership to push for its inclusion under strict spending limits enacted by theCongress. Wagner's elevation to Republican leadership in the House was one of the Missouridelegation's notable story lines in 2014. Depending on the outcome this week of a disputed Arizona House race, the GOP in 2015 could have its largest House majority since Herbert Hoover was president in 1929. Concurrently in 2015, Blunt and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. -- both members of their party's Senate leadership -- will switch positions. Blunt's party will now run committees and the flow of legislation, Durbin's will assume the minority role. Republicans have vowed to return to more "regular order" in the way Congressdoes its business -- what Blunt calls "the constitutional, public way of doing business." That is likely to produce more legislative action, but also more potential Obama vetoes. It will also provide a clearer ideological debate between two branches of government, and between Democrats, who in the final days of the session saw revival of their liberal wing under Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and Republicans, who will control both houses for the first time under Obama. "What we will be able to do with the Republican Senate is put bills on the president's desk," predicted Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville. "Part of Sen. Reid'sfailure was in trying to protect his Senate majority, in not moving legislation." Under those circumstances, he said, "it was tough to have that public policy debate about the role of government -- what we should, what we shouldn't be doing." Many remain dubious that this new Republican Congress will produce legislation that Obama will sign, and votes to repeal Obamacare would certainly lead to a veto and more images of a government that is fighting old battles and isn't working. But Republicans have identified low-hanging fruit that could be considered early in 2015, might pass presidential muster, and would challenge the public expectation that the GOP Congress and Obama will be locked in perpetual gridlock for the next two years. One is a change to Obamacare, authored by Davis, that House Republican leaders have identified as an early legislative goal in 2015. The "Hire Our Heroes Act" would exclude veterans from the employer mandate threshold of providing health care if those veterans already are covered under military or Veterans Administrationhealth care. Davis said it has bipartisan support, addresses high veteran unemployment, and adheres to a "piecemeal" strategy of trying to improve Obamacare even as Republicans concurrently move to repeal it. "I am not really worried about the legacy of this Congress, because frankly when you look at the polling, people don't like either party in Congress," Davis said. "...That doesn't mean that we have to throw our hands up in the air and stop doing our job." McCaskill said she believes her side will listen to any possible improvements to Obamacare, but old divisions run deep. "I have said from Day One that I am at the table if we can improve the bill, make it simpler, make it better for people, make it less cumbersome for employers in this country," she said. "I want to help improve the bill. I have not yet had a partner that wants to do that across the aisle." Print Email Tweet | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |