By Eli Yokley
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Still fresh off a reelection victory that hinged in part on her focus on women’s issues, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill is hoping to use some of that political momentum in the policy area.
Last month, it was putting pressure on House Republicans to pass the Violence Against Women Act. This month, McCaskill has placed her focus on another issue that disproportionately affects women: sexual crimes within the military.
“I see these crimes as crimes against the hundreds of thousands who have crossed that line and said, ‘take me,’” McCaskill said frankly while meeting with leadership of the Missouri National Guard last week.
Sitting beside Missouri National Guard Adjutant General Stephen Danner, McCaskill said she thinks her job is to make sure the Guard has the resources to fight the problem, and that the law is written in a way that protects victims.
“It’s not the buddy system,” she said. “It’s not educating women on how to avoid circumstances where they might be a victim. It is about getting after the criminals.”
For example, McCaskill said she believes the Uniform Code of Military Justice should be changed to give the person who was sexually assaulted the opportunity to stay in the unit, not be forced to move.
She also lauded the efforts of Danner to place multiple assistance programs — those for sexual assault and suicide prevention, for example — under one umbrella known as the Patriot Center, and said through Danner’s position as chairman of the U.S. National Guard Association, the model could be replicated throughout other states.
“I don’t know that Missourians know what a leader we have in General Danner,’ McCaskill said.
McCaskill also lauded the Guard’s effort to combat suicide within its ranks, but also heard calls for more funding for the programs. Currently, less than a dozen people are tasked with providing “psychological fitness” assistance to guardsmen struggling with suicidal thoughts.
The problem with many of the programs, McCaskill said, is in the age of budget cuts and sequestration, many of them are funded on an ad hoc basis with no permanent funding source.
“It’s just words in paper if the resources aren’t there,” she said.
McCaskill said there is hope for a restoration of tuition assistance for veterans, which was cut when the federal government began to implement automatic budget cuts. For Missouri, that meant a cut of nearly $4.5 million to Missouri veterans, which House Budget Committee Chairman Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, said last month that he and other lawmakers were working on legislation to fund $2.5 million of the program on its own.
McCaskill said both the House and Senate budget documents passed last month included funding for the programs, so it was her hope that when the conference committee puts the two budgets together, they will be able to restore funding for the program.
House Democrats
On the same day, McCaskill visited with the House Democratic Caucus, where she spoke about Medicaid expansion and other topics on their minds.
“They have a tendency to hear a lot of bad news,” McCaskill said, adding that she hoped to be there to offer some good news and a helping hand.
To contact Eli Yokley, email eli@themissouritimes.com, or via Twitter at @eyokley.
