Quotes from 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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

I have been very independent from day I arrived in Washington.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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