McCaskill: Senate Dem leaders actively working against spending freeze push

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) castigated Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday, accusing them of working against an amendment to constrain federal spending.

McCaskill, a longtime foe of earmarks and a proponent of fiscal discipline, said she thought that Senate Democratic leaders had managed to convince one or two senators to vote against an amendment she's offering with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that would limit the growth of discretionary spending over the next four years.

"The problem is that many people around here stubbornly cling to the notion that we don't have to hold growth on spending," she said in a conference call with Missouri reporters. "And I'm disappointed in the leadership is working against this amendment. I disagree with them on this. I think they're wrong -- flat wrong."

McCaskill said that a vote on that amendment could come as early as today, and that while enough senators in both parties were on record as supporting such a measure, Democratic leaders have been working to peel off enough votes to defeat it.

"We may have a vote on that amendment today," she said. "I have a feeling leadership may have peeled off a couple of votes, and we may be down to 58 or 57 if we do have a vote."

The Missouri centrist also decried a Senate vote on Tuesday night that would have limited earmarks.

The Senate voted down an amendment offered by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to ban earmarks, spending set asides requested by lawmakers, on Tuesday. Senators voted 68-29 to table the DeMint amendment, a bigger margin of defeat than a similar measure offered by DeMint had faced in the Senate late last year.

House Republicans adopted a one-year total moratorium on earmarks last week, while House Democrats announced a semi-permanent ban on earmarks to for-profit entities. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have been resistant to adopting similar bans.

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