16 in '16

As we say farewell to a long and eventful 2016, there's one thing Claire wants to make sure you know: she is working for you each and every day—because it matters. It matters when Missouri veterans suddenly have improved access to healthcare. It matters when children are pulled from the clutches of trafficking. And it matters when our brave men and women and uniform can seek help after sexual assault.

A lot happened in 2016, but here are just a handful of the victories Claire won for Missouri throughout the year:

1. Cutting Government Waste—Named a “Fiscal Hero” by the group Fix The Debt, for her commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars, cutting waste, and strengthening accountability

2. Missouri Leadership—Successfully advocated at the highest levels of government for St. Louis to retain the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) headquarters, and shaped legislation to maintain Missouri’s national defense leadership

3. Prescription Drugs—Led a bipartisan investigation into prescription drug price hikes, releasing a public report detailing such practices—and backed legislation to create more competition for generic drugs

4. Protecting Taxpayer Money—Successfully helped pressure U.S. House Republicans to abandon their plan (hatched in a closed-door meeting) to return taxpayer funding to politicians’ pet projects through earmarking—and redirected $70 million worth of old, unused earmarks to transportation needs across Missouri

5. Boosting Missouri Jobs—Passed into law a bipartisan plan—supported by Missouri’s businesses—to simplify tariff processes and guard against the return of earmarks, and successfully fought on behalf of Missouri manufacturers at the International Trade Commission against illegal foreign trade practices

6. Bolstering National Security—Waged a sustained fight against a plan by U.S. House Republicans that would undermine national security resources—and used a Security & Defense Tour across Missouri to rally support for honest military budgeting

7. Protecting the Homeland—Pushed to bolster the battle against the Islamic State, increase police resources, and close loopholes that let terrorists legally buy firearms—and called for improved coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement in preparing an effective frontline response to terrorism

8. Strengthening Accountability—Passed into law a bipartisan bill to extend and make permanent whistleblower protections to nearly all federal contractors and subcontractors

9. Mustard Gas Claims—Led an investigation and released a public report detailing 70 years of mistreatment and indifference by the Pentagon and VA toward WWII servicemen who were intentionally exposed to mustard gas, and introduced legislation named for the last living Missouri veteran affected to address those veterans’ needs

10. Protecting Rural Post Offices—Moved to protect hundreds of rural post offices from indefinite “emergency closure” with new bipartisan legislation to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from abusing its emergency suspension process

11. Curbing Sex Trafficking & Violence—Led the fight to protect kids from sex trafficking with a bipartisan Senate investigation into the notorious website Backpage—highlighting a case out of St. Louis and winning an historic contempt action against Backpage and its CEO when the Supreme Court ordered the company to comply with her Senate subpoena. And successfully passed into law a bipartisan bill to further curb sexual assaults in the military by protecting survivors from retaliation

12. Investigating Cable & Satellite TV Providers—Continued her work to protect Missouri consumers, leading a bipartisan investigation that pulled back the curtain on the billing and customer service practices of the cable and satellite TV industry

13. West Lake Landfill—Won unanimous Senate passage, along with fellow Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, of a bipartisan bill to transfer authority over the West Lake landfill to the Army Corps of Engineers—legislation that died after inaction in the U.S. House of Representatives

14. Advocating for Missourians—Gained quick approval of $1 million to repair roads damaged by flooding and of tax relief from the IRS for affected Missourians, restored Social Security benefits for St. Louis airport workers, successfully pushed the Treasury Department to allow the University of Missouri to keep extending health insurance subsidies to graduate teaching assistants, and pushed for stronger federal response to the opioid epidemic while pressuring Jefferson City to adopt a prescription drug monitoring program

15. Tackling College Affordability—Launched a statewide tour of Missouri college and universities and successfully used the feedback collected to build support for policies to make college more affordable

16. Delivering for Veterans—Successfully pressured the VA to expand the hours of operation at the Salem Veterans Clinic to be open Monday through Friday—formerly, the Clinic was open just two days each month, the only such facility in the state not regularly open five days a week—and successfully advocated for and resolved issues for Theodosia area veterans’ medical claims that had gone unpaid by their Veterans Affairs-backed insurance provider