WASHINGTON _ In her final floor speech, Sen. Claire McCaskill said Thursday that her surviving colleagues should stop calling the Senate "the world's greatest deliberative body" because so much power has been concentrated in the leadership.
In a sometimes teary 10-minute speech, the Missouri Democrat said the Senate had "too many embarrassing uncles," and said she was worried that its history and tradition of debate and collaboration had been sideswiped by partisan leadership that wrote big bills in secret, limited debate and amendments, and gave too much power to lobbyists.
She said that in her first year in the Senate in 2007, she voted on 306 amendments on the floor. She said she'd voted on 36 this year.
Power has been "dangerously concentrated in the Senate," and that there was something wrong with the process when "K Street lobbyists" got the language of tax bills before individual senators did, McCaskill said.
Her rebuke came in front of about half of the 49-member Democratic caucus and a handful of Republican senators, including Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
As she spoke, 25 members of her staff fanned out in seats behind her, some wiping away tears.
Several colleagues, including Blunt, spoke after her in tribute.
McCaskill lost re-election to Republican Josh Hawley last month. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., one of her closest friends, said that when he met Hawley for the first time on the Senate subway last month, "I told him, 'Yeah, you just beat my best friend in the United States Senate.'"
"I don't like much the idea of a farewell speech," McCaskill said. "But I want to respect that tradition, especially since I have seen so many Senate traditions crumble over the last 12 years."
In that time, both Republicans and Democrats have been in control of the Senate. McCaskill voted against one Democratic leader, the former Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, because she thought he was too partisan and too hierarchical in leadership. Since the election, McCaskill has stepped up her criticism of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's handling of Senate business
McCaskill choked up most when talking about her family, and appeared to also get emotional when Blunt talked about his friendship with McCaskill's late mother, Betty.
McCaskill called her family a "port in every storm," and said _ as she has previously _ that one of her big regrets was seeing political attacks on the business of her husband, Joseph Shepard.
"He certainly didn't bargain for the incredibly unfair treatment" he got, she said.
Blunt, Tester and Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., gave tribute speeches. Collins called her "feisty" and prepared, and lauded their work together on everything from prescription drugs to wasteful spending.
"You wear your heart on your sleeve and you are one great woman," Feinstein said.
Blunt stressed how the two rarely disagreed on Missouri issues even if they almost always voted on opposite sides on more divisive national ones. "She was smart, she was quick, she was funny, she was insightful," Blunt said.
After Blunt spoke, McCaskill mouthed "thank you, Roy," across the chamber.
She called her staff "the best and the brightest," and "my rock."
Earlier in the day, McCaskill made headlines when she said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that some senators in private call President Donald Trump "nuts" and "weak."
She mentioned Trump only in passing in her speech, saying that the Senate dysfunction contributed to frustration among Americans that opened the door to a "reality TV star president."
Blunt, asked about McCaskill's "nuts" comments, said he had no comment.
McCaskill tried to exit on a lighter note, turning to her staff and asking, "Did that make you cry?" Some chuckled while wiping tears. Later, she told them: "You guys are amazing."
But the focus of her speech was undeniably serious.
"I would be lying if I didn't say I was worried about this place," McCaskill said.
