McCaskill: ‘Too many embarrassing uncles’ in the Senate

Outgoing Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) jabbed at her colleagues in her final Senate floor speech on Thursday, arguing that the Senate was filled with “too many embarrassing uncles.”

In her speech, McCaskill knocked “dysfunction” in the Senate and said senators were afraid of making tough votes.

{mosads}”Peter Morgan, an author, wrote that no family is complete without an embarrassing uncle,” McCaskill said Thursday. “We have too many embarrassing uncles in the United States Senate. Lots of embarrassing stuff.”

“The United States Senate is no longer the world’s greatest deliberative body,” McCaskill continued in her farewell address to the chamber. “And everybody needs to quit saying it, until we recover from this period of polarization and the fear of the political consequences of tough votes.”

“We have too many embarrassing uncles in the United States Senate,” Sen. McCaskill laments in her farewell speech. “Lots of embarrassing stuff.” pic.twitter.com/biw51aYuV4

— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 13, 2018

McCaskill delivered her farewell speech Thursday alongside other departing U.S. senators including Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).

The two-term Missouri Democrat was denied a third term in November by Sen.-elect Josh Hawley (R), previously the state’s attorney general, in a crucial pickup for Republicans who saw a net gain of two seats in the Senate during the midterm elections.

Hawley won the seat by 6 points after President Trump previously won Missouri by roughly 18 points in the 2016 election.