Senate Staff in Ellisville Spark Talks on Fiscal Policy, Schools

Public education. Transparency in Washington. Real estate development. Capital gains taxes. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those are just some of the issues discussed Tuesday at the Daniel Boone Branch Library in Ellisville, which was host to a diverse political discussion on behalf of U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, whose staff listened to concerns to be relayed to the senator as part of the "Kitchen Table Talks" series.

Amy Fuquay of Ballwin said issues regarding students' access to state and federal education grants were a large part of the reason she attended Tuesday. However, a push to see federally-enforced child support payments were at the forefront of Furquay's comments to senate staff.

"I know that would be a huge step for the U.S. to take, but we have so many deadbeat dads and deadbeat moms out there," said Fuquay, 28, who has a 5 year-old son. "The only guy that's responsible for him is down in Texas, and I'm getting benefits cut left and right."

Peter Matlon, 65, is a Wildwood resident and adjunct economics professor at Cornell University. Speaking before the group of about 60 people, Matlon addressed the Democratic party's economic policy developed under President Obama and cited concerns about stimulus spending that may have stopped prematurely.

"We are repeating the same mistakes of [19]37 and [19]38," Matlon said. "So I'm extremely disappointed at the way the Democratic Party has handled this."

Matlon also voiced concerns about the pending dubbed responsible for cutting more than $1.5 trillion from federal spending.

"It's important that we do not select people who are immune to compromise."

When asked why McCaskill was not in attendance Tuesday, field representative Brendan Fahey said the "Kitchen Table Talks" by design involve staff members gathering community input to be relayed to the senator. Fahey added that McCaskill currently is taking tours of Missouri manufacturers.