McCaskill bill to ban taxpayer-funded portraits passes U.S. House

Senator: ‘Not a single Missourian benefits from taxpayers spending tens of thousands of dollars for a painting of some government official’

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the Eliminating Government-Funded Oil-Painting (EGO) Act, a bipartisan bill backed by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, making it illegal to spend taxpayer dollars on portraits of government officials.

“Not a single Missourian benefits from taxpayers spending tens of thousands of dollars for a painting of some government official,” McCaskill said. “Taxpayer-funded portraits are a prime example of government waste, and I’m glad to be working on a bipartisan basis to end this ridiculous practice.”

The bill bans government funding of portraits that can often cost $20,000-$40,000. McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, joined Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Deb Fischer of Nebraska to introduce the bill last year, and it passed the Senate last September.

Since her time as Missouri State Auditor, McCaskill has been a leading voice in Missouri and Washington for cutting wasteful government spending. Earlier this year, McCaskill joined Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware and Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana to introduce a bill that would help save millions of taxpayer dollars by curbing erroneous payments to deceased individuals. The Senate has unanimously passed two of her bills with Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana that combat wasteful spending at the Department of Homeland Security. McCaskill has also demanded details from the Federal Communications Commission on efforts to follow through on almost $90 million in fines proposed against providers for the Lifeline program. During her first term in the Senate, McCaskill waged a successful six-year effort to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in wartime contracting.

Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/spending to learn more about McCaskill’s fight to cut wasteful spending in Washington.