Politics

Kansas City Star: Businesses Tied To McCaskill’s Husband Have Received $131 Million From Federal Government

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Businesses backed by Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s husband have received more than $131 million from the federal government since McCaskill assumed office in 2007, according to The Kansas City Star.

McCaskill’s husband, Joseph Shepard, earned at least $365,374 in personal income in 2017 alone thanks to his investments in federally subsidized affordable housing projects. A “growing percentage” of Shepard’s personal dividends are from federally subsidized businesses he has recently invested in, reported The Kansas City Star.

There is no indication that McCaskill used her influence to funnel funds to businesses that her husband invested in. This is not the first time that the senator, who has a combined net worth with her husband of more than $30 million, has faced backlash because of finances.

McCaskill was criticized in June when, after advertising that she would embark on a pro-veterans tour of her state by RV, it was revealed she had been traveling by private plane. McCaskill spent more than $3,000 to use the private plane on the “RV tour.” She spent $117,000 in total on private air travel between April and June, reported the Washington Free Beacon.

McCaskill’s husband has invested in affordable housing since the 1970s.

Shepard has seen his dividends from those investments shoot up in recent years, reported The Kansas City Star. He made between $365,374 and $1,118,158 in 2017 thanks to affordable housing investments subsidized by the federal government.

Shepard’s personal income from the investments was much lower in 2006 — between $1,608 and $16,731 in 2006, before McCaskill became a senator. Those numbers come from McCaskill’s financial disclosure forms that only show personal income in ranges.

Projects connected to Shepard received $62 million in federal awards during McCaskill’s first term and $69 million during her second, reported The Kansas City Star.

McCaskill is not a member of the oversight committees for the Department of Housing and Urban Development or for the Department of Agriculture. The two agencies are responsible for federal loans and subsidies to the affordable housing developments like those that Shepard invests in.

Shepard was a limited partner, meaning he was solely an investor, in most of the 164 housing projects he was connected with in 2017, according to the Kansas City newspaper. He was involved in 285 projects in 1999 and tended to serve the general partner role, meaning that he had to find investors and oversee more day-to-day operations.

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