McCaskill plans Maryville campaign stop

Missouri U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, currently engaged in a heated re-election fight against Republican challenger Todd Akin, will be in Maryville this afternoon as part of an "On Our Campus, On Our Side" campaign swing that was to include an earlier stop at Truman State University in Kirksville.

McCaskill is to speak at 3 p.m. today in the J.W. Jones Student Union Boardroom on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University.

In a release issued by McCaskill's office, the senator said she was visiting the two north Missouri in order to emphasize her support for federally backed student loans, a program she says has been criticized by her opponent.

This spring, McCaskill was among lawmakers who supported a measure to keep interest rates for federally subsidized Stafford Loans at 3.4 percent. She claims the extension prevented rates from dramatically increasing for 185,000 Missouri college students who rely on the program to pay tuition.

During the campaign, McCaskill has also charged that Akin's support of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's proposed budget means he supports steep cuts to the federal Pell Grant program, which provides needs-based awards to qualified college and university students.