McCaskill touts Arlington Cemetery legislation

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is touting Senate passage of a bill increasing congressional oversight of Arlington National Cemetery - and hoping the House follows suit in coming days.

The legislation would require the Army, which oversees the cemetery, to report to Congress on its progress to fix errors in burial records and improve contract oversight.

McCaskill is chairwoman of an oversight panel of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee. She has estimated between 4,900 and 6,600 graves may be unmarked or mislabeled on cemetery maps. On Friday, an Army official confirmed a criminal investigation was under way following the discovery of eight urns of cremated remains in a single grave.

The Senate passed McCaskill's legislation Saturday. It still must pass the House to go to President Barack Obama.