Senator Roy Blunt Visits St. Joseph, Touts Job Creation
By: William Seay
Updated: October 15, 2012
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) US Senator Roy Blunt visited St. Joseph early Tuesday morning with job creation on his mind.
First he met with leaders at one of St. Joseph's largest employers - Triumph Foods - before taking questions from the media.
"More private sector jobs should be the number one domestic priority of the country right now. And how do you get there?" Blunt said.
The Republican Senator explained that he believes the focus should be on embracing the resources we have.
He spent a good deal of time explaining how this relates to his energy policy.
According to Senator Blunt, if Missouri focuses on the energy resources it currently has - namely coal and natural gas - it would see an influx of new jobs as well as slackening the reliance on foreign energy sources.
He also want to allow CEOs and business owners - "job creators" - to have more resources at their disposal to have more jobs available.
"Right now a lot of regulation that would make sense is the regulators spending time ending the regulations that are on the books that no longer are doing the job that needs to be done rather than adding regulations to that," Senator Blunt said. "[We also need] good take policy, a trained workforce, and a focus on small business."
Triumph Foods is seeing that growth.
Last week the pork processing plant announced a multimillion-dollar expansion that will create around 30 new jobs, adding to their total job count that's' nearly 2,800.
Blunt mentioned the importance of keeping those jobs local, and not sourcing them to undocumented workers.
"You can't just have one system for people who look like they may not have been born here, and another for those who were," the Senator said. "I've been an advocate for a long time of simply having a Social Security card that makes more sense if you're looking for work than the 1935 Social Security card that's just fine for my dad, who's 90."
St. Joseph, on average, is doing better than the rest of the country.
The unemployment rate for this area is 5.8% which is two full points lower than the national average of 7.8%.
First he met with leaders at one of St. Joseph's largest employers - Triumph Foods - before taking questions from the media.
"More private sector jobs should be the number one domestic priority of the country right now. And how do you get there?" Blunt said.
The Republican Senator explained that he believes the focus should be on embracing the resources we have.
He spent a good deal of time explaining how this relates to his energy policy.
According to Senator Blunt, if Missouri focuses on the energy resources it currently has - namely coal and natural gas - it would see an influx of new jobs as well as slackening the reliance on foreign energy sources.
He also want to allow CEOs and business owners - "job creators" - to have more resources at their disposal to have more jobs available.
"Right now a lot of regulation that would make sense is the regulators spending time ending the regulations that are on the books that no longer are doing the job that needs to be done rather than adding regulations to that," Senator Blunt said. "[We also need] good take policy, a trained workforce, and a focus on small business."
Triumph Foods is seeing that growth.
Last week the pork processing plant announced a multimillion-dollar expansion that will create around 30 new jobs, adding to their total job count that's' nearly 2,800.
Blunt mentioned the importance of keeping those jobs local, and not sourcing them to undocumented workers.
"You can't just have one system for people who look like they may not have been born here, and another for those who were," the Senator said. "I've been an advocate for a long time of simply having a Social Security card that makes more sense if you're looking for work than the 1935 Social Security card that's just fine for my dad, who's 90."
St. Joseph, on average, is doing better than the rest of the country.
The unemployment rate for this area is 5.8% which is two full points lower than the national average of 7.8%.
