U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt advised the Missouri House the state should leverage advantages it holds over other states.
Speaking in front of the House in Jefferson City for the 11th time since entering the U.S. Senate, Blunt pointed out the state's location in the center of the country allows it to draw from a variety of resources. He reminded lawmakers of roads, rails and rivers all cross through the state.
The $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill passed late in 2021 includes $732 million to expand the lock and dam system on the Mississippi River north of the Melvin Price Locks, said Blunt, who has entered his final year in the U.S. Senate.
A second, double-length lock is to be built next to one that already exists at Winfield. The new 1,200-foot lock will allow two-way barge traffic. It will also allow long barges to pass without having to disassemble first, according to grainnet.com.
Missouri must "make the most of those advantages," Blunt said. "The whole idea of location is suddenly very important to us."
Discussions in the chambers of the Missouri Capitol are much like those on the national level, he said.
"Missouri is truly where the country comes together," he said.
He said St. Louis is the westernmost eastern city, while Kansas City is the easternmost western city. The center of the nation's population has been in Missouri for decades, he said.
"We may not be the exact geographic center, but in so many ways, we're the center of the country," Blunt continued. "That gives us advantages that others don't have."
The Missouri economy is based on growing things and making things, he said.
When people want to bring jobs to the state, Missouri has to be certain to have the things they want, such as broadband.
Rural broadband is going to create economic advantages in Missouri, he said.
Health care providers, governments, educational institutions, employers, employees and students have learned the value of allowing people to work or learn from home, Blunt said.
"Twenty-five percent of rural Missourians don't have accessibility to broadband," he said. "That's just not acceptable."
Broadband allows people to live where they want to live and work where they want to work.
"A lot of people want to live in small communities. That's appealing to people all over America," Blunt said. "It only works if the broadband is there."
Blunt emphasized Missouri has a leading role in research -- in agricultural and medical fields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture moved 500 research jobs to Kansas City in 2019. Among Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia and Springfield, the state has a number of medical research facilities.
Missouri boasts more agricultural researchers than anywhere else in the world. And the state has a chance to meet the world's food demands, he said.
Blunt began his address by poking fun at the other chamber in the building.
"The last thing you need is one more senator slowing you down," he said, referring to filibusters on the other side of the Capitol. "When I was the whip in the House, we would tell the new (Republican) members the Democrats were our adversary, but the Senate was the enemy."
However, Blunt added, the lawmakers across the aisle -- and in the other chamber -- are in the building for good reasons.
"People have different ideas without being evil. Everybody got here to do the right thing," Blunt said. "That's true well over 99 percent of the time."
Believing people join the General Assembly for altruistic reasons can create a better environment for lawmaking, he said.
The founding fathers didn't trust government and designed the U.S. government to be inefficient -- to force lawmakers to meet checks and balances to move things forward, he said.
The opportunities in Missouri are great, Blunt said.
Missouri is going to see a lot of good things happen in the near future, he told the House.
"What you do every day is work hard to make sure we have a community where people want to live," he said. "The biggest advantage of where we live -- is where we live. You need to make the most of that."
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt addresses the Missouri House of Representatives. Courtesy of Missouri House of Representatives.
As U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (right) addresses the Missouri House of Representatives, Speaker Rob Vescovo watches. Courtesy of Missouri House of Representatives.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt addresses the Missouri House of Representatives. Courtesy of Missouri House of Representatives.