OPINION:
Later today, President Obama will return to Missouri to discuss jobs and the economy at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City. This event, which comes as part of Mr. Obama’s so-called “Year of Action,” will reportedly include meetings with people who have written letters about the benefits of the president’s economic policies.
While Missourians welcome Mr. Obama back to our state, I wonder if he will take time to meet with people who are not benefiting from his policies? If that’s the case, I certainly have some letters to share, and he may need to extend his stay.
Since joining the Senate, I’ve heard from thousands of Missourians who are worried about everything from lost wages thanks to ObamaCare to the real impact of executive overreach. Nationwide, more than 3 million people have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, and 7.5 million Americans are still working part-time jobs because they can’t find full-time employment or their hours have been reduced.
Despite his rhetoric, the fact is Mr. Obama’s costly and burdensome domestic policies are still hurting the poorest families who are working several part-time jobs to feed their families and pay their bills. So instead of delivering another political “pivot” in Kansas City today, I hope the president will talk to these people and explain what he will do to work with Congress in order to jump-start the creation of good-paying, full-time jobs.
For starters, the president should meet with families and business owners in Missouri who cannot afford to pay higher utility bills. They want to know whether Mr. Obama will approve job-creating policies like the Keystone XL Pipeline, or whether he will continue to propose costly regulations that are devastating in states like Missouri, which depends heavily on coal for affordable and reliable power.
The president should also talk to the veterans in Missouri and elsewhere who are returning home from serving our country and looking for work. Will the president support the House-passed “Hire More Heroes Act,” which I introduced in the Senate in order to encourage companies to hire more veterans?
And the president should talk to the hundreds of people who have sent me letters, emails, tweets, Facebook messages, and called my office to express their concerns surrounding the impact of ObamaCare. Nearly 10 months after the disastrous launch of the president’s health care exchanges, we’re still witnessing the fall-out from a law that was terribly written and poorly implemented. Unfortunately, patients and families in Missouri and across America are still paying the price.
If the president is willing to work in good faith with Congress, we can spend taxpayer dollars more wisely and pass bipartisan solutions to create more economic certainty for American workers and families. I hope Mr. Obama will work with Congress to pass bipartisan bills like the “Partnership to Build America Act” to improve our nation’s infrastructure, as well as the “Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act” to help re-establish the United States as the global leader in advanced manufacturing.
What we don’t need is another empty “pivot” today, or for the president to continue ignoring the law altogether. Missourians and people nationwide want to hear real answers about the president’s plans to work with Congress and help put more people back to work.
Roy Blunt is U.S. Senator from Missouri and Vice Chairman, Senate Republican Conference.
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