Sen. Roy Blunt Addresses Missouri House on Keys to Consensus

BY PAYTON PALAZZOLO

Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — In a speech to the Missouri House on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt alluded to the Missouri Senate’s lengthy filibusters and failure to pass a congressional redistricting map.

“The last thing you need is one more senator slowing you down,” Blunt said, followed by an eruption of laughter from the House chamber.

Blunt emphasized that the key to getting things done is to believe that “everybody else here is as well-motivated as you are,” and that every elected official intends to do the right thing over 99% of the time.

He also suggested that elected officials should adopt the understanding that the U.S. system of government was not designed to be efficient, and that every elected official is entitled to their own opinion.

Blunt, a Republican, gave an example of how he had worked to merge different perspectives into a consensus by collaborating with a Democratic senator in 2014 to pass landmark legislation expanding community mental health services.

After Blunt’s career in politics, he is not running for reelection this year. Blunt has spent 12 years in county office, eight years as Missouri’s secretary of state, 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and will have spent 12 years in the U.S. Senate when he retires.

According to Blunt, the new federal infrastructure bill will help Missouri take advantage of its central location, make the Mississippi River more efficient, improve bridges, expand broadband access throughout the state and improve telemedicine for behavioral health.

Blunt said: “Our economy is better when we have an economy that’s based on making things and growing things.”

At the end of his brief address, Blunt stated, “What we do here is more important than who we are. Our job is about the future.”