By Matt Sepic and Rachel Lippmann
St. Louis – Congressman Roy Blunt is focusing his campaign for the U.S. Senate on economic issues.
Blunt was at an auto parts factory in St. Louis Tuesday morning to unveil his plans to create more private sector jobs in St. Louis and pick up the endorsements of the US and Missouri Chambers of Commerce.
The proposal included cuts to government spending, increased access to credit for small businesses, and a boost to exports.
Democratic efforts to reduce unemployment through stimulus spending have failed, Blunt said.
"What we've seen in the past 18 months is a focus on government spending and government jobs at the expense of private sector jobs. And we have to get back to where we're focused on the right thing," he said.
The Republican would not detail how many jobs he hoped to create in Missouri.
Blunt did not say how many jobs he hopes to create in the state.
"You're going to add these jobs one at a time," he said. "Frankly, this is not a discussion about how many jobs we need. This is a discussion about how you get small businesses and all businesses to add jobs one at a time."
More than 272,000 Missourians are looking for jobs. However the unemployment rate has dropped slightly since the start of the year.
Blunt's opponent, Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, called the plan more of the same failed policies that Blunt helped implement during his 14 years in Congress, some of them as a top Republican leader.
She agreed that cutting government spending and helping small businesses are good ideas.
"We can all say we're for those things. The difference is, he's been out there, had a chance to do something about it, and it hasn't worked out. He hasn't done the things he says and talks about," she said.