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Blunt tells Mo. lawmakers to guard against big govt., declines to endorse in U.S. Senate race

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
(via Flickr/Senator Roy Blunt)
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R) briefly addressed theMissouri Housetoday.

Blunt spent most of his nine-minute speech criticizing government growth and overregulation.  He was especially critical of the federal government’s attempts to regulate family farms.

"We don’t need people in Washington DC deciding what farm kids can do on family farms," Blunt said to applause.  "We don’t need the EPA trying to spend all this time figuring out how you can farm without dust.”

Blunt told lawmakers not to emulate European governments that seek to exert more control over the daily lives of its citizens, and to hold the line against Medicaid costs.

“One of our neighboring states had a 15 percent increase in Medicaid this year, (and) they took a 15 percent reduction in higher education," Blunt said.  "Then the federal government, (which) is not just a little bit involved in this, says ‘and by the way, if your tuition goes up at colleges and universities, we might penalize your students in getting loans and grants.'”

Blunt also told reporters that he will not make an endorsement in the GOP U.S. Senate primary, where the winner will challenge incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill.  

 

Marshal was a political reporter for St. Louis Public Radio until 2018.