Republican U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt visits in his first stop of a planned 19-city bus tour in his run for the Senate

Republican U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt kicked off a 19-city bus tour Friday at the Rustic Pantry in Sedalia, where he discussed plans to promote private-sector job creation as part of his bid for the U.S. Senate.

On the one-year anniversary of announcing his campaign to replace the retiring U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, Blunt told those gathered in the restaurant that revitalizing the labor market will require a shift from the Obama administration’s plans for reforming health care, energy policies and taxes. He blamed uncertainty related to those three issues for having a chilling effect on private-sector job creation.

“It has the effect of discouraging small businesses from creating jobs,” Blunt said. “If you’re led to believe your utility bill could possibly even double, and your tax bill is going to be much higher than it was this year, and you may have all kinds of new obligations for medical care for whatever jobs you create, the message there is don’t create those jobs.”

The biggest issues the country faces are job creation and the growing federal deficit, Blunt said.

“We must start producing jobs right now and help our small business men and women and all employers create solid, family-supporting jobs for the future,” he said.

He said his plan for spurring job growth would let workers keep more of what they earn, provide economic incentives for small businesses and reduce government influence on private industries.

“Right now the country is seeing an extreme agenda, and they don’t want to go there,” he said.

He derided ongoing stimulus efforts as poorly planned, and said the bill will encumber years of future debt for the country. Blunt said although some of the stimulus dollars funded programs that he supported, he believed the majority of the bill focused on the wrong kind of spending.

“It didn’t accomplish the goals the president promised it would accomplish,” Blunt said. “It had the wrong focus. It was focused on government spending instead of the things that you need to do to create small business and other private-sector jobs.”

Paul Fortune, a farmer from northeastern Pettis County, said he came out to show his support for Blunt. He said he strongly agreed with Blunt’s voting record in Congress, and was glad he came to Sedalia as part of his Senate campaign.

“My wife and I like his voting record in the House and hope he can do that in the Senate,” Fortune said. “We’ve got to stop this wild spending.”

Ron Hellesvig, of Sedalia, said he appreciated Blunt’s discussion of health care, energy and tax reform. Hellesvig, who got the chance to ask about Blunt’s opinion of the Tea Party movement after his speech, said he agreed with the congressman’s idea of channeling the positive energy stemming from the movement into a direction that can promote a conservative agenda.

“In my opinion, he needs to be put in (the Senate),” Hellesvig said. “All of those issues that he touched on, I agree with.”

While the majority of those in attendance were excited about Blunt’s stop, April Hawkins, a waitress at Rustic Pantry, felt the congressman snubbed the staff at the restaurant during his visit. She said since Blunt was touring the state to show his support for small businesses and “the little people,” she thought he should have acknowledged the employees.

“The waitresses didn’t know anything about this (visit),” Hawkins said. “We had this crowd come in and we’re busting our butts, and the man didn’t say anything to us. Not one ‘thank you.’ ”

Blunt did visit with the restaurant owner, whom he thanked for hosting the tour stop and encouraged for operating a successful business.

The Democrat contacted Blunt’s office Friday evening in regard to the perceived snub, but no response was provided ahead of press time.

Blunt’s 19-city tour across the state, dubbed “Jobs for Missouri’s Future,” is scheduled to conclude Tuesday with a stop in St. Louis.