Roy Blunt: “this is one of those all-too-rare occasions anymore where we all agree, and it is about making things. We will be…”

“this is one of those all-too-rare occasions anymore where we all agree, and it is about making things. We will be talking for the next few minutes about what happens in our country and what needs to happen so we can not just make things again--because we still make lots of things, and we make them very well--but what we need to do to be able to make more things. What do we need to do to be sure we are at the competitive front of the line as we work to make things. All of us are working on things together. Senator Brown and I have been working on advanced manufacturing--something that he has spoken about and we have spoken about together and that he has been a leader on for a long time--and all of our States benefit. Missouri and Ohio have certainly been among the significant manufacturing States. In Missouri we have more than $32 billion a year in manufacturing. For about the last 4 years that has been the top manufacturing employment, has been in the agricultural industry, in food processing, as well as transportation equipment, fabricated metals, machinery of all kinds, and automobiles have been in the top of our manufacturing sectors. I believe we are really at a point where so many things could easily come together, and the Federal Government and the Congress can help make those things come together by taking down barriers and by creating easier ways to work together.…”