The October district work period is well underway, and I have been making the rounds across the Third District. Hearing from you directly is the most valuable insight I can have as your Representative, and I always enjoy getting to see familiar Missouri faces and meet new ones while I’m here. Fortunately, this district work period has allowed me to meet with many of you and several businesses in our area so far. Here are just a few:

I had a great visit to Southern Glazer’s beverage distribution company in St. Charles. This family-owned company operates in 44 states, including two locations in Missouri. It provides nearly 800 good Missouri jobs and is a significant driver of our economy. With 220 vehicles in its fleet, Southern Glazer’s supplies beverage services to businesses across Missouri and the country helping them serve their customers and provide steady income for their workers. On top of that, Southern Glazer’s was voted one of Newsweek’s “Top 100 Most-Loved Workplaces” meaning not only do they provide hundreds of jobs, but they have happy employees. It was great to hear about this company and all the good they’re doing for our state.

The Council for Drug Free Youth does wonderful work in our state and is more important than ever. Open-border policies have resulted in drugs – specifically deadly fentanyl – flowing freely across our border and making every state in America feel like a border state. Illicit fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-45 which is a devastating statistic. And with cartels now bringing rainbow fentanyl that oftentimes looks like candy into our country, protecting our nation’s children is absolutely critical. The DEA Administrator has issued a warning that rainbow fentanyl pills are a “deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.” With Halloween coming up in a few weeks, parents should remember to exercise extreme caution with their children’s candy and triple check for packages that are open or look like they’ve been resealed. These are tough, but necessary conversations and spreading awareness like the Council for Drug Free Youth does is one of the best ways to keep our kids safe.

As the top Republican on the House Small Business Committee, meeting with small businesses here in Missouri is extremely valuable to our policymaking efforts. I always appreciate hearing concerns from Third District business owners so I can bring them back to Washington and find solutions that will help small businesses across the country. Recently, I attended a very productive small business roundtable with the Jefferson City Chamber. Like many of the small businesses we’ve visited recently, the attendees of the roundtable stressed the pain of inflation and unreasonable government regulation. Continued reckless government spending has sent inflation to 40-year highs, which greatly affects small businesses’ already slim margins. On top of inflation, small businesses are facing a significantly trimmed down workforce and labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and government red tape. According to the American Action Forum, the Biden Administration capped off its first full year in office with more than $201 billion in regulatory costs and 131 million hours in new annual paperwork. Businesses either have to price those government expenses into the cost of their products or risk going out of business. Small businesses are doing their best to get by with economic and labor challenges, the last thing they need is the federal government making their jobs even harder with unnecessary regulations. It was good to hear from Third District business owners and their workers about what we can do in Congress to ease as many of these burdens as possible.

We have a few more weeks of the district work period left, and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible around the District!