U.S. Rep. Jason Smith Archives

GOP congressman describes rural Missouri hospital closings as unacceptable (AUDIO)

March 4, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A congressman who represents 30 counties in southern Missouri has seen five hospital closings in his sprawling district since 2016.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, speaks to a community member at Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Festus (2016 file photo courtesy of Congressman Smith’s office)

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, describes the rural hospital closures as unacceptable.

“Just because you live in a zip code that’s in a rural area doesn’t mean that you should have a different class of care, or different opportunities as other people throughout the state,” Smith says.

Smith says people die when hospitals close, noting that rural hospital closures are associated with an increase in an area’s mortality rate.

The state Hospital Association (MHA) says ten rural Missouri hospitals have closed since 2014. Five of those happened in Congressman Smith’s district:

** Parkland Health Center in Farmington (2016)
** Southeast Health Center of Reynolds County in Ellington (2016)
** Southeast Health Center of Ripley County in Doniphan (2018)
** Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett (2018)
** Black River Medical Center in Poplar Bluff (2019)

Smith, the GOP Conference Secretary on Capitol Hill, serves on the House Budget Committee. He tells Missourinet that rural hospitals must be reimbursed appropriately.

“Where it’s at the same level as you see in the cities,” says Smith. “The fact that they’re (rural hospitals) not reimbursed at the same levels as the hospitals in St. Louis forces closures, and that’s unacceptable.”

Smith’s district covers 20,000 square miles, from just south of St. Louis to ten miles east of Branson. The district includes Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Dexter, West Plains, Rolla, St. James and Ava.

Congressman Smith is calling for an increase in the number of healthcare professionals that can serve rural Missouri patients.

“Whenever one hospital closes in a community, that has drastic implications and it can cost lives,” Smith says.

Nine of the ten poorest counties in the state are in southeast Missouri, which has seen the largest number of closings.

The Missouri Hospital Association supports Medicaid expansion, which Smith opposes.

Smith spoke to Missourinet, after he traveled recently to Jefferson City to file for his fourth full term. Smith was elected to Congress in 2013, during a special election.

Smith was re-elected in 2018, capturing 73 percent of the vote against Democrat Kathy Ellis. Ms. Ellis, a Festus Democrat, has filed to challenge Smith again this November.

Click here to listen to the full four-minute interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, which was recorded on February 25, 2020 in Jefferson City:

Missouri Congressman Smith pleased with fentanyl vote and State of the Union Address (AUDIO)

February 13, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

An extension of bipartisan legislation involving fentanyl has been signed into law by President Trump. Supporters say the legislation will decrease the number of opioid-related deaths.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, (left) visits the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority in Scott City in January 2019 (file photo courtesy of Congressman Smith’s office)

Longtime Poplar Bluff Police Chief Danny Whiteley had been calling on Congress to approve the extension. The chief was a special guest of U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, at last week’s State of the Union Address in Washington.

“He (Chief Whiteley) is an individual that I rely on heavily for his advice, his expertise, because he’s been combating this for over two decades as the police chief there in Poplar Bluff, Missouri,” Smith says.

Congressman Smith voted for the extension. Poplar Bluff is located in southeast Missouri’s Butler County, which has seen 19 opioid-related deaths in the past two years.

Chief Whiteley tells Missourinet Cape Girardeau television partner KFVS that the majority of fentanyl and heroin in the Poplar Bluff area is coming from St. Louis.

As for the State of the Union Address, Congressman Smith says it’s one of the best speeches he’s heard the president deliver. Smith, who represents 30 southern Missouri counties, says America’s economy is booming and that the middle class is thriving. He credits President Trump for what he describes as America’s comeback.

“We have seven million new jobs that’s been created, 56,000 new jobs just in the state of Missouri under his presidency,” says Smith.

The White House says 11,000 of those new Missouri jobs involve manufacturing and that real median Missouri household incomes are up eight percent under the president, at $57,000.

Smith is the GOP Conference Secretary on Capitol Hill. His district includes Cape Girardeau, Kennett, Rolla and West Plains.

Not everyone in Missouri’s congressional delegation agrees with Smith.

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, sees the economy differently. Clay, who’s a dean in Missouri’s congressional delegation, is critical of President Trump and his proposed budget, saying it includes a $182 billion cut to the federal food stamp program. It’s known as SNAP.

Congressman Clay says the president is not lifting people off food stamps, but is “kicking them off.” Clay describes the president’s budget as “an assault on working families.”

Congressman Smith also wants Congress to focus this year on lowering prescription drug costs and addressing the mental health crisis.

Smith is also pleased with another part of the State of the Union: President Trump awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to national talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who’s from Cape Girardeau.

Smith says it’s special for southeast Missourians, noting the award is the nation’s highest civilian honor.

“His family lives in Cape Girardeau, his brother, his nephews, his cousins,” Smith says. “I mean, he’s from southeast Missouri.”

The 69-year-old Limbaugh announced last week that he’s starting treatment for lung cancer, saying he’s been diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease.

Limbaugh was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 2012.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, which was recorded on February 6, 2020:

Southern Missouri soldier seriously injured in Afghanistan honored with flag that flew over U.S. Capitol (AUDIO)

December 10, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A southern Missouri congressman says all members of Congress should travel to war-torn countries to visit American troops.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, presents an American flag which flew over the U.S. Capitol to family members of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ian Ives in November 2019 (photo courtesy of Congressman Smith’s office)

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, who serves as the GOP Conference Secretary, visited Afghanistan and Kuwait just before Thanksgiving with five other members of Congress.

Smith describes America’s servicemen and women as “the pinnacle of patriotism,” adding that their sacrifices ensure that we can enjoy our rights of liberty and freedom.

Before flying out from Joint Base Andrews, Smith met with U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ian Ives and his family. Sergeant Ives, who’s from Cuba, Missouri, is recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, after suffering serious injuries in Afghanistan.

Smith brought another injured veteran with him to Walter Reed, to meet Sergeant Ives.

“I brought another fellow member of Congress with me,” Smith says. “One who’s experienced and who has lied in the same bed that Staff Sergeant Ives has, and that is Representative Congressman Brian Mast from Florida.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Florida, lost both of his legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan, and Smith says Mast was a great inspiration to Ives.

Sergeant Ives’ family has traveled from Crawford County to Washington to support him, and Smith thanked them for their sacrifice. Congressman Smith presented Sergeant Ives and his family with a flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol.

During his overseas trip, Smith also met in Afghanistan with a soldier who farms in southeast Missouri’s Jackson. Smith tells Missourinet he met with U.S. Army soldier Spencer Knowlan in the war-torn nation. They also met during the congressman’s August farm tour across southern Missouri.

“He’s a fine young man who serves his country, he serves his community and he is definitely representing us well in Afghanistan,” says Smith.

Smith says Knowlan’s parents and his wife are operating the family farm in Cape Girardeau County, while he’s serving in Afghanistan.

Smith praises what he describes as the relentless dedication of America’s armed forces.

Smith represents 30 counties in southeast and south-central Missouri. The sprawling district includes Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Cuba and Farmington.

The congressional visit to Afghanistan and Kuwait was bipartisan. U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, were among the others on the trip.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, which was recorded on December 6, 2019:

Missouri’s Smith: Congress is not the answer to preventing mass shootings (AUDIO)

August 27, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A southern Missouri congressman who’s one of the top Republicans on Capitol Hill says communities are the answer to preventing mass shootings.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, speaks to a farmer at Peterson Farms in Mountain Grove on July 20, 2018 (file photo courtesy of Congressman Smith’s office)

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, spoke to Missourinet recently at the State Fair in Sedalia. We asked him what role, in any, Congress has in preventing mass shootings.

Smith tells Missourinet the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton are heartbreaking, adding that it’s heartbreaking any time a life is lost.

“Congress is not the answer, communities are the answer,” Smith says. “There’s a bad mental health problem out there.”

Smith says more people were killed in the United States in 2017 with hammers and clubs than by rifles, citing FBI statistics.

Smith, who represents 30 counties across south Missouri, is critical of some Democratic proposals, in response to the killings in El Paso and Dayton.

“You look at these two instances (El Paso and Dayton), they (suspects) both went through background checks. Assault weapons are banned. So the comment from members of Congress who say ‘let’s been ban assault weapons,’ they are banned,” says Smith.

Meantime, U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, is calling on Congress to approve legislation that would give local governments the authority to pass their own gun regulations.

The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reports 13 children have been killed in shootings in the city of St. Louis in 2019.

Congressman Clay has called an urgent town meeting for Wednesday evening at 6:30 at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis, to discuss gun violence. Clay says St. Louis and the nation “have reached a tipping point,” as easy access to guns has created what he calls a public health emergency.

Clay will be joined at Harris-Stowe by St. Louis Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed, Alderman John Muhammad, St. Louis Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards and others. The meeting is open to the public.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, which was recorded on August 15, 2019 at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia:

Missouri Governor’s ham breakfast on Thursday is sold out

August 13, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The popular Governor’s ham breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia is now a sellout, with 1,000 tickets sold.

The Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia (2018 file photo courtesy of State Fair)

Thursday morning’s breakfast begins at 8 o’clock, at the director’s tent on the state fairgrounds.

The event is popular because of its food but also because it’s an opportunity for voters to meet the governor and many lawmakers.

Governor Mike Parson (R) will be at the breakfast, along with most of the statewide elected officials, several members of the state’s congressional delegation, and a number of state lawmakers from both parties.

U.S. Reps. Billy Long, R-Springfield, and Jason Smith, R-Salem, will be among those attending the breakfast, which takes place under a large tent.

“It’s a popular event for sure,” State Fair Director Mark Wolfe tells Missourinet. “A chance for folks if they want to have a chance to meet the governor face-to-face and meet their legislators face-to-face, that’s a great opportunity over there.”

The breakfast also attracts candidates from both parties and judges.

The State Fair is Missouri’s largest agricultural expo. The 2019 fair ends on Sunday August 18.

Missouri congressman to present medals to late veteran’s family on Fourth of July (AUDIO)

July 4, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The family of a deceased southern Missouri veteran will be presented with his military service medals during a Fourth of July event in Salem.

Missouri Congressman Jason Smith visits the non-profit Parkland Hope Center in Park Hills in February 2019 (file photo courtesy of Congressman Smith’s office)

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, will be presenting the medals to Deck Hall’s family members. Smith says the family contacted his office, seeking assistance.

“Well it’s a great honor whenever we are able to track down the medals and awards for our veterans who never received them or they may have lost them,” Smith says.

Congressman Smith tells Missourinet the late Deck Hall earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Combat Infantry Badge.

Tonight’s presentation will take place at the Dent County Courthouse, just before the Fourth of July fireworks display.

The Salem event is one of several celebrations Congressman Smith will be attending today across his sprawling district, which contains 30 counties in southeast and south-central Missouri.

One of the most popular Fourth of July celebrations in southeast Missouri takes place in the small town of Oran, which is south of Cape Girardeau.

Today’s 108th Oran picnic includes music and fireworks. Congressman Smith will be attending the event, meeting with constituents about various issues. He says he frequently receives questions from constituents about Social Security issues and veterans benefits.

“You know southeast Missouri is all about God, country and family, and the Oran picnic is a prime example,” says Smith.

The event includes a buffet-style dinner at the Guardian Angel Knights of Columbus Hall. Fr. Randy, the church pastor, tells Missourinet they expect to feed about 1,000 people at today’s dinner, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Congressman Smith agrees with the late Congressman Bill Emerson: the Oran Fourth of July picnic has the best fried chicken anywhere in the world. He says the event is fun for all ages.

“This is the 108th annual Oran picnic. You can find horseshoe tournaments, cornhole, music, fireworks, wagon rides,” Smith says.

The dinner also includes roast beef and numerous desserts.

Congressman Smith will also travel to Poplar Bluff today and to the small town of Ellington, which is in Reynolds County. Smith will recognize the Ellington Whippet baseball team for that school’s first state championship in any sport.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, which was recorded on July 2, 2019: