Blunt leaves Senate championing the promise of America

At the end of the year, Roy Blunt will leave the United States Senate, a career in public policy that has spanned six decades. His 26 years in Washington, D.C. — 14 in the House and the last 12 in the Senate — were defined by his efforts to find solutions, both with members of his own party as well as with those across the political aisle, to problems facing the American people.

Earlier this month Blunt gave a farewell speech on the Senate floor about his years in public office. His remarks, which lasted more than 21 minutes, were entertaining, informative and inspirational.

Early on Blunt quipped that he spent a period of about six months wondering how the other 99 members got to the Senate.

"And with a couple exceptions, I was able to figure it out," Blunt shared with a few laughs from his colleagues. "There's still some question in my mind about a couple of our friends."

Blunt added that some have unique people skills, others with "extraordinary political skills," some the ability to understand complicated things and others an ability to explain those things.

"Most of the time, however, we just have an incredible amount of wasted talent," he said. "If you can take the collective talent of the 100 United States senators and make the most of it, there's absolutely no telling what might happen. Now, part of that's because the Senate isn't expected to work efficiently. We don't have many rules and what does get done usually gets done by either unanimous consent or total exhaustion. Those are our two stopping points."

But as the senator noted, the federal government was designed by individuals who didn't trust government. They wanted a limited government, and in that goal they opted for inefficiency.

That "inefficiency" serves as a challenge to find areas where people of opposite political beliefs can find common ground. That's become increasingly difficult, but as Blunt demonstrated, there are still opportunities to get things done.

Blunt's staff once looked into his record to determine how many Democrats were with the Republican senator as a principal sponsor of a bill. The answer was 44.

"My point, then and now, is you don't have to agree on everything to work together," Blunt said. "You just have to agree on one thing. And if you find that one thing you agree on, and frankly particularly if you're successful, both the members working together and their staffs think, 'Well gee, we could do that again.'"

From his efforts to fund the National Institutes of Health to being an advocate for mental health services, including funding for Alzheimer's research, Blunt has been a leader. Workmanlike. Dedicated. Not flashy, but a statesman.

Blunt's career in politics began in 1973 when he was appointed county clerk of Green County, Missouri. He would later be elected to the position and serve for 12 years. Blunt became Missouri's first Republican secretary of state when he was elected to the position in 1984. In 1996, he would get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he quickly moved into leadership, ultimately serving as the majority whip.

Following Kit Bond's retirement from the Senate in 2010, Blunt was elected to the upper chamber of Congress. There, too, he's served in leadership.

Along with his career in politics, Blunt has been a history educator and president of Southwest Baptist University.

Blunt offered a note of inspiration in his remarks, recalling his upbringing and the endless opportunity there is in this country.

"You know, my mom and dad were dairy farmers," he said. "They never suggested there were any limits to what a person could do in America. No sense that you couldn't do everything you wanted to do."

Congratulations to Sen. Blunt on an impressive career, and thank you for your service.