District Update

Dear Friends,

Last week I returned from a bipartisan Armed Services Committee trip to Poland, Estonia, and Ukraine. I was the lead Republican on the trip, among six members of Congress and spoke and asked questions at every meeting we had with foreign leaders. 

We met with the defense ministers and minsters of foreign affairs (their version of our Secretary of State) in Ukraine and Estonia and met with other officials in Poland.

I got to see training sites where U.S. soldiers and other ally nations are training Ukrainian military forces; saw the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense system nearing completion in Poland; spoke at the Warsaw Security Forum on a panel about the 70th Birthday of NATO and its future outlook; saw a new airfield in Estonia built with shared US/NATO moneys providing a Baltic Air Policing mission against rogue Russian spy planes; and met with newly elected, bright parliamentarians from Ukraine who are committed to freedom, democracy and rooting out corruption.

All three countries are passionate and motivated to keep Russia from retaking their countries and ruling over their people again. They are building their militaries and economies, taking a hard line against corruption, and desperately need and want American support in these efforts.

We are the bastion of freedom and the force for good in the world that we often don’t appreciate or recognize. Millions of others look to us as the light shining on a hill giving hope and help to their aspirations of freedom. We must continue to support them as their freedom and stability impacts our economy and promotes a free and prosperous world.

District Update

On Thursday, I held our 6th Annual Youth Leadership Summit with more than 200 students and staff from throughout Missouri’s Fourth Congressional District. This event, at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, provided students and staff from 32 high schools with an opportunity to hear presentations from speakers whose inspiring stories encouraged and equipped the students to be courageous leaders.

This year’s speakers included Dr. Pat Ivey, Associate Athletic Director for Student Athlete Health and Performance at the University of Louisville, and Major General Donna Martin, Commanding General of the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence at Fort Leonard Wood.

Dr. Ivey, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri, teaching an online course, lettered for the Missouri Tigers football team in the 1990s before spending time with several National Football League teams. General Martin oversees training of more than 80,000 military personnel each year and supports over 10,000 military family members, in addition to 150,000 retirees and their family members. They shared their experiences with the students and leadership know-how.

I was pleased it was another highly successful event. I enjoyed spending the day with the students and feel confident our future is in good hands with these bright, young people leading the way forward.

As part of the recent district work week, I visited Whiteman Air Force Base to meet with several Whiteman officials and to address the Whiteman Base Community Council, which is made up of leaders from nearby communities who partner with members of the military to provide support.

Whiteman is vital to our national security and I am incredibly proud to represent all the critical missions here – Active, Guard, and Reserve. We all know how the B-2 has a unique mission that is vital to safeguarding our national security.

It is the flagship of the Air Force’s long-range strike arsenal and has proven its prowess through involvement in nearly every major U.S. operation since its addition to the Air Force arsenal.

I am so proud of the B-2 airmen deployed to U.S. European Command as part of Bomber Task Force Europe. These bomber missions are critical not only to help familiarize aircrews with air bases, airspace, and operations in different geographic combatant commands, but also to increase coordination among partner nations and to serve as a deterrent to our adversaries.

I had the opportunity to share with the Base Community Council insights from my trip to Ukraine, Estonia, and Poland, ranging from the threats from Russia to the future of the NATO alliance. The message coming from Eastern Europe is clear: America remains a beacon of hope for the world. We must defend and support them as they march forward in their own quests for freedom, political stability, and free-market capitalism.

I also spoke of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As a member of the House-Senate Conference Committee, I am hopeful that my fellow conferees and I will produce a NDAA that ensures our service members have the resources they need. I firmly believe we can restore some of the cuts in the House bill and produce a better NDAA and am working towards that goal.

Steve Walsh, field representative for the eastern portion of the district, attended an event celebrating the fact that plans are moving forward to begin construction on a new Interstate 70 Missouri River Bridge at Rocheport. It’s a major project that has been enabled, in part, through an $81.2 million Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant I supported and advocated for that was awarded to Missouri by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The process of planning the design for the bridge has begun, with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) already looking at compliance with environmental regulations and working on obtaining the necessary permits to start construction – which is expected to begin within the next two years. I am pleased to have worked with my colleagues in the Missouri Congressional Delegation to bring this critical federal funding to Missouri. I eagerly await the start of construction.

I am pleased to announce that Howard County, with the help of my office, has now been designated as a disaster declared county and is now eligible to receive Public Assistance grant money for flood recovery.

Public Assistance money is provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). After a county has been designated a disaster area by the President, those monies can be used by county and local governments to rebuild roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure that was destroyed during the disaster.

With the designation now of Howard County, 18 Missouri counties have now been designated disaster areas and quality for FEMA assistance. It has been my goal to help every county that qualifies to receive this vital assistance and I am glad that we were able to help the countries receive the needed funds.

I want to see the good people of our communities and counties that have been affected by the flooding in a position to address their infrastructure needs as quickly as possible. My staff stands ready to help in any way we can.

Yours in service,

Vicky Hartzler

Member of Congress