Blog: Western Slope Local Issues Addressed

Statement

Western Slope Local Issues Addressed Over the weekend I visited The North Fork community and addressed concerns about the high unemployment rate, the economy, and immigration reform. I live in Pueblo. Our unemployment rate is way too high and the Western Slope unemployment rate is way too high as well. One of the efforts that I have is infrastructure as a solution to the high unemployment rate and the economy. Infrastructure is so important to us because it is our roads, our bridges, and our telecommunications. We have had flooding. We have had fires that have been so destructive. All of these things are part of infrastructure that the federal government has a role to play. In the legislature I was the go-to-guy for engineering projects and development projects and capital development. I ended up being the chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, so I know about making priorities and I think we have to put a priority to using the monies that we have, not new monies. We must prioritize funding to make sure that our infrastructure works to our needs. Infrastructure work does more than create jobs during the projects; it also helps sustain our small businesses by allowing them to compete when goods, workers, and customers can get in and out of our communities efficiently. Simply put, infrastructure creates and sustains quality jobs that will help our economy. I have blogged about my position on immigration reform and believe a comprehensive immigration reform bill should be passed. There are jobs in our district that require immigrant labor and many agricultural businesses in this district depend on it. At the end of the day we are all people who work hard to drive the economy of this great country as we try to provide for our own families. For more information about my interview with KVNF please visit http://kvnf.org/post/tapia-campaigns-north-fork-talks-jobs.

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