Tim Kaine Visits Washington County, Virginia (and Annoys Priscilla)

This web site has no contractual obligation not to call U.S. Senators outright liars, merely a policy. However, this web site WILL ask Senator Kaine why he did not refer these business owners, manufacturers and plant managers to the local baby-boomers who already have the skills to fill these jobs...and the experiential knowlege that time spent mailing out resumes and filling out forms only leads to hostilities. I'm definitely grumpy today--it's my second grumpy day this month, and both grumpy days occurred after I'd eaten natural-wheat-gluten-free but evidently not glyphosate-free Cheerios--but this one was actually right below the e-mail that appeared on this web site yesterday. It just ticked me off. It still does tick me off. Students, schmudents, y'should've told'em to e-mail me. Or Dan. Or Bill. Or Carol. Or Jeff. Or they should just go into the Friday Market and check out a whole crowd of people who may look older than fifty (while being thirty-five) or look younger than fifty (while being sixty-five), and may be coasting on some sort of disability pension or just on unemployment, but who are obviously fit to work. Not all that stupid, either, although some of them are embittered, spiteful, and mean.

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Wherever I travel through Virginia, I hear the same thing from business owners, manufacturers and plant managers: there are good-paying jobs out there, we just need to train our students with the skills to fill them. I heard the same while in Washington County last week visiting the Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company's factory and sitting down with workers, managers, and local community leaders about workforce shortages.

I was also glad to have the opportunity to tell them about how the Middle STEP Act, a bipartisan bill I introduced last week with Senator Capito, can complement what they are doing to help future workers explore in-demand careers. The future of the U.S. economy depends on a skilled workforce, and exposing students to career and technical education earlier can help train the next generation of workers with the skills to succeed.

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Yes, those skilled workers I have in mind are in Gate City. And y'know what else is in Gate City? It no longer stops in Gate City, it merely ruins the property values of older buildings, but we still have a railroad in Gate City. It carries just a few coal trains these days. It used to carry passenger trains. It could be carrying workers to jobs in Bristol, Kingsport, Big Stone Gap or who knows where-all else. The company could reasonably be required to do that, just to make the railroad earn its keep!