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Last week at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., President Obama made insensitive remarks about Christianity that deeply disappointed me and many other Christians across the nation. While rightly criticizing the atrocious violence by the Islamic State, the president wrongly compared this behavior to the Christian faith to make a political point. His remarks oversimplified history and did not acknowledge the real threat radical Islam poses to all faiths. The Christianity I know spreads a message of love and hope that we see throughout southeast and southern Missouri. In Cape Girardeau, La Croix Church collects money to build clean wells for villages in Africa and supports Feed My Starving Children. In Rolla, volunteers from Grace Fellowship Church and churches

WASHINGTON, D.C. - United States Congressman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) Friday fired a letter to Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman Robert S. Kenney urging a rehearing by state regulators for Noranda Aluminum in its feud with power provider Ameren Missouri. The aluminum smelter offers employment to approximately 900 southeast Missouri workers. Up to 200 employees from its administration to labor sectors might be laid off during the next six months if a competitive power rate is not secured by Noranda, said President and Chief Executive Officer Layle K. "Kip" Smith. In addition, the plant might be forced to scale back its $45 million investment in a rod mill and seek locations in neighboring states to continue the project, Smith said. Smith

This week, the United States House of Representatives passed the “Jobs for America Act” to grow our economy and put Americans back to work. This package of bills included proposals to provide our farmers and small business owners with needed tax relief, and reduce unnecessary regulations. For the 2014 tax year, unless the “Jobs for America Act” or something like it passes, the amount of equipment that farmers and small businesses can expense like tractors, heavy machinery, or computer software, will be reduced by ninety-five percent. Section 179 of the tax code – the section that provides for the equipment deduction – expired on January first of this year. Unless it is renewed for 2014, folks will only be able

New Madrid, Mo. - Officials who represent the region's largest employer today announced layoffs that will affect 125 to 200 area workers. Noranda President and Chief Executive Officer Layle K. "Kip" Smith said job cuts are related directly to a decision by the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) to deny competitive power rates to the New Madrid smelter. Layoffs are expected to come in phases during the next six months, Smith told a crowd of employees, dignitaries and press. Those cuts will reach across all sectors of the company's staff, including both administrative and plant personnel, he said. In addition to eliminating jobs, Smith said the company will suspend a $30 million capacity expansion project at the plant. "Unfortunately, this

Over the last two weeks I have visited dozens of farms and ranches and listened to hundreds of farmers on my second annual Eighth Congressional District Farm Tour. Agriculture in South-Central and Southeast Missouri is incredibly diverse. If fact, we grow everything except citrus and sugar. While the crops we grow and the livestock we raise are diverse, every farmer I talked to in the last two weeks brought up the same topic: the EPA war on rural America. No other federal agency pushes more intrusive and ineffective regulations on farmers than the Environmental Protection Agency. On the Farm Tour, the EPA’s proposed “Waters of the United States” plan was discussed numerous times. Back in April, the EPA announced it would