WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill met today with Kansas City business leaders to discuss infrastructure needs and ways to expand job and business opportunities in the Kansas City region.

“Hearing directly from folks in Missouri is the best way to craft policies that can boost jobs and business opportunities for our state,” McCaskill said. “It’s encouraging to hear about Kansas City’s plans for infrastructure growth and development. The more we focus on strengthening and growing our roads and bridges, the more we will grow our economy and create good jobs throughout the region.”

Earlier this year, McCaskill was in Kansas City to address the Kansas City Chamber’s Federal Affairs Committee, Public Policy Council and Board Members on the importance of investments in public infrastructure such as roads and bridges, in light of news about funding shortfalls, and how such investments can successfully boost job and business opportunities.

Last month, McCaskill hosted a town hall in KC, as part of her “McCaskill on Main Street” tour across the state. The tour focused on ideas to help continue moving Missouri’s economy in the right direction.

McCaskill has worked with Republican colleagues including Senator Rob Portman of Ohio to write the Federal Permitting Improvement Act, to cut through federal red tape and expedite job-creating infrastructure projects. She has joined with a bipartisan group of Senators, including Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, to introduce two innovative infrastructure proposals: the Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) Act and the Partnership to Build America Act, both of which would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in loans and loan guarantees for infrastructure projects without the use of federal tax dollars.