RICHMOND, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky’s 6th District U.S. Congressman Andy Barr dropped by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce breakfast where he delivered the keynote address.
The six-term Representative touched on a wide range of topics, including border security, and the county’s Blue Grass Army Depot.
“We are working on potential industry coming to Madison County to replace some of the jobs going away due to the end of demilitarization (at the Depot)," Barr stated prior to his address.
According to Blue Grass Army Depot Public Information Officer William Ritter, the chemical weapons clean-up at the facility was roughly about 25% of what goes on at the Depot. Ritter told LEX 18 the Depot deals with receiving and shipping conventional munitions from around the world.
Barr is spending time in central Kentucky while Congress is on recess, and he said he enjoys this part of the job as much as helping to shape policy in Washington. He added that there’s tremendous benefit to doing this, beyond what it can do for him during an election year. It’s worth noting that his races here, traditionally, have not been very closely contested.
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“We’re going to have a Q&A this morning to see what’s on their minds,” Barr explained. “So that I can take that back to my colleagues and say, ‘look, this is what’s on the minds of the business community, or the non-profit sector, this is what they’re worried about."
"I know inflation is still a huge problem, people are concerned about the border,” he said of what he’s been hearing from constituents during his time in central Kentucky this month.
The congressman is a Republican, with loyalty to former President Donald Trump. Notably, Trump campaigned for Barr in Richmond while he was still in the White House.
When asked if the recent ascension of Democratic Governor Andy Beshear into the national spotlight was good for the state, regardless of party, Barr agreed.
“Sure, it’s good, just as it’s good to have the leader of the U.S. Senate in Mitch McConnell on the Republican side, or Congressman James Comer, who’s been Chairman of the Oversight Committee, or Hal Rodgers who is the dean of the House. Kentucky, as a relatively small state, outkicks its coverage,” he said.
Barr has been visible in central Kentucky this summer, appearing in Lexington’s July 4th parade last month.
