By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News
Congressman Adam Kinzinger has been visiting communities throughout his district and stopped in Forrest and Pontiac Wednesday to check in on job growth and manufacturing in the area.
Kinzinger said while they’ve had a busy time in the national capital lately, he felt it was time to come back home and see how everyone is doing.
“Look, everybody is struggling and it’s something we need to get a better handle on. Part of the blame, I think, goes to Springfield, which is, you know, we’re not just losing jobs to India – we’re losing them to Indiana, and it’s not because the weather is nicer or there are more mountains over there. I think Livingston County is doing great compared to a lot of areas. You see, for instance, tourism in Pontiac really exploding in a good way. That’s a good thing. We always could be doing better. So the key is to try to figure out … I think a lot of an issue is skills gap, in terms of jobs that are available versus what people are trained for. One of the roles of the Federal government is to see trends of the future and to highlight those trends,” Kinzinger said.
