Once a history teacher, always a history teacher. Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, who began his career in the classroom, came to Missouri Western State University Monday afternoon to tour the Walter Cronkite Memorial.

But thoughts about recent congressional history also occupied his thoughts during the Republican’s visit to St. Joseph.

With the plate full for lawmakers before another recess in October, then whatever might be accomplished in a lame-duck session after the November elections, Mr. Blunt said his chamber stands at fault for gumming up the work of Congress.

“The question is, will this two weeks of Congress be any different from the last three years of the Senate?” he said during a break from his tour. “The Senate has just stopped doing the people’s work in the way the people should expect it to be done.”

Specifically, Mr. Blunt said the U.S. House, where he previously served as majority leader, has passed more than 300 bills that the Senate, led by Democrats, has not taken up.

Foremost in the upcoming considerations will be the manner and amount of federal spending to be undertaken. Because of the Senate’s break from regular order in appropriations, outdated priorities get funded at levels that no longer make sense.

“It looks like we’re well down the road of making the same mistake that (Nevada Democrat) Harry Reid as the leader in the Senate has made over and over again,” Mr. Blunt said.

“We can’t just continue to let these spending priorities get more and more out of balance with what the country needs today and can afford today.”

The Missouri senator said health-care costs, regulatory concerns and infrastructure maintenance and construction are issues awaiting congressional attention. That’s in addition to the foreign-policy concerns related to world hotspots like Syria, Iraq and Ukraine.

Like it or not, Mr. Blunt said, the United States has obligations abroad.

“It would be a wonderful thing if others would step up and the United States would not bear all the responsibility we’ve borne since World War II. But the truth is, that just doesn’t happen,” he said.

“When the United States leaves a vacuum in the world, bad things rush to fill that vacuum.”

Before running for elected office, Mr. Blunt taught history at the high school and college level. He sometimes, on the Senate floor and in media responses, puts current events in perspective with occurrences in the nation’s past.

As he walked through the Cronkite exhibit with Missouri Western President Bob Vartabedian, the senator reflected on events that took place in his lifetime.

“Walter Cronkite is certainly a great part of our national history and a great part of our history as a state and the history of St. Joseph,” Mr. Blunt said.