For the second time in less than a week 7th District Congressman Billy Long will make an appearance in Joplin later today. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

Representative Long will visit Freeman Health System’s Ozark Center for a roundtable this afternoon. He’ll visit with psychiatric residents and Ozark Center executive staff to talk about the need for funding for residency programs. The Doctors of Community Act is now in the House of Representatives. It would permanently reauthorize the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program.

Earlier this year, Long supported an extension of the program and a change in the reauthorization process from every two years to every three years. If passed, the new legislation would make reauthorization permanent and eliminate. Long, candidate for Senator, from Missouri visited Joplin last Thursday with Senior Advisor Kellyanne Conway. He vowed to visit all of the state’s 114 counties during his campaign. Other candidates include congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, Mark McCloskey, Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt, and former Missouri governor Eric Greitens. The republican primary will take place on August 2nd of 2022.