Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Speaks At Opening Of New Tractor Supply Facility

6 months ago

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) speaks at the opening of a new Tractor Supply facility.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you very much. Thank y'all. Good morning. Good morning. It is such an honor to be here

00:14and if we could give another round of applause to the Maumelle High School for kicking off

00:20this event. What a great job they did. And I have to say, Cody, I already mentioned to

00:29you how impressed I was that you were able to not only recognize your team members by

00:35name during the opening presentation, but also, and most importantly, you were able

00:41to recognize their branch of service and the number of years that they served in our military.

00:47What an impressive guy you are and obviously what an impressive team you have here at Tractor

00:52Supply. So thank you for letting us be here. And Hal, thank you so much for allowing me

01:02to be part of this event and this opening. You know, I've been to a lot of ribbon cuttings.

01:07I've been to a lot of new storefront openings. Very few start with a celebration of our country

01:14quite like the one that you had and what a testament to who you are and what your company

01:19is about. And I'm really honored that I got to be here and witness that and hopefully

01:24it'll be something we get to see at a lot more openings across the state. If we could,

01:30I would love for all of those who are members of our law enforcement, our first responders,

01:36active duty or veteran military to please stand. I can't think of a better way to thank

01:41you for your service and what you mean not just to this company, but to our state and

01:46to our country than to recognize you here this morning.

02:02It is, it is unfortunately a rare thing to see a distribution center open with that type

02:08of ceremony. And again, I think it is a great testament to who you are and what you represent.

02:15And one of the lessons certainly that was passed down to me from my dad and something

02:20that I can see reflected here. And one of the sayings that he said quite frequently

02:25was that if a country can't feed itself, fuel itself or fight for itself, it can't survive.

02:32And I think the representation that you have here today, you're meeting a lot of those

02:36goals. Certainly you're helping feed our country and the recognition of service. So many of

02:43those of you who are helping fight for our country.

02:52At the Arkansas Governor's Mansion, we're trying to do our part in helping with that

02:56quote as well and trying to do the feed itself part. Outside of the Grand Hall there on the

03:03grounds, one of the former Arkansas First Ladies planted a huge garden. Despite the

03:09fact of my kid's best efforts, our golden retriever traveler, that garden is still

03:14going and still thriving despite the fact we've been living there for the last year

03:18and a half. We like to say that Arkansas Governors were doing farm to table long before it was

03:23cool. And so we are really excited about Tractor Supply's largest distribution center ever

03:32opening right down the road and helping families, farmers, ranchers open their operations and

03:41run and help contribute to that as well all across the state of Arkansas. I'm absolutely

03:47amazed by the scope of this project. You stole a little bit of my thunder referencing Bud

03:52Walton, but this takes up 26 acres of space. And we like to say in Arkansas terms, 18 Bud

04:01Walton arenas. That's something we can all wrap our heads around and hopefully we'll

04:05have a lot more things to celebrate there this coming season. This will make Mall Mill

04:10Arkansas the hub of 250 Tractor Supply stores stretching all the way from Florida to Kansas.

04:19For our in-state customers, that means faster, better service. As most of you know, agriculture

04:26is our state's largest industry. So any way that we can better serve our farmers,

04:32our ranchers, and our foresters is a win for our entire state. And for Central Arkansas,

04:38it means more than $175 million investment and 500 full-time jobs. Thank you, Hal.

04:48Across the country, many Americans are struggling right now. Prices are higher, but paychecks are

05:01staying the same. There's only been a few times in the past when so many Americans feel so badly

05:07about our country's national economy. Here in Arkansas, though, we're bucking that trend.

05:13And Tractor Supply is just one of many companies that have decided to make a major investment in

05:18our state in the past couple of years. The reasons are simple. Low taxes that are getting even lower,

05:25an easy regulatory environment that's getting easier, and an excellent quality of life that

05:31is getting better. For companies like Tractor Supply, we have the added advantage of sitting

05:37right at the crossroads of America, with easy access to some of the nation's biggest markets.

05:44The amazing team at AEDC, led by Clint O'Neill, and our team at Commerce, led by Hugh McDonald,

05:50are doing a great job meeting with companies all across the nation and the world to help us get

05:56the word out that there has never been a better time to invest in Arkansas than right now.

06:03But we know that it isn't government that is helping Arkansas thrive. It's our great people,

06:08and it's great businesses like Tractor Supply that are doubling down on our state. It also takes

06:15great leaders like you have here in Maumelle. Only when all of us are on the same page,

06:22the private sector, the public sector, state and local leadership, working towards the same goal,

06:29can we make projects like this one a reality. And that's exactly what has happened here today,

06:34and we are so proud of the small part that we've been able to play. I want to again thank everyone

06:40who is here today that has made it happen, and Hal, I have to say those team members that were

06:45recognized earlier that are here on their day off, I sort of think you guys should get paid, so

06:52just keep in mind I was the one that put in the good word for you.

06:56And I want to give again another special thank you to Tractor Supply for investing in Arkansas,

07:02for believing in the natural state. We're so happy that you're here and we look forward to

07:07continuing to work together to make sure that this facility grows and thrives

07:12right here in Arkansas. Thank you so much for being here today.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Speaks At Opening Of New Tractor Supply Facility

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