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FRIDAY OCT 9 SENATOR JERRY MORAN TOWN HALL MEETING IN BELOIT

 

Jerry Moran, Town Hall Meeting

Friday, October 9, 2015

By Terry Bailey

On Friday, October 9, the Honorable Senator Jerry Moran made a stop in Beloit to hear from his constituents. This continues a practice followed by Moran since he was first elected to the National House of Representatives in 1996. While many congressmen go to Washington and stay, every weekend since he first went to Washington in 1997 Moran comes back to Kansas to find out what the voters who elected him have to say.

Moran began the meeting telling the audience of about 35 people that he wanted to make a couple of comments and then turn the meeting over to them.

The pending resignation of John Boehner as Speaker of the House, while not a Senate issue, has great implications for the Senate. House Majority leader, Kevin McCarthy was heir apparent to the job as Speaker of the House, but on Thursday he dropped out of the race for the position. “This has thrown the House into a turmoil,” said Moran. “They need a leader who can unify the body so we can get some work done.”

Moran said, “My second point is I hear people say to me on these tours, ‘The Republicans have a majority in the Senate and a majority in the House. Why can’t they get things done?”

He explained that for many in Washington, D.C. getting things done means change, and when things change, somebody loses. Nobody wants to lose so nobody is in favor of getting things done.

He commented that the bigger an institution becomes, the less accountable it is. He used the Veteran’s Administration as an example. The VA has a budget of 15 billion dollars. Ten billion is to deliver services and five billion to have more professionals on staff. In the past, Veterans who received services must go to a VA hospital. In Kansas that is Topeka or Wichita. “What happens to a 92 year old World War II veteran who lives in Atwood, Kansas and is unable to travel that far?” posed Moran.

Legislation coaxed through Congress by Moran provided for an exemption for veterans living a great distance from the VA hospitals. For the Atwood veteran he could now receive services in a satellite clinic in Hays or in Burlington, Colorado. This legislation was opposed by the Veteran’s Administration.

Because a drive to Hays or Burlington, Colorado might not be possible for the 92 years old veteran in Atwood, Moran spearheaded another legislative effort so that veterans can receive treatment in their home town hospital if the nearest VA outreach clinic is more than forty miles away from their home. Once again the VA drug their feet on implementing the new policy. “They do not want to change. That means giving up on control,” said Senator Moran.

 

Doug McKinney asked a question regarding the government’s change for regulation of the flood plain and it being changed to a 500 year flood instead of the current 100 year flood. Moran responded, “This is a classic case of the Federal government passing “One Size Fits All” legislation. In an attempt to fix one problem, we create several more in its place.

Moran said, “When I was first elected to Congress I was determined to make sure that rural America had a place in the future of the United States. It became obvious early in my tenure that when legislation was passed, more often than not, it was not beneficial to rural America. We should not ask Washington D.C. to solve our problems in the Heartland. Because, when you do that, most likely what you get is not what you want.”

Jim Gates asked, “It seems to me we have a dysfunctional government in Washington. It is like the Speaker of the House controversy, nobody can agree on anything.”

Moran continued to say that when he was younger he thought politics was a way for folks to get together and help one another. “It is more like a game of football. People choose sides and then try to score points on the other side. Scoring points has become more important than getting things done.”

He said, tongue in check, not everybody thinks alike. “Many bills or issues never get the 60 votes necessary to simply discuss it and for us to vote one way or the other.”

Senator Moran added, “We all have those issues that, because of our personal moral makeup, there is no give and take. There are other issues when some negotiation and a little give and take is possible. But when we cannot get the votes to simply discuss the issue we have gotten way off track.”

Jeremy Armstrong, administrator of the Mitchell County Hospital thanked Senator Moran for all the help he has been in protecting rural health care. A discussion of the merits and detractions of the Affordable Care Act followed. The question ended with another rhetorical question for Moran, “How is it the Montgomery County Hospital in Independence has to close its doors? Independence is a community of over 10,000 people which is a good sized rural town. If they can’t make it, how can towns of 5,000 or 3,000 or of 1,000 keep their hospital doors open?

Dr. Carrico said he had a brief story and a question. He told of a trip he had taken where there were black bears on display. The bears were enclosed in an area with a 10 foot high metal fence with barbed wire on the top with the whole fence being electrified. Carrico asked, “If that works for black bears, why couldn’t a similar fence be constructed along our southern border?”

Moran replied, “I have never had a question asked of me that began with black bears.” After a hearty chuckle all the way around he continued, “I cannot think of anything more broken that is our immigration situation. My greatest fear is that it is not simply people coming over the border into our country. It has become a national security issue. With El Qaeda, Issis, the Taliban and so forth we are not looking at people who are wanting to come to the U.S. to find a job and a better way of life. They are coming to America to kill us. We cannot tell them apart.

County Commission Chairperson Tom Claussen drew on his military background for his question. “Having spent two years in the Middle East, it became apparent to me that democracy does not work there. People rely on a strong man such as Saddam Hussein to tell them what to do and when to do it. Self-government is very foreign to them. It seems like we are fighting a battle in which the other guys know we well quitting at some point. All they have to do is wait.”

Moran answered, “We are at a point where our enemies do not fear us and our allies do not trust us. Since the end of World War II our method of waging war has changed away from victory.”

Chad Halleck commented, “It seems when we send troops into an area we never bring all of them home. After World War II we had soldiers in German. After the Korean War we had troops in Korean. This pattern follows true around the world. Why can’t we close some of those oversees bases and bring the troops home to safeguard the border?”

Regardless of which border we are talking about there is one core fact that cannot be changed. We can be most places most of the time. It will never be possible for us to be everywhere all the time. A gap here and a gap there and people will find a way to slip through. Securing our borders takes all of us working together. Unfortunately our camps are divided,”

At that point Moran’s allotted hour expired. He was due to be at a funeral in Phillipsburg so he had to end the meeting and be on the way to Phillipsburg to stay on schedule.

 

 

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