By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran stopped in Great Bend last Friday afternoon to have an open conversation with select business leaders. Moran told the group gathered at the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce that he wanted to hear the challenges they are facing and he bet he could name most of them.
One of the issues
brought up revolved around not having enough employees that want to work. Competing
against the government’s unemployment benefits along with extra pandemic
unemployment compensation has proven difficult for some local businesses.
"I voted against the bump up in unemployment benefits," said Moran. "The bump expires, perhaps the good news, in early September. My goal has been to do everything we can do to keep it from being extended."
Moran noted the unemployment benefits and the absence of employees, especially
in the hospitality industry, may be an indirect tactic to increase the minimum
wage to $15 per hour.
"What saddens me, when the bump in unemployment benefits passed, I remember thinking 'I know Kansans, even if they can make a little bit more money on unemployment, they're going to want to work,'" said Moran. "The sad part of it is, I don't know some Kansans."
Moran added when he was a Congressman representing
Western Kansas, not a single county he covered showed significant population growth. Moran
fought to bring the Larned Correctional Facility to Larned when it was
initially planned for El Dorado.
"My point was...why does everything have to go somewhere east?" said Moran. "If you want us (rural Kansas) to have a future, help us. If there is a state facility that can be in Western Kansas, why would it not be here? The answer generally is because we don't have enough people to work. I said if you'll build it, we'll be there."
Manufacturing, rural health care and other topics were brought before Moran from
Great Bend business leaders.