WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today spoke on the Senate floor after supporting the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The relief bill passed the Senate, 90-8.
“We need to make certain that our health care providers have the necessary tools to meet the health care needs of American citizens,” said Sen. Moran. “And front and center in that regard is testing, and we are woefully inadequate and undersupplied in what we need to test the necessary number of Kansans and Americans to know what they face and to know what their circumstances are and to respond in the medically required way. We are working to make sure there are more tests across the country and working to make certain that those tests are distributed in a way that Kansans and their health care providers can access them.”
Click Here to Watch Sen. Moran’s Full Remarks
Remarks as delivered:
“This has been a trying and difficult, challenging time in our country and in my home state of Kansas. Lots of conversations, care and compassion going on – we can’t give anyone a hug these days, we can’t extend a hand, at least literally. But we are extending a hand to all of our friends and our neighbors, those across our community, those across our state and across the country. I’m troubled of course by what circumstances Americans find themselves in. There are those who are in a poor circumstance from which they can’t recover from the circumstances that we face. I want to make sure that Kansans know we hear their cries, we know of their problems and that work is afoot to try to make a difference.
“Just a couple of examples – things that perhaps in the overall scale of where we are perhaps don’t seem significant enough, but can make a difference in individual lives and families wellbeing. We have been successful in getting the school lunch program available for students whose schools are no longer in session – who don’t go to the classroom and therefore aren’t in the school lunchroom. USDA and the school food program are now available for those who are at home because their school classes have been canceled as a result of the virus.
“We are paying a lot of attention to this – I hope Kansans know, Americans know – to the veteran and the veteran community. We’ve had success in passing legislation on the Senate floor, waiting for House consideration, that allow those veterans who are no longer in the classroom in a university or in a technical college and are now learning by distance education, by technology, to be able to continue to receive their GI educational benefits. That required a change in the law, and it’s in the works so that those benefits continue even though the student is not, as now required, in a classroom itself. We are trying to make certain the Department of Veterans Affairs has the resources necessary to meet the needs of our veterans. It is a vulnerable population because of age and existing conditions of many of our veterans. We are in constant contact, not only with the Department of Veterans Affairs, but with veterans themselves and with our veteran hospitals and clinics, and other health care providers in Kansas.
“Today we are dealing with economic relief for those who are losing their job, fearful of losing their job or have already lost their job. Much of life’s meaning comes from our employment – from what we do – and a job is certainly something that helps put food on a family’s table and provide security for an individual, but it also provides meaning. No one can understand unless they are without a job how devastating that can be.
“I am pleased by the number of business men and women who have called me to tell me that the last thing they want to do is layoff anyone who works in their business. The circumstances at home and in Kansas, we’ve been through economic difficulties before, we’ve seen the cycle of the economy – the ups and downs, the normal flows – but this is something totally different than that.
“Oil and gas: the price of oil is such that keeping our oil and gas producers in Kansas in business is a real challenge. Aviation manufacturing is an important component of the Kansas economy and today, Textron Industries, which manufactures Cessna aircraft and Beechcraft, announced they are furloughing 7,000 of their 9,000 workers. That’s on top of other challenges in the aviation industry in which Spirit AeroSystems, headquartered in Kansas, has already laid off 2,800 employees. So from the oil and gas industry of western and south central and eastern Kansas, to the manufacturing hub of Wichita and south central Kansas, the consequences of the coronavirus are real and felt in the pocketbook, felt in the brain and felt in the heart.
“Our restaurants, hotels, car rental agencies – those who serve others. I’ve been in circumstances this week in visiting with the people who work at a restaurant, the people who work at a café, the people who work here in D.C. at the cafeteria where I had breakfast this morning. Those who have jobs wonder if they are going to have jobs tomorrow, and those who have already lost their jobs wonder how they are going to pay the bills. This morning a conversation with an optometrist telling me the circumstances of no longer being able to care for patients except in the emergency setting, which means the business in the optometrist office, an important health care provider, the business in the dental office, that that has been curtailed in the necessity of considering laying off the clinical workers there is front and center in that conversation.
“It’s a troublesome situation across Kansas, doesn’t matter what city or town you live in. If you’re a farmer, the cattle prices are significantly depressed despite the fact that it’s still pretty expensive at the grocery store. I think about my hometown and the loss of a business. There aren’t many businesses in many rural communities of Kansas, and many businesses don’t really earn much of a living or a profit. It could be a family circumstance, it could be this is what they did, this is what their parents did, this could be a service to the community, and they live on a lot less because that business is important to a small community. But this kind of challenge is such that if that business closes, the chances are that it doesn’t reopen. The financial circumstances of small town America are such that there is little likelihood of recovery and reopening.
“I hope that the legislation we passed today – now on its way to the president – it included a few things that I was troubled by and I think will create significant difficulties for some. We need to continue to work to change those provisions that are troublesome and cause problems, but it was important in my view to make certain that the things that were wrong in that bill didn’t prevent us from passing something to help those with the things that are right. None of our economic efforts that we make to make certain that people feel more secure economically will work until they feel more secure in their health and wellbeing of themselves and their families. So even though you may get some assistance – a person may get some assistance, a family may be relieved of some of the financial burden that they now face, a laid off worker may get unemployment benefits – but your mind is always going to be on the issue of your health and wellbeing of your children and your parents and your grandparents, those we know in the nursing home and those we know in the nursery.
“As long as we are troubled by what may happen to us and our health, no amount of economic stimulus can overcome the fear of one’s wellbeing, and particularly the wellbeing of their spouse, their children and their parents. So clearly, economic relief in and of itself in my view is insufficient. We need to make certain that our health care providers have the necessary tools to meet the health care needs of American citizens. And front and center in that regard is testing, and we are woefully inadequate and undersupplied in what we need to test the necessary number of Kansans and Americans to know what they face and to know what their circumstances are and to respond in the medically required way.
“We are working to make sure there are more tests across the country and working to make certain that those tests are distributed in a way that Kansans and their health care providers can access them. And most recently we were able to getting CDC to undo a problem that kept tests from being transferred to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in my home state. We are pleased to see the FDA, for example, has modified the necessary steps it takes for a manufacturer of these test kits to be certified, to be qualified, to manufacture them. And the amount of test kits that are being produced, the amount of manufacturing has increased, and we are expecting significant improvements in the next couple of weeks. Yes, I wish they were here earlier, but can we fix the problem we face now and get them here soon – immediately.
“I sit in the desk of Sen. Bob Dole a predecessor of mine in Kansas. His name is etched is this desk drawer. Now known for his bipartisanship and held in great respect, not only at home in Kansas, but across the country. I stand at the desk that is here in the place of Sen. John McCain. Two people who demonstrated the desire to work together. And while I’ve outlined a few things that I think are important, that I wanted Kansans to know, my mission and my remarks today that may be the most important is to ask my Republican colleagues and my Democrat colleagues to set aside the usual bickering and political posturing that takes place in the United States Congress. No American can feel well, no American can feel that things are going to be okay if they don’t see leadership and cooperation among us.
“And so while we today are preparing for the presentation of new legislation dealing with the challenges that businesses, employers and employees face, trying to relieve the economic and financial burden that many American are experiencing and more will experience in the future, could Americans please see that me and my colleagues are taking every step not to make this a political exercise, but to demonstrate our care and concern for those we represent.
“I mentioned a moment ago about veterans. This is the point in time in which if you take a walk on the National Mall, as I’ve often done, to walk to the Lincoln Memorial I will walk by now the WWII memorial; I will walk by the Vietnam Wall and on my return, I will walk by the Korean War Memorial. We should hold those veterans, those military men and women who are honored in those settings, as our role models. We should do that every day, but can we please do it over the next few weeks, the next few months and into the next year as we try to address the challenges that America faces today. No person memorialized in those settings fought and sacrificed their life for a Republican or a Democrat. They sacrificed because they believed they could make life better for the folks back home—they’re own family members, their neighbors and people they didn’t know. They sacrificed because they believed they could make the world a more safe and secure place. And I pledge myself in every way possible to see that I do the things today, tomorrow and into the future that means this Congress has come together on behalf of the American people, just like those who served our country did and now rest in peace.
“To the Democrat colleagues here in the Senate, please consider me open to their suggestions. To my Republican colleagues, please know that I am an ally in the things we believe in. But we may all need to give a little, so that America can return, Americans can be safe, Americans can be secure; our health is protected; and our economy flourishing. I would ask God in this circumstance to bless this country, to bring us together; hold us in His arms in a way we can’t do today. And to make certain that this Congress represents the will of the people, not the will of any political party.”