While die-hards on both sides of the aisle often view bipartisanship as a four-letter word, it’s incumbent upon lawmakers to continue to work together, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran said.
Moran, seeking to keep his Senate seat in November against challenger Mark Holland, spoke Tuesday while stopping in Iola to tour the KwiKom Communications headquarters.
The Congressman is touring his home state during the August recess.
He expects the focus in Washington to be on filling out appropriations bills through the end of the session when it reconvenes after Labor Day, “although circumstances may change. You never know what’s going to wind up being the issue of the day.”
Appropriations bills — the funding of the government — are next on the agenda now that a budget has passed, “trying to work our way and figure out where to spend more money some place, less money some place and maybe no money someplace else,” Moran said.
Bipartisanship led to a pair of key developments, one in Washington, the other within the Sunflower State, in recent weeks.
Moran was a leading advocate of a bill to create a new entitlement program to treat veterans exposed to toxic substances while serving overseas, mostly in Vietnam or more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The legislation is expected to expand medical care eligibility to an estimated 3.5 million veterans.
The bill ultimately passed on a lopsided bipartisan vote, days after some Republicans, including Kansas’ Sen. Roger Marshall, briefly pulled their support in a dispute over how to pay for the benefits. Dubbed “burn pit legislation,” the bill has subsequently been signed into law by President Biden.
“Our Vietnam veterans and our Afghan and Iraq veterans have been waiting for more and better services and health care and benefits as a result of their exposure to Agent Orange in Southeast Asia and burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Moran told a Register reporter after the KwiKom tour. “We were successful in a bipartisan way of getting that accomplished.
“But, what that highlights is the next step,” he continued. “My goal is to make certain this is not just a piece of legislation that is words on paper. We need to see … those veterans’ needs being provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“The department is a huge, bureaucratic and challenging place. It is certainly an important aspect to pass legislation, but there’s an important follow-up to how they implement it to make sure it works for veterans in Allen County.”
CLOSER TO home, Moran offered support from his office during a successful effort in Kansas to entice Panasonic to open a $4 billion, 4,000-job battery production plant in De Soto.
As part of the recruitment, state lawmakers approved a slew of incentives to attract the manufacturer.
Moran described his role as a recruiter, which included touring Panasonic’s current facilities and assuring the company that if it chose Kansas, “it would have a United States senator there to be of help to them in their future needs as a company and as a major employer in the state,” he said.
“I’m pleased Panasonic chose Kansas,” Moran said. “We think of it as a benefit accruing to the folks of De Soto. What I also appreciate is this is a stamp of approval on Kansas, that we can attract high-tech, high-paying jobs that are looking into the future.
