If U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran could stay awake long enough, he planned to be back in Washington, D.C., early this morning.
Moran stopped in Emporia at 4 p.m. Monday to talk to employees at the John North Ford and Nissan dealerships as part of the American International Automobile Dealers Dealer Visit Program.
He had been in north-central Kansas earlier in the day, and after leaving Emporia was scheduled to speak Monday evening at the Elk County Farm Bureau meeting in Howard. Then, he said, he hoped to be able to stay awake for the drive to Kansas City to catch a Midwest Airlines flight to Washington, D.C.
Moran is one of the nation’s most mobile representatives, returning almost every weekend to visit his family in Hays and to hold public meetings in the 69 counties that make up the Big 1st District.
Dealership owner Tim North chided Moran about rumors that he put about 450,000 miles on his car each year.
“I hate for a car dealer to know that,” Moran said, acknowledging that keeping in touch with constituents does make a car’s odometer spin.
He said that he and his wife decided when he was first elected that they wanted to rear their children, then 6 and 8, in a small Kansas community and not live among the politics of Washington.
“Washington, D.C., has the ability to change people in ways they don’t want to be changed,” he noted. “I never come home to you to tell you how Washington, D.C., works and the good things we’re doing there. It’s pretty rare.
“I think there is way too much politics, too much partisanship in the Capitol. I went there to be on the Kansas team, or the American team. ‘
Moran was frustrated when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, had the lights and television cameras shut down and recessed Congress without producing an energy plan.
“Many Americans can’t afford to take a vacation; Congress is taking a vacation,” he said.
He believed the House had been nearing agreement on an energy bill, but “because we took a recess, it’s less likely to happen.”
Moran said he supports opportunities to drill offshore as well as inland to help balance the supply-and-demand economics that have come into play with the continuing spikes in oil and other energy prices.
Simultaneously, he said, it is time for Congress to promote alternative energy sources, such as biodiesel plants similar to the now-stalled construction of a biodiesel plant southeast of Emporia.
“It’s wind, and it’s solar,” he said. “It’s the whole array of things.”
Nuclear energy has become “so expensive that no power company can afford it,” he said, though wind energy has been a good alternative in some parts of Kansas.
“Out west, almost without exception, we’re very pleased,” Moran said.
In addition to energy, preserving small-town life, agriculture and changing health care are priorities for Moran.
“In a lot of my little towns, that’s a greater challenge than it is in Emporia,” he said, mentioning the Flint Hills Community Health Center as an example of a provider that is working efficiently and economically for citizens in this area. Here, people who need medical care can go to the center instead of to a hospital emergency room.
“That kind of program has a role to play,” Moran said. “We think about saving lives, but it also saves money.”
He wants health care records to be portable, and illustrated his reasons with a personal anecdote. Moran was treated three times, at three different locations, while the same tests were run and re-run at each site.
“If I could have taken my records with me, I could have cut costs by a third,” he said. Physicians may feel pressured to repeat tests or order unnecessary tests because of the threat of malpractice suits, he explained.
Moran also said he wants smaller companies to be able to unite as a group, across state borders, to help bring down the cost of health insurance for consumers. Encouraging citizens to practice good health habits — allowing tax credit for health-club memberships, for example — could be even more helpful in reducing costs.
He said he does not favor forcing citizens into leading healthier lives. “I don’t want government to pass a law that says ‘You have to walk five miles a day,’” he said.
A member of the audience asked Moran if he believed the Social Security system would survive, and Moran responded that he did, at least for people who are about 55 now. Despite the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement age, and the number of people paying into Social Security dwindling, he expects continued lobbying pressure will ensure that funds for the upcoming retirees are available. That may not be true for 30-year-olds of today.
“It’s not that your voice isn’t heard, it’s just that there’s a lot more voices on the side of the seniors,” he said.
He was disappointed when President Bush did not follow through after introducing a proposal to allow individuals to guide investment on some of their Social Security funds. The proposal was “very controversial,” he said, and was pushed to the back burner as energy concerns came to the front.
“The president kind of threw that out there, and the president never pursued it,” Moran said.
The Congressman reiterated his dissatisfaction with the No Child Left Behind act, which he voted against and continues to oppose. “In many ways, I regret what the president and Congress have done to education,” Moran said, adding that Kansas had outcomes-based tests in place long before the federal government intruded.
“Our kids learn when they’re in a class with teachers who want to teach,” he said, talking about the number of days children are removed from classrooms to take the tests.
“In many ways, I think the federal government creates more problems than it solves.”
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)