VA health care discussed at town hall meeting with Sen. Moran

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) addressed veterans’ access to health care, shared his view on the federal government’s role in education and expressed his frustration with the lack of cooperation among members of Congress during a town hall meeting here Monday morning.

Sen. Moran spoke with 25 local residents during the “listening tour” stop that was held at the Jackson County Courthouse.

Moran was elected to the Senate in 2010 and is currently assigned to the Appropriations Committee, Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Indian Affairs Committee.

Moran first addressed a new law that allows flexibility for veterans who need to receive health care. The “Choice Act” states that if a veteran lives more than 40 miles from a VA facility or if it takes the VA more than 30 days to provide services to a veteran, the VA is required, by law, to allow veterans, if they want, to receive that service from their hometown hospital and provider, Moran said. 

“It’s my view that the VA is failing veterans,” Moran said. “We have too many veterans that are falling through the cracks, and their needs are not being met.”

Moran said that, in his opinion, he doesn’t think VA officials want the “Choice Act” to be successful. 

“I’m asking you - or if you know a veteran - to use this service,” Moran said. “So we don’t give the VA the opportunity to come back to Congress and say no one is using the program and to do away with it.”

Veterans who take advantage of the “Choice Act” and are seeking services locally are boosting the economy, Moran said. 

“The more dollars we send out of our community the less likely we’re going to have the infrastructure that benefits all of us that access health care at home,” he said. “We want to support our hometown facilities and keep our local hospitals open.”

Moran also addressed concerns and questions from the public, including bringing local control back to school districts.

“I’m opposed to ever increasing the role of federal government in education,” Moran said. “Education is so important that we do not want decisions being made in Washington D.C. about quality of education and funding.”

Moran voted against No Child Left Behind.

“I think it’s a terrible intrusion by the federal government into these issues,” he said. “I’m a product of public education, but with more government involvement, you begin discouraging good teachers from wanting to teach because it becomes a bureaucracy.”

Moran also spoke out against President Obama’s nuclear executive agreement with Iran, as well as his action to pay $1.7 million to Iran for a settlement. 

“The agreement between Iran and the United States is one of the worst developments in my time in Congress,” Moran said. “It’s one of the worst things that could have happened to our national security.”

Moran said he is frustrated that Democratic leaders will not oppose any of President Obama’s decisions.

“The nature of politics is changed, and it’s much more common that Democrats only support a Democratic President and Republicans only support a Republican President, and we never figure out what’s good for our country,” Moran said. “I hope that when there’s a Republican president, that there are Republican senators who say ‘Mr. President, you are wrong,’ just as there should be Democratic senators who say, ‘Mr. President, you are wrong.’ I don’t oppose the agreement because President Obama negotiated it or because he’s a Democrat. I oppose the agreement because it’s bad policy.”

Moran said that Congress has “failed to do its job” over the last several years and that he’s trying to get his colleagues to “fight back.”

“I have no interest in being in Washington D.C. if I don’t have the sense that I am able to accomplish something once in a while on behalf of you,” he said. “I’ve lost so much interest in politics over the years because it’s become a game.”  

Moran said the country doesn’t have the option to “give up” when nothing seems to be getting accomplished.

“My parents’ generation never gave up, and they gave us a better country than what my generation is doing for the next,” he said. “We better not give up on this or it will be worse. We don’t have the option to say we don’t care.”

Moran’s office in Washington D.C. can be reached at (202) 224-6524. He also has offices in Hays, Manhattan, Olathe, Pittsburg and Wichita. His website is www.moran.senate.gov