WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies – today issued the following statement regarding his vote in favor of the FY2018 omnibus funding bill: 

“I have repeatedly said passing short-term funding bills is no way to do business and ignores our responsibility as a Congress to prioritize and spend responsibly. Most importantly, the appropriations process gives us the opportunity to rein in agencies, departments and bureaucrats by providing them specific direction regarding how money can be spent. Today’s omnibus bill is a step toward moving through the regular order appropriations process and includes a number of priorities I have worked toward through my Military Construction and Veterans Affairs subcommittee chairmanship. This bill also includes a well-deserved pay raise for our servicemembers, a $3 billion increase in NIH funding, legislation and funding to curb school violence, a bill to reform the Federal Communications Commission and support rural broadband expansion, funding for the KC-46A tankers coming to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, and a fix to section 199A for our farmers – all provisions I’ve vocally advocated for throughout this process.”

The FY2018 omnibus package includes the following Moran priorities:

• A bipartisan FCC reauthorization that supports rural broadband expansion and dedicates federal support to those impacted by the FCC’s recent spectrum “repack”;
• A fix for Section 199A of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that restores the competitive balance in the agricultural marketplace by leveling the tax burden on independent and cooperative farming businesses;
• Language to delay the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate impacting livestock haulers through the end of September;
• The bipartisan Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018, which authorizes investments in school security improvements, along with early intervention and prevention programs to deter school violence before it happens;
• Appropriations for military construction and the VA to invest in the livelihood and well-being of our military members, their families and our nation’s veterans, to include $17.5 million for a Combat Arms Facility on McConnell AFB and $19 million for Enlisted Barracks on Ft. Leavenworth;
• A $3 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will go toward medical research into diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and diabetes and enable NIH to continue supporting more than 3,000 universities, medical schools and research facilities – such as KU – across the country;
• Additional funding toward the future of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) at K-State, ensuring completion of construction under DHS control and supporting a smooth transition with the potential transfer of NBAF from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the U.S. Department of Agriculture;
• Funding for Sen. Moran’s bipartisan MGT Act to eliminate waste in the federal government and bring our government IT systems into the 21st century;
• A 2.4 percent pay raise for our troops, the largest since 2010, and funding for defense priorities such as $2.9 billion for 18 KC-46A tankers.

# # #