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U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies – convened his subcommittee to hear from U.S. Attorney General William Barr on the Department of Justice’s FY2020 appropriations request on Wednesday, April 10, 2019.
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies – questioned U.S. Attorney General William Barr on the potential surveillance of presidential campaigns in during the 2016 presidential election during a subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, April 10, 2019.
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies – questioned U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Department of Justice and law enforcement priorities during a subcommittee hearing on the Department’s FY2020 appropriations request on Wednesday, April 10, 2019.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies – today delivered his opening statement before questioning Attorney General William Barr during his subcommittee’s hearing on the Department of Justice’s FY2020 appropriations request.

“With funding jurisdiction over the Department of Justice, my subcommittee heard directly from Attorney General William Barr on DOJ funding priorities,” said Sen. Moran. “The 112,000 men and women at this agency work tirelessly to protect Americans and uphold the rule of law. As Chairman of this Subcommittee, I’ll make certain DOJ has the resources it needs to strengthen our national security, combat violent and cybercrime, curb drug trafficking and end the opioid epidemic that has devastated areas of our state and nation.”

“When I hosted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Kansas in 2018, we joined local and federal law enforcement to discuss rising crime rates across the country,” continued Sen. Moran. “I’ll continue to work closely with Attorney General Barr, the Department of Justice and agencies across the federal government to provide the necessary infrastructure and support so law enforcement are equipped to slow these trends and keep Kansas communities safe.” 

Click Here to Watch Sen. Moran’s Opening Statement

Remarks as prepared for delivery:

“Good morning, I call this hearing to order. Attorney General Barr, welcome to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to examine the Department of Justice’s Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request. I am also pleased to welcome Mr. Lee Loftus, the Chief Financial Officer of the Department.

“I’d like to begin by thanking the 112,000 men and women that work for the Department of Justice. The work they do is vital to protecting Americans and upholding the rule of law.

“I’d especially like to thank the men and women of the Department of Justice for persevering during the recent government shutdown. I am sorry for the stress I know your employees faced, and it is my hope that we are able to avoid future shutdowns by enacting timely appropriations bills.

“In order to accomplish this, and write the FY20 CJS appropriations bill, this Committee needs to understand the Department’s resource needs.

“The President’s FY20 Budget Request proposes over $30 billion for the Department of Justice. Because you indicated yesterday you will report to Congress on the Mueller investigation next week, it is my hope that the Budget Request will be the main focus of our hearing today.

“But I would ask that in our hearing today, you clarify one issue relating to the Mueller Report from your testimony yesterday.

“When we met before your confirmation I told you I’d like to see the Mueller Report released to the public as expeditiously as possible, and to the fullest extent possible as allowed by law.

“Will you, as I hope, release a redacted version of the actual report Special Council Mueller submitted to you, or did you intend to indicate you will only provide a report of your own on the findings derived from the Mueller Report?

“Now, in regard to the President’s FY20 Budget Request. The Department’s FY20 request is not based off of the Department’s FY19 appropriation, and therefore does not contemplate the increases provided, or the government-wide 1.9 percent pay increase included for Federal Employees.

“Because the baseline of the FY20 Request is below the Department’s current appropriation, I encourage you to take the time today to discuss any needs that may not be adequately represented in the President’s budget proposal.

“In particular, I hope you will discuss the Department’s resource needs as they relate to the First Step Act. As an original cosponsor of this legislation, I am concerned to learn that the FY20 Request only includes $14 million in additional funds for the implementation of this important piece of legislation. This figure is short of the $75 million authorized.

“I do note several program increases for the Department of Justice included in the Administration’s request this year. These increases reflect the Administration’s priorities which include strengthening our national security, combating violent crime, cybercrime, drug trafficking and the opioid epidemic.

“The Request also includes enhancements for immigration enforcement, another Administration priority, under the Executive Office of Immigration Review, or EOIR, and the Environment and Natural Resources Division. The FY20 Request seeks $670 million for immigration-related enforcement activities and border security efforts, including 100 additional Immigration Judge teams and 10 new positions in the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Land Acquisition Section. I was disappointed, however, to discover that the Request does not include technology enhancements or improvements for EOIR.

“In FY19, Congress provided $25 million for technology improvements to transform EOIR’s paper system to an electronic case management system or ECAS. ECAS, though incredibly important, was only forward looking. EOIR did not plan to include the paper files associated with the 861,513 case backlog into ECAS. To encourage this practice, our FY19 CJS Report Language directed EOIR to develop a plan for folding existing cases into ECAS.

“Today, I hope to learn more about both the status of implementing ECAS as well as the Department’s plan to incorporate the backlog into this system, and if there are additional needs associated with the full implementation of ECAS, please discuss those today.

“The Department’s FY20 Request reflects its broad and multifaceted mission of protecting and defending the laws of the United States. Members of the DOJ Law Enforcement Community, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals, and the Bureau of Prisons, put their lives on the line every day to keep our Country and Communities safe.

“The Department’s mission, and especially its law enforcement focus, is central to America’s safety and stability. It imperative that Congress ensures the Department is adequately equipped to affect its mission, and I look forward to working with you on that endeavor.

“I also look forward to learning more on the Department’s request for resources dedicated to the Law Enforcement Mental Wellness Initiative, which includes peer mentoring, mental health checks and suicide prevention.

“Several indicators show that for the third straight year, police suicides outnumbered line of duty deaths. Much like our veterans and active duty service members, law enforcement officers need access to comprehensive programs that address mental wellness – something many jurisdictions struggle to provide resources for. 

“Before I turn to Senator Shaheen, I want to thank you, Attorney General Barr, for your attention and acknowledgement of the Committee’s Questions for the Record from our FY19 Budget Hearing. As you know, the Department’s responses to these questions were 8 months late, making it impossible for this Committee to consider the Department’s responses as we crafted our FY19 CJS bill.

“I would like to note that after I brought this to your attention, we received DOJ’s responses in short order. It is my hope that under your leadership the Department’s will continue to respond expeditiously to this year’s Questions for the Record and other Committee inquiries. 

“Thank you for your important testimony today. I now turn to our Ranking Member, Senator Shaheen, for her opening statement.”

Click here to watch Sen. Moran’s full opening statement.
 

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U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs – questioned Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the United States confrontation of human rights abuses, rising global conflicts and State Department resource needs for FY2020 during a subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, April 9, 2019.
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies – today questioned Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar regarding policy changes from the Organ Transplant and Procurement Network (OPTN) that would leave patients in the Kansas City area waiting longer for liver transplants during a subcommittee hearing on Thursday, April 4, 2019.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies – today questioned Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar regarding policy changes from the Organ Transplant and Procurement Network (OPTN) that would leave patients in the Kansas and Midwestern region waiting longer for liver transplants.

 Prior to today’s hearing, Sen. Moran has sent two letters to Secretary Azar in December 2018 and January 2019 to raise concerns over the policy change, which could see Kansas patients waiting longer for a liver match. In a joint op-ed with Senator Blunt to the Kansas City Star, Sen. Moran noted that Kansas could lose up to 45 percent of livers donated in the state.

Click Here to Watch Sen. Moran’s Full Questioning

Remarks as delivered:

Sen. Moran: “In regard to the liver allocation issue, Mr. Secretary, let me ask just a couple of questions and then express my concern and dissatisfaction. Let me first ask, if you believe that enough is being done to help individuals with end-stage liver disease who are not yet on the waitlist? So, there’s another population, those who are a waitlist waiting for a liver transplant, there are those who are not on the waitlist yet, is enough being done to advance their well-being?”

Sec. Azar (0:34): “I think the number one thing that we can all be doing is working, as the Chairman referred to it earlier, is to increase the supply of livers that we have for transplantation. So, that’s the most important thing we can do to help with advancing individuals. I hope we’re doing everything we can with regard to care for individuals suffering from liver disease awaiting transplant. If there are things that we could be doing differently please do let me know, I’d want to make sure we’re doing that.

Sen. Moran (0:59): “Would you commit the department to a full public disclosure, a transparent public debate on this allocation, organ allocation transplant process?”

Sec. Azar (1:13): “I’m happy to work with you on what that might look like. As I mentioned to the Chairman, the challenge with this OPTN organ allocation issue is that Congress deliberately took that out of my hands to make it a nonpolitical issue. And so, when we don’t like a conclusion I’m fairly restricted in what I can do. But, we certainly, I believe the OPTN process was a public process with a public record, but happy to work with you and your staff on any vehicle to ensure that.”

Sen. Moran (1:42): “Mr. Secretary, you’re moving me to my complaining aspect by your comments. Because, it was only after a lawsuit was filed, as I understand it, that this allocation process was then considered for change, and when you tell me that we constructed the ground rules for you to be removed from the process, you do appoint the HRSA director. The HRSA director is one who has written a letter to OPTN encouraging them to quickly implement the decision that they made.

“I would also tell you that from time to time in this job, people tell me something that doesn’t always turn out to be true but in our meeting Senator Blunt and I had with the HRSA Director, the request was that we make certain that our constituencies, transplant programs in our states, submit not just comments, but please bring us a proposal, because we’re so interested in listening to the proposal. Don’t just complain about the proposal that’s out there, tell us how to do it better. And, I can tell you that the end result of our programs doing that, they were not considered and in fact, the decision was made before those comments were submitted, before that proposal was submitted by our constituents. I quoted you, I wrote down what you said, and in a last minute or late, the computer program shut down because there were so many comments, the only lateness of our programs supplying their comments and proposals was because the computer was shut down because of commentary. And the decision was made before these were ever read and then they were approved with no changes thereafter. The original decision was made by the liver and intestine committee and without ever seeing the comments of our constituents.

“And then secondly, it was approved immediately with no change even though you can claim, perhaps correctly you can claim, that the comments were then read after the initial decision was made. My point is that while I’m often, perhaps I misunderstand what has been requested of me or what my instructions are of how I can be of help to my constituents, what I think we did was exactly what we were told to do, with no beneficial thing happening as a result of following those instructions. So this process has been flawed and it is a flaw that arises out of the fear of a lawsuit. And after a long period of time after a long period of time the policy in place was changed almost overnight in response to a lawsuit. And you’re right, the issue is more organ donation, and the policy that is being developed is contradictory to what you said is the goal. I’ll be back for the second round.”

Sen. Moran (4:49): “I’ll attempt to be brief Mr. Chairman thank you for your second round. Mr. Secretary, I want to highlight, you and I would agree this is a significant issue affecting liver transplants. This policy consequences and its significant. That’s true, correct?”

Sec. Azar (5:08): “Yes, the issue of liver transplants are very important to all of us, absolutely.”

Sen. Moran (5:13): “And I got involved or interested in this topic after a conversation with a liver transplant program in my state, but as a result of that activity, I’ve been amazed at the number of people, individuals in Kansas and elsewhere, who come to me to talk about the importance of this liver transplant policy. People who have had a liver transplant, people who are waiting for a liver transplant, people who want to be on a list for a liver transplant. Again, you and I would both highlight, I’ll use this as an opportunity to highlight the importance of being organ donors, we need more organs to meet the demands, but this is not just about the consequences to a particular transplant program, this issue has significant consequences, in fact life and death consequences, for people across the country. Finally, I would remind you that Senator Grassley, along with almost half the senate, sent a letter to you, which I don’t believe, at least I’ve not seen a response, and I would encourage you to respond.”

Sec. Azar (6:22): “Thank you, and I want you to know that I take that letter very seriously. It has my personal attention and that was what promoted me to actually ensure that we went to OPTN, and asked them to think again and ensure the full consideration of the comments out of Kansas and Missouri providers. That was, even in spite of the computer glitch, I understand the process here was bad. In terms of the interactions with you and on behalf of the department I apologize to you for any lack of courtesy and also just any problems in that process. My understanding is those comments, in spite of the computer glitch, were summarized to the OPTN board in their decision making. So at least it was the summaries as part of the decision making, and then presented in full to the liver committee later. I understand that is not necessarily everything you want to hear, I terms of it would have been nice if they had been presented in full before any initial presumptive decision was made. That’s why I went back and said please think again, please look at these comments, look at these concerns. Obviously, I’ve got respect for every signatory on that letter, I hope you, if you don’t have it we’ll get it to you, the letter of response that I got, and if there are avenues, further avenues, that are appropriate, legally justifiable to assure appropriate process and consideration. I’m most happy to consider them.”

Sen. Moran (7:47): “I have not been discourteously treated. But I have failed to get the results I’m looking for, even when courteously treated, it is results that I am looking for on behalf of folks who desperately need a liver transplant and other organs. Thank you.”

Click here to watch Sen. Moran’s full questioning.

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U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense – questioned military leaders on health and medical programs for servicemembers during a subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, April 3, 2019.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today released the following statement after North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s Joint Address to Congress:

“Today, the NATO alliance remains important in preserving American peace and prosperity by ensuring European security, deterring Russian aggression and participating in operations in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State. Secretary General Stoltenberg has positioned NATO to remain unified in confronting 21st century challenges, including cyber-threats, terrorism and migration. With an increased joint contribution from our allies of $100 billion in 2018 alone, it is encouraging that our allies have shown NATO is a priority as they work to meet commitments for collective defense. I will continue to work with my Senate colleagues to maintain and build America’s relationships to safeguard freedom at home and abroad.”

Items to Note:

  • Prior to the NATO Summit in Brussels last July, Sen. Moran voted in favor of a resolution expressing support for NATO.
  • Following that NATO Summit, Sen. Moran penned an op-ed in Defense One, “Russia Must Know That NATO is Unified.”
  • Sen. Moran also spoke on the Senate floor last July in support of the NATO alliance.
     

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