Medical Research News
There are no records to display that match the provided criteria.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Health Subcommittee, today released the following statement regarding the first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States:
“This is a serious development and reiterates the need for us to heighten coordination and vigilance to address this health crisis. While Ebola is not easily transmitted, it is important that we fully utilize our public health infrastructure to detect possible infections, as well as safely screen, isolate and treat any patients who may need care. I will continue to be in touch with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Director, Dr. Tom Frieden, to monitor the national and international responses to this outbreak.”
On Sept. 16, 2014, CNN published an op-ed written Sen. Moran about the importance of the U.S. involvement in the Ebola response.
###
KU Professor to Moderate U.S. Senate Economic Mobility Caucus Event
Panel Discussion on Student Loans and Financial Security
Oct 01 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), cofounder of the Senate Economic Mobility Caucus, issued the following statement regarding today’s panel discussion on Capitol Hill about the relationship between student debt and financial security moderated by University of Kansas (KU) Professor Melinda Lewis:
“Our country has historically been a place where, regardless of one’s background, anyone can achieve success through hard work. The ability to move up the economic ladder helps create a dynamic society where individuals are free to reach their full potential. The Economic Mobility Caucus was created to provide Members of Congress with a forum to discuss the policies Washington needs to pursue to make certain all Americans, today and in the future, have the opportunity to dream big and pursue those dreams. This event will serve as a valuable opportunity to exchange and assess ideas about financing the costs higher education, student loans and financial security.”
The panel is hosted by The Pew Charitable Trusts in partnership with the Senate Economic Mobility Caucus. Panelists include Brookings Institution’s Beth Akers, Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Meta Brown, Urban Institute’s Sandy Baum, and American Enterprise Institute’s Andrew Kelly. They will provide an overview of the current state of student loan-related research and policy, discuss available data, and analyze the impact of student loans on family balance sheets. Panelists will also consider different paths forward for researchers, policymakers, and the media.
The event takes place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014 from 9:30-11 a.m. ET in Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room G11.
The Senate Economic Mobility Caucus was created in 2012 and exists to provide a fact-based framework and serve as a clearinghouse for ideas and information with which to assess government policies and identify areas of agreement among the Members of Congress. Sen. Moran serves as co-chairman of the caucus along with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The Assets and Education Initiative (AEDI) is an office at the University of Kansas’s School of Social Welfare. AEDI’s mission is to create and study innovations related to assets and economic well-being, with a focus on the relationship between children’s savings and the educational outcomes of low-income and minority children as a way to achieve the American dream.
###
Sens. Inhofe and Moran Voice Frustration on First Anniversary of Sec. Kerry Signing U.N. Arms Trade Treaty
Sep 25 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the first anniversary of Secretary of State John Kerry’s signature of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), U.S. Senators Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) again expressed frustration with the administration’s decision to sign U.N. ATT. Additionally, they are concerned with how the U.N. is handling the treaty’s implementation.
“It is deeply disturbing that the Government of Mexico, of all the nations in the U.N., has been selected to take the lead,” the senators said in a letter. “Our concern is increased by the fact that the Mexican Government is working closely, and behind closed doors, with advocacy organizations that share its desire to expand the treaty’s scope…If the Arms Trade Treaty were amended as Mexico desires, our worst fears about the Treaty’s impact on our Second Amendment rights would be realized.”
To read Sen. Inhofe’s op-ed on this topic, click here.
Click here to view the letter to the president, or find the full text below:
September 25, 2014
President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
On the first anniversary of Secretary of State John Kerry’s signature of the Arms Trade Treaty, we write to express our concern and regret at the closed nature of the preparatory process for the First Conference of States Parties (CSP) to this treaty, and to register our conviction that the events of the past year offer further evidence that it is not in the national interest of the United States for the Senate to give its advice and consent to this treaty.
As you know, the treaty requires fifty national ratifications to come into force for those nations that have ratified it. To date, it has received forty-five. The initial Informal Consultations on the First CSP were held in Mexico on September 8-9, 2014.
Our offices have learned that the Government of Mexico asked Control Arms, an advocacy organization that has led the campaign for the treaty, to be the focal point for civil society participation in these consultations, and that Control Arms only allowed organizations that support and promote the treaty to participate in them.
As we and forty-eight colleagues notified you in our letter to you of October 15, 2013, the Arms Trade Treaty is unacceptable in part because it includes a national “responsibility” to “prevent . . . [the] diversion” of firearms, which could be used to justify the imposition of controls within the U.S. that would pose a threat to rights protected by the Second Amendment.
This letter, with our budget amendment 139 which was supported by fifty-one of his colleagues on March 23, 2013, makes it clear that the Arms Trade Treaty does not command the 67 votes necessary to receive the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, without which it cannot be ratified or implemented.
The Government of Mexico has long urged that the Arms Trade Treaty should include in its scope the transfer of firearms inside the United States if such transfers could affect other nations, including Mexico. If the Arms Trade Treaty were amended as Mexico desires, our worst fears about the Treaty’s impact on our Second Amendment rights would be realized.
It is deeply disturbing that the Government of Mexico, of all the nations in the U.N., has been selected to take the lead in preparing for the CSP, which will ultimately be responsible for amending the Arms Trade Treaty. Our concern is increased by the fact that the Mexican Government is working closely, and behind closed doors, with advocacy organizations that share its desire to expand the treaty’s scope.
Your administration has emphasized the importance you attach to ensuring that the treaty remains within the United Nations and is not – unlike other treaties on conventional arms – taken outside the U.N. and controlled by advocacy organizations. The manner in which the Informal Consultations were conducted is a violation of one of the objectives your administration set out when it decided in 2009 to support the treaty negotiations.
We are particularly concerned that the precedent set by the first Informal Consultations will be repeated in future Informal Consultations, and that the First CSP itself will be open only to advocacy organizations that actively campaign for the treaty. This would exclude many U.S. and international civil society organizations – including the World Forum on Shooting Activities, the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute, the Defense Small Arms Advisory Council, and The Heritage Foundation – that have so far participated in the ATT process.
As you know, civil society organizations, once properly accredited, participate in U.N. activities on the basis that they do not speak for national governments. Rather, they reflect a range of views on the subject under discussion, and serve as a channel both for the expression of those views in the U.N., and for conveying their views on activities at the U.N. to the peoples of the United States and other nations. That is why we value their participation in the ATT process, even as we continue to oppose U.S. ratification of the treaty.
In the words of your own “Stand with Civil Society” agenda, which you launched in 2013 at the U.N., it is important for democracies to “defend and sustain the work of civil society amid a rising tide of restrictions on its work,” and to “roll back restrictions being imposed on civil society.” The example of the Informal Consultations shows that those restrictions do not come only from autocracies. They are being imposed at the U.N. itself, in the name of insulating the U.N., the Arms Trade Treaty, and its advocates from external scrutiny.
This fact is all the more disturbing because, in the past year, the aims of the treaty’s advocates have become obvious. In August, these advocates launched a campaign advocating the suspension of arms transfers from the U.S. and the U.K. to Israel as it sought to defend itself from Hamas’s missile attacks. The advocates failed to emphasize Iran’s role in arming Hamas, even though the U.N. itself has attested to Iran’s responsibility.
It has therefore become even clearer that, as we warned you in our letter of last October, one of the goals of the advocacy organizations is to hinder the United States from fulfilling its strategic, legal, and moral commitment to provide arms to key allies such as the State of Israel. It is these organizations that have been given the responsibility of serving as doorkeeper to the treaty process by the Government of Mexico.
We urge you to protest the manner in which the Informal Consultations for the First CSP for the Arms Trade Treaty were conducted, and to insist that all future meetings related to the treaty that are open to any civil society organizations be open to all such organizations. We reiterate our pledge to lead our colleagues in opposing the ratification of this treaty.
We appreciate your consideration on this issue and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Senator James Inhofe
Senator Jerry Moran
Sen. Moran and American Legion Call on VA to Remove Employees Responsible for Misconduct
Sep 24 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has sent a letter to Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Secretary Bob McDonald calling for immediate action to remove the VA employees who were found to have abused their positions, mistreated their coworkers, and disrespected veterans and their families. With the passage of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act this summer, Congress empowered the VA Secretary with the ability to more readily terminate employees for poor performance and misconduct – yet no action has been taken.
“There has been no shortage on news stories and investigations exposing employees – particularly managers – at the VA who engages in objectionable and outrageous behaviors that must never be tolerated for anyone in public service,” Sen. Moran wrote in a letter to Secretary McDonald along with nine of his Senate colleagues. “…Yet, more than a month since the President signed the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act into law on August 7, the Department has yet to use its authority to fire senior officials and administrators for poor performance and unethical conduct… Americans expect and deserve immediate action from the VA to demonstrate the culture and expectations at the Department are changing.”
Click here to read Sen. Moran’s entire latter to VA Sec. McDonald calling for the removal of those who endangered the health and lives of veterans.
A call for accountability at the VA also came this week from the National Commander of the American Legion Michael D. Helm, of Norcatur, Kansas, in a separate letter to President Obama on Sept. 18, 2014, which called for corrupt managers within the agency to be “fired immediately.”
“The only way those culpable will get their just desserts, and credibility will be restored to the thousands of VA employees who really deserve it, is for you to demand that those who caused this scandal, and those who oversaw it and did nothing, be fired and removed from government,” said National Commander Helm said in a letter sent to President Obama. “Let me assure you that if someone on my staff were found to be cooking the books, committing fraud or putting career ambitions ahead of veterans’ lives, they wouldn’t be transferred or suspended with pay. They would be fired immediately. Our VA employees should be held to the same standard.”
Click here to read the full letter from the American Legion National Commander to President Obama.
Sen. Moran has been a member of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees for 18 years, chaired the Health Subcommittee in the House for two years, and has worked with nine VA Secretaries. Sen. Moran was the first Senator to call for Secretary Shinseki to resign amidst ongoing systemic dysfunction within the VA system.
Newly-elected National Commander Helm is a U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran was elected to represent the legion as national commander on August 28, 2014. Commander Helm is touring American Legion posts throughout Kansas and across the nation. He recently completes more than 15 visits in Kansas and visited with veterans about issues ranging from VA health care to national security.
###
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today issued the following statement regarding the U.S. response to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS):
“I believe ISIS is a real threat to the safety and security of Americans, and the U.S. response and policy toward ISIS deserves more than a few sentences in a $1 trillion stopgap spending bill passed moments before adjournment for the mid-term elections. The Administration has portrayed that we are taking action to reduce the viability of ISIS, while it is more likely we are arming and training rebels that will ultimately use the weapons against our allies. There must be a discussion about the safeguards needed to ensure we aren’t arming the next Taliban or Al Qaeda 10 years down the road. These weapons could also quickly fall into the arms of ISIS – one must only look to the terrorists’ success overrunning Iraqi troops to gauge the likelihood of these weapons being used against us.
“While I believe forceful and effective action must be taken to successfully confront ISIS, our course of action deserves a full and open debate by Congress for the benefit of the American people. Too many Presidents have begun a battle trying to convince Americans that not much will be required for victory – in this case, by arming rebels in Syria – and that we can have success without sacrifice. The fight against ISIS must be well planned and thought out in order to earn the support of the American people.”
###
Senate Passes Sens. Moran and Heitkamp Bill to End IRS' Unfair Treatment of Indian Tribes
Sep 19 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs, to end the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) practice of taxing crucial programs and services that aim to support the health and safety of Native families. The Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week and next heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
“Tribes are sovereign governments that often provide services to their citizens,” Sen. Moran said. “I am pleased Congress has come together to make certain tribal citizens are not unfairly taxed while respecting tribal sovereignty. By clarifying the definition of general welfare programs, this legislation will enhance economic development and the quality of life in Indian Country.”
“As a former attorney general and as a lawyer, I view these Native American treaty rights and trust responsibilities as a contract between the U.S. and our American Indian tribes. Yet for far too long, that contract has been broken. Our legislation takes an important step to repair it,” said Sen. Heitkamp. “This week, the Senate and House took a huge step forward and came together to pass our bipartisan bill which levels the playing field for Native families. It will enable tribal governments to decide which programs best help their communities thrive, just as local and state governments do. For too long, that hasn’t been the case. I’ve heard stories of the IRS questioning a tribal government’s ability to provide school supplies to elementary school children, or levying a tax on a ramp erected for a tribal elder to access her home. This law shows that we respect tribal sovereignty by making sure tribal citizens get the rights they deserve.”
The Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act will fully recognize that Indian tribes – as sovereign nations – are responsible for making certain their government programs and services best fit the needs of their citizens, just as other local governments across the country do. For years, Indian tribes have been taxed for providing health care, education, housing, or legal aid to those in need. Local and state governments throughout the United States frequently offer such services to those who need assistance, but the people receiving help are not taxed by the IRS.
Once signed into law, the Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act will:
- • Mandate tribal government programs, services and benefits authorized or administered by tribes for tribal citizens, spouses and dependents are excluded from income as a “general welfare exclusion”;
- • Clarify that items of cultural significance (e.g., paying someone to lead sacred Indian ceremonies) or cash honoraria provided by tribal governments shall not represent compensation for services and shall be excluded from taxable income;
- • Direct the Secretary of Treasury to require education and training of IRS field agents on federal Indian law and the unique legal treaty and trust relationship between the government and tribes;
- • Establish a Tribal Advisory Committee within the Treasury to advise the Secretary on matters of Indian tax policy;
- • Temporarily suspend all audits and examinations of tribal governments and members until the education and training measures are completed;
- • Authorize the Secretary to waive any penalties or interest imposed on Indian tribal governments or members; and
- • Direct the Secretary that any ambiguities in applying this Act shall be resolved in favor of tribal governments and deference shall be given to tribal governments for the programs administered and authorized by the tribe to benefit the general welfare.
The House of Representatives passed the legislation by voice vote on Sept. 16, 2014.
The Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act is supported by 20 tribal organizations including: United South and Eastern Tribes; CATG Board of Directors; National Indian Education Association; Native American Finance Officers Association; Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes; Alaska Federation of Natives; Indian Land Tenure Foundation; National Indian Gaming Association; Great Plains Tribal Chairman Association; National Center for American Indian Enterprise; Alaska Inter-Tribal Council; Inter Tribal Council of Arizona; Americans for Indian Opportunity; National Congress of American Indians; Intertribal Agriculture Council; National Indian Health Board; Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians; Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association; Self-Governance Communication & Education Tribal Consortium; United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, Kansas & Texas; Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council; and United Tribes of Michigan. The bill is also supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Click here to read the full text of the Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act.
# # #
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report detailing ongoing problems with the security of the Obamacare website – HealthCare.gov. More than a year since its launch, GAO raises concerns that HealthCare.gov users continue to face a serious risk of having their personal information – including Social Security numbers, income and employment records, and tax returns stored by the system – stolen by fraudsters and identity thieves. U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Health Subcommittee, shares GAO’s concerns and believes the Administration has consistently kept Congress and the public in the dark about the serious security concerns with the Obamacare website.
“This GAO report makes it clear that, more than a year later, the Administration refuses to provide a true account of how the website is performing and whether it is safe for Americans to use,” Sen. Moran said. “Given the Administration’s history of misrepresentations regarding the readiness of the Obamacare exchanges, I am extremely concerned about the security of Americans’ personal information. I am a sponsor of two commonsense bills to increase transparency surrounding Obamacare’s implementation and help address the serious privacy and data security concerns associated with the law. This is not about politics, this is about personal security and privacy.”
The GAO report finds that the federal enrollment website still has not undergone rigorous end-to-end testing to check for vulnerabilities. Additionally, it accuses the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) of accepting significant security risks when it allowed the website to launch on Oct. 1, 2013. This report came on the heels of a hack of HealthCare.gov in July 2014 in which malicious software was installed within the website’s network and went undetected for more than a month.
According to GAO’s review:
“CMS has not fully addressed security and privacy management weaknesses, including having incomplete security plans and privacy documentation, conducting incomplete security tests, and not establishing an alternate processing site to avoid major service disruptions. In addition, we identified weaknesses in the technical controls protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data maintained in the [federally facilitated marketplace]. … Until these weaknesses are addressed, increased and unnecessary risks remain of unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of the information collected and maintained by HealthCare.gov and related systems or the disruption of service provided by the systems.”
In January 2014, Sen. Moran sponsored two bills to protect American individuals and families from the consequences of Obamacare’s implementation. The Exchange Information Disclosure Act (S. 1590) requires the Obama Administration to disclose detailed information about the performance of the Obamacare health insurance Exchange website, HealthCare.gov. The other bill, the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act (S. 1902), would increase the Administration’s responsibility for safeguarding personal information of Exchange users in response to growing security concerns about the website. The House of Representatives passed its own version of both bills with broad, bipartisan support, yet the Senate Majority Leader has yet to bring the bills up for a vote in the Senate.
# # #
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Sep 18 2014
Mr. President, October--next month--is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It is not expected that the Senate will be in session next month and I would like to use this opportunity to visit just a moment about domestic violence in an effort to create a greater awareness and to work to eliminate this plight among many families and many individuals across the country.
Domestic violence is an issue that impacts way too many Americans. In fact, it affects so many homes, and yet it is something that is rarely spoken about publicly. Right now, because of actions of professional athletes, domestic violence is in the news and it is on our minds. But this attention needs to continue when the sports writers quit writing and when the news reporters and camera crews quit covering and they move on to the next story.
Many Americans assume domestic violence doesn't occur in their neighborhood, it doesn't occur among their friends, but unfortunately that is not the case. Domestic violence does not discriminate by race, gender, age group, education or social status. We can't stereotype, the way we often do, about domestic violence. In fact, it is not just a problem for women; it is also a problem for children and men who are often victims.
In large communities, in small communities across the country and across, unfortunately, my state of Kansas, too many Americans, too many Kansans find themselves placed in danger by the very people who are supposed to love and care for and protect them. Each year, more than 2 million women are victims of domestic violence across the country. In Kansas alone, it is estimated that 1 in 10 adult women will suffer from domestic abuse this year. These are damning statistics that make clear, whether we realize it, someone we know is enduring physical and psychological abuse today, tomorrow, this week. We have a responsibility to help the hopeless--those who are often too afraid to speak out for themselves. I rise tonight to try to give voice to those who are victims and to acknowledge professionals and volunteers who provide care and the services those victims need.
On a single day last year, shelters and organizations in Kansas served more than 720 victims, and similar organizations around the country served more than 66,000 victims each day.
I visited one of those organizations last year, the Kansas SAFEHOME. It is a tremendous organization that serves the greater Kansas City area. SAFEHOME provides more than just a shelter for those needing a place to live or to escape from abuse. They provide no-cost advocacy, counseling, an in-house attorney, and assistance in finding employment. The agency also provides education in the community to prevent abuse.
Each year SAFEHOME helps thousands of women and children reestablish their lives without violence. The employees and volunteers there are making huge differences in the lives of many. I have often said on the Senate floor that what happens in Washington, DC, matters, but I know we change the world one person, one soul at a time, and in this setting and in settings similar to it across Kansas and around the country, lives are being changed and improved.
Despite the important and the honorable and noble work that organizations such as SAFEHOME are performing, they are often faced with uncertainty regarding the Federal support they will receive. The good news is that last year Congress was able to move past politics and pass legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
I sponsored and voted for that legislation and in my view it provides crucial, critical resources for victims of domestic violence and empowers our justice system to act on their behalf. Just as crucial, it works to prevent abuse from occurring in the first place.
This legislation is having a real impact on the lives of Kansans because survivors now have access, for example, to legal services, through the Legal Assistance to Victims grant project, established in 2012 by the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.
One survivor expressed how grateful she was for the program because, as she said, ``I didn't know what I would have done without it.'' Without the assistance of this program, she may have had to go to court without legal representation, knowing that her perpetrator already had an attorney representing him. With that legal representation, her perpetrator was held accountable for his actions.
Throughout our country, more than one in three women still suffer from abuse during their lifetime, and domestic violence brings fear and hopelessness and depression into the lives of every victim. We should work not only to end this violent crime, but we must also care for those who are victims. By volunteering at a local shelter, speaking out when we become aware of domestic violence or making a donation to an organization that helps in those circumstances, every citizen--as I said, we could change the world one person at a time, and every citizen can find a way to get involved and make a difference.
Now and throughout the year--not just now, not just next month, October is Domestic Violence Month--let us be mindful of the victims of domestic violence and each of us do our part to break the cycle and bring hope to those who suffer and are in despair. Let us also use the conversations taking place now in the print in the papers and on the view of the television as an opportunity to speak out against any and all types of domestic abuse. Let's raise the awareness of this silent and devastating crime and bring about an end to all domestic violence.
Sen. Moran Emphasizes Importance of Community Banks, Credit Unions at Senate Banking Hearing
"Relationship banking is a significant component of whether or not many of the communities I represent have a future."
Sep 17 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, emphasized the importance of reducing the regulatory burden facing community banks and credit unions yesterday during a Senate Banking Hearing entitled, “Examining The State Of Small Depository Institutions.”
According to annual report compiled by the Community Bankers Association of Kansas, there were 290 banks in the state of Kansas at the end of 2013, 300 institutions at the end of 2012, and 318 the year before that. Since December of 2007, Kansas has lost 67 banks.
Sen. Moran has a number of bipartisan bills capable of passing this Senate to reduce the regulatory burden facing smaller lenders including the Privacy Notice Modernization Act of 2013, S. 635; the CLEAR Relief Act, S. 1349; and the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act, S. 727.
Sen. Moran: (0:14) “Our states, Mr. Chairman, are very similar. And community banks and credit unions are very important to the local fabric and the vitality of the towns that comprise our states.
(1:05) “I hope that the result of today's hearing is that you will take back with you a recommitment toward finding a way to relieve the burden of those community financial institutions. And while it is useful, I suppose, for you to express to us your desire, your sympathy, your care, your agreement with our position, I hope that today's hearing results in action taken by the agencies to actually make a difference in how you conduct the exams, reviews, and what rules and regulations you place upon those community institutions.
(1:42) “In my view, the burden also lies with Congress. My colleagues have outlined a series of pieces of legislation that have been introduced. But the reality is none of them have been passed. And so while I may sound critical of the regulators, I'm also critical of the United States Senate where I serve.
(2:23) “A primary motivation for me to serve in Congress has been a belief in the value of rural America. Relationship banking is a significant component of whether or not many of the communities I represent have a future. It is only that community financial institution that's going to make a decision about loaning to a grocery store in town. It's only that entity that's going to decide that that farmer is worthy of one more year of credit.
(2:50) “And so as we develop policies in Washington, D.C., that make everything so uniform – a cookie-cutter approach to lending – it means that many of my constituents in the communities they live in will have a much less bright future, and a significant reduction in the opportunity to pursue their farming and business careers and occupations.”
