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Sen. Moran Honored by the American Association for Cancer Research
Receives Distinguished Public Service Award for his support of biomedical research
Sep 22 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) was presented last night with the 2011 Distinguished Public Service Award by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) – the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The AACR’s Distinguished Public Service Award honors Sen. Moran’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the nation’s biomedical research capabilities in order to prevent and cure diseases like cancer. He was the only senator to receive this award this year.
“Medical research leading to the prevention and cure of diseases like cancer plays a critical role in keeping all Americans healthy and can also lead to billions of dollars of savings in health care costs,” Sen. Moran said. “I am honored to receive this award and will continue to be a strong advocate for research focused toward the ultimate goal of eliminating cancer, and saving the lives of over half a million Americans each year.”
“We are deeply grateful for Sen. Moran’s contributions as a champion of public health and biomedical and cancer research,” said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer of the AACR. “His demonstrated support for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) will enable the future scientific advances needed to seize today’s scientific momentum, capitalize on prior investments in cancer research, save countless lives, and spur innovation and economic prosperity for our country and all our citizens.”
The mission of the AACR is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907 by 11 physicians and scientists, the AACR’s membership now includes more than 33,000 researchers in addition to health care professionals, cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. Additionally, it funds innovative, meritorious research grants.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, today introduced legislation to help ensure a vibrant future for America’s community banks. The Communities First Act, S. 1600, would provide much needed regulatory and tax relief to community banks and their customers. By stripping away outdated or unnecessary regulation, Sen. Moran’s bill would help community banks focus on what they do best: providing loans to their communities and helping to create jobs.
“With 14 million Americans looking for work, our government’s first priority should be to create an environment where businesses can grow and hire workers,” Sen. Moran said. “I continue to hear concerns from Kansas bankers who are hesitant to lend as they wait for the next burdensome regulation to come out of Washington. Until banks are willing and able to make prudent loans to hometown customers, job creation will remain stifled and our economic recovery will continue to lag.”
Community banks play a critical role in our nation’s economic recovery, serving rural, small town and suburban customers alike. Unfortunately, the regulatory, tax and paperwork requirements stemming from the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act and other legislation impose a disproportionate burden on these banks because they do not have the resources of larger financial institutions and the ability to effectively manage their legal and compliance costs. The expense of over-regulation diminishes the ability of community banks to attract capital and support the credit needs of their customers and local businesses.
“While community banks like mine continue to lend to small businesses, which employ thousands of local residents, we are being unduly burdened by harsh regulations that stifle economic growth,” said Roger Brown, president of Citizens State Bank in Cheney, Kansas, and chairman of the Community Bankers Association of Kansas. “I thank Sen. Moran for his leadership in introducing this vital legislation. The Communities First Act will allow community banks in Kansas and across the country to continue to lend to small businesses, which will help create jobs and bolster the economic recovery.”
The Communities First Act includes 25 provisions, including provisions that would:
- Bring accountability to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau;
- Enhance rural lending programs in communities with a population of 2,500 or less. The bill would exclude any income earned on agricultural real estate loans and mortgage loans from the taxable income of community financial institutions in small communities;
- Extend the 5-year net operating loss (NOL) carry-back provision through 2011 for community banks with $15 billion or less in assets. This will help community banks redirect their capital back into their communities; and
- Exempt financial institutions with assets of less than $1 billion from certain requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley.
Sen. Moran is a member of Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection. He is committed to shedding light on the challenges facing community banks in the current regulatory environment, and providing these financial institutions with relief. Cosponsors of the bill include U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and John Barrasso (R-Wy.). The House companion bill to the Communities First Act, H.R. 1697, has been introduced by U.S. Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.).
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Trading places? Republican Senators battle Democrats’ NIH cut
The US Senate Appropriations Committee tonight approved a 2012 spending bill that cuts 0.6% from the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — and offers a starting point for negotiations with the Republican-led House of Representatives in the coming weeks. Significantly, the bill, which cuts the NIH budget by US$190 million to $30.5 billion, also includes money for a proposed translational medicine center whose establishment has become a key priority of NIHdirector Francis Collins.
But in an uncharacteristic turn, Democrats on the committee defeated, in a party-line vote, an amendment by freshman Republican senator Jerry Moran of Kansas (pictured), that would have restored the $190 million to the biomedical agency by implementing an across-the-board cut to all other programs in the massive bill, which funds the Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services and related agencies.
Moran, who in his short time on Capitol Hill has become an outspoken booster of NIH, proposed the amendment, he said, because he wanted “to send a clear signal …that this Congress is not going to do anything but support and continue to support medical research.”
Richard Shelby (Republican, Alabama) a senior committee Republican, applauded the amendment before the vote: “NIH has been caught in the budget crossfire,” he complained. “The 190-million reduction was not based on committee concerns or [agency] performance.”
Every one of the 14 Republicans on the committee voted for the amendment, but every one of the committee’s 16 Democrats opposed it.
Just before the vote, Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat, Iowa), who chairs the subcommittee that drafted the bill and is also an ardent NIH supporter, was put in the uncomfortable position of arguing against protecting the agency.
“It sounds easy to do an across-the-board cut,” he told Moran. “But you take something like special education. This across-the-board cut would be a $200,000 cut to special education in the state of Kansas. That’s pretty tough." He added that "nationally, Head Start would be cut by 3,800 children”.
Harkin also said: "Cutting NIH is not a choice I wanted to make. [But] a [.6% ] cut to NIH is just something that I think that they can live with.”
“We’re grateful that the cut for NIH wasn’t worse,” said Jennifer Zeitzer, director of legislative relations at theFederation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in Bethesda, Maryland. Still, while her group appreciates the fiscal constraints the government is operating under, she says, “The bottom line is that we’re just really going in the wrong direction when it comes to funding medical research in this country.”
Nonetheless, in a sign of support that was encouraging to NIH leaders, Harkin also singled out several programs in his opening remarks. One was “the creation of a new center at NIH: the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), which will be dedicated to translating basic biomedical research more rapidly into cures.”
The bill also makes explicit that the NIH’s National Center for Research Resources will be dismantled as part of the reorganization creating the new translational medicine center.
While most of the center’s proposed $723 million budget comes from pre-existing programmes being moved from other parts of NIH, the bill includes $20 million in new money for NCATS. That money is being appropriated through the Cures Acceleration Network (CAN), an embryonic, NIH-based effort to speed languishing potential drugs through early development. It was authorized in the health reform law of 2010, but has never been funded. While President Barack Obama has requested $100 million for CAN in 2012, the fact that the Senate has appropriated any money at all is “significant,” says David Moore, the Senior Director for Governmental Relations at the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington. He notes that CAN “is one of the linchpins of the NCATS proposal.”
The Senate committee’s public signal of support for NCATS may be important as House and Senate negotiators hammer out a final 2012 spending bill in the coming weeks. (The corresponding House subcommittee has not passed an equivalent bill to that passed in the Senate this week.) Harkin’s House counterpart, Rep. Denny Rehberg (Republican, Montana), in June publicly opposed NIH’s push to quickly establish the new center and to dismantle the National Center for Research Resources as part of the effort.
In the meantime, a stopgap “continuing resolution” is expected to be passed by both chambers before next week, when legislators recess for the Jewish high holy days. That would allow the government to continue functioning after the 2011 fiscal year ends on September 30.
However, the Republicans who control the House were defeated today on their first attempt to pass thiscontinuing resolution, which was introduced in the House last week and funds the government at 1.5% below 2011 levels through November 18. (It went down over an argument about whether emergency disaster assistance in the bill should be offset by spending cuts.)
The defeated stopgap measure did not contain a special provision called an “anomaly,” funding the NCATS, which Collins had sought in an effort to get the center up and running on October 1. Nor is it likely that whatever stopgap bill is eventually passed will do so.
Separately today, a panel of advisers to Collins with extensive pharmaceutical and venture capital industry experience issued a report calling the NCATS proposal “timely, important, and highly relevant to today’s challenges.”
Whether that kind of high-powered opinion will prevail with lawmakers remains to be seen. It was only last February that Obama asked Congress to grant NIH a $1 billion increase in 2012. It is a sign of the times that, seven months later, that request seems wildly unrealistic.
Sen. Moran Names 2011 Service Academy Selection Board
Now Accepting Applications for Nominations to Service Academies
Sep 20 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) today announced the members of his 2011 Kansas Service Academy Selection Board. The 20-member board will review applications and interview candidates who are applying for admission to U.S. Service Academies. These include the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Those selected will enter the academies in June 2012.
“Our country is fortunate to have so many talented young men and women interested in serving our country through the Armed Forces,” Sen. Moran said. “The Selection Board will have a tough time narrowing the field of qualified candidates, but I value their insight and thank them for their service.”
Sen. Moran is now accepting applications for nominations to the United States Service Academies. The application deadline is October 1, 2011. Applicants will be required to interview with Sen. Moran’s Service Academy Selection Board on Saturday, November 19, 2011. Following interviews, the Board will make recommendations to Sen. Moran for his decision. If nominated by Sen. Moran, applicants must then meet the individual admission requirements of each academy. The academies will make the final decision on who will receive an appointment of admission in early 2012.
Interested applicants can request application materials on Sen. Moran’s website at www.moran.senate.gov under the “Services” menu, or by calling Sen. Moran’s Olathe office at 913-393-0711. Additional information is also available online at www.moran.senate.gov.
Members of the 2011 Kansas Service Academy Selection Board include:
- Rob Boyer of Lenexa; President of Shred-It, U.S. Air Force Academy graduate.
- Shirley Braxton of Salina; Community volunteer, wife of U.S. Military Academy graduate.
- Larry Britton of Wichita; Executive Director, Veterans Upward Bound program at Wichita State University, served in the U.S. Army.
- Ernie Garcia of Overland Park; Superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol, retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel, former Chief of Staff at the U.S. Selective Service System.
- Steve Harmon of Emporia; Director of the Business & Industry Training Center, Flint Hills Technical College, Kansas National Guard Member.
- Steve Hawley of Lawrence; Director of Engineering Physics program, University of Kansas, former NASA Astronaut.
- John Holt of Leawood; Anchor for Kansas City WDAF Fox 4 News, father of U.S. Military Academy cadet.
- Mike Junk of Salina; President of Crestwood Inc., U.S. Air Force Academy graduate.
- Ron Lucas of Goodland; Owner/Manager of Goodland Greenline, Inc., served in U.S. Army.
- Shand Mayville of Fort Riley; Community volunteer, wife of Major General William Mayville, Commanding General, First Infantry Division and Fort Riley; daughter, wife and mother of U.S. Military Academy graduates.
- Wendell Maddox of Kansas City; President and CEO of United Way of Wyandotte County, served in U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.
- Jill McCarthy of Overland Park; Vice President of Business Development, Kansas City Area Development Council, mother of U.S. Military Academy cadet.
- Jacque Oakes of Independence; Community volunteer, Member of Independence Community College Foundation Board of Trustees.
- John O’Leary of Wichita; Vice President of Engineering, Airbus, U.S. Naval Academy graduate.
- Chris Orwoll of Hutchinson; President and CEO of Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, U.S. Naval Academy graduate.
- Denise Ott of Leavenworth; Former Executive Director of the Junction City-Geary County Military Affairs Council, wife of U.S. Military Academy graduate.
- Hunt Parker of Wichita; Managing Director of Aero Business Group, U.S. Naval Academy graduate.
- Paula Ripple of Dodge City; Retired Dodge City High School English instructor, mother of U.S. Air Force Academy graduate.
- Cecil Webb of Olathe; Technology Project Manager for HNTB, U.S. Military Academy graduate.
- Ron Whitney of Emporia; Member of Emporia American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, served in U.S. Army.
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Sen. Moran Statement on Obama Deficit Plan
Sep 19 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) issued the following statement today in response to President Obama’s deficit plan – which proposes to cut $8.3 billion over 10 years from federal crop insurance:
“Farmers know we need to balance the budget and are willing to do their part – but they have also made clear that one of the most important benefits they receive from the federal government is crop insurance, a public-private partnership,” said Sen. Jerry Moran. “We should be listening to those who know best and not drastically reducing support for such a vital program – which has already sustained significant cuts over the last five years. Given the devastating effects of the drought in Kansas and weather related disasters across the country, the President should be supporting, not weakening, this important cost-share insurance program.”
Sen. Moran's Bill to Remove Trade Barrier with Cuba Approved by Committee
Will allow direct cash payments between Cuban buyers and U.S. financial institutions
Sep 15 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran’s (R-Kan.) legislation to remove a trade barrier with Cuba, by allowing direct cash payments from Cuban buyers to U.S. financial institutions during the 2012 fiscal year (FY), was adopted by the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations as an amendment to the FY2012 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill. By allowing direct cash payments, Sen. Moran’s amendment will fuel economic growth and enable agricultural producers to compete on a level playing field.
“Current U.S. trade policies hurt American farmers and ranchers by making it more expensive for Cuba to purchase agriculture products from the United States,” Sen. Moran said. “This means Cuba is buying more of its food from countries such as Vietnam and China. The change is an important step to increase American export sales and support thousands of American jobs without increasing the debt.”
In 2000, the passage of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act allowed for the cash sale – including sales by direct cash transfer – of U.S. agricultural commodities and medicine to Cuba for the first time in 38 years. In 2005, however, the Treasury Department administratively banned direct cash transfers. This resulted in payments having to be routed through a third party in a foreign country, driving up transaction costs and making American products less competitive.
In addition to Sen. Moran’s amendment, the FY2012 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill includes a provision making cash payments due when a Cuban buyer receives their goods, which is standard trading practice. Without the provision to fix the definition of “payment of cash in advance”, which has been included in appropriations bills for the last three years, payments would be due before ships leave U.S. ports. This bill was voted out of committee today and will now move to the full Senate for a vote.
According to a Texas A&M University report, giving relief from the current regulatory prohibitions on direct cash transfers could increase annual agricultural exports to Cuba by over $270 million and support nearly 4,500 United States jobs per year.
Sen. Moran has long fought for commonsense changes to U.S. trade policy with Cuba – which must import nearly 85 percent of its food – in order to open up more markets for American farmers. In February 2010, then-Congressman Moran introduced – and the House Agriculture Committee passed – H.R. 4645, legislation to expand agricultural trade with Cuba. Nearly 150 U.S. organizations have voiced their strong support for doing so, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Association of Wheat Growers and the National Farmers Union.
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Sen. Moran Announces Eleventh Annual Conservation Tour
Will focus on quality of Kansas water
Sep 15 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) has announced the tour stops for his 11th Annual Partners in Conservation Tour, which will take place on Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30, 2011. This year’s conservation tour will focus on water conservation and will feature stops in Sedgwick, Butler, Harvey and Greenwood Counties. Specific tour stops are listed below.
“Conserving our natural resources is critical to preserving Kansas for the next generation,” Sen. Moran said. “Water conservation and natural resource management is particularly important to our economy and quality of life. Water is the lifeblood of our municipalities, the foundation for statewide recreation, and will direct the future of manufacturing and production agriculture. The conservation tour gives me the opportunity to learn how farmers and businesses, conservation groups and government programs are partnering together to ensure a successful future for Kansas, while maintaining and improving the environment."
This year’s tour attendees will be able to see and hear firsthand about a variety of conservation practices important to water quality and quantity throughout Kansas. Agricultural producers plan and implement conservation practices through programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), and the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program. The tour will highlight some of these conservation practices including subsurface drip irrigation, riparian forests, livestock alternative water supplies, salt scar restoration and stream bank restorations.
Additionally, the City of Wichita will host tour participants at the Aquifer Recovery and Storage site and the Wichita Water Center. The City of El Dorado will also present information about its Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the Army Corps of Engineers will talk about El Dorado Lake. Site visits will feature presentations by landowners, Natural Resources Conservation Service district conservationists, groundwater management district representatives, municipality representatives and others.
Since coming to Congress, Sen. Moran has held regular tours across Kansas to observe conservation practices at work, and he is continuing this tradition as a United States Senator. The tour is open to members of the press and anyone else interested in attending. Questions about Sen. Moran’s participation may be directed to Lindsey Trent at Lindsey_Trent@moran.senate.gov.
The 11th Annual Partners in Conservation Tour schedule is as follows. If you are planning to attend, please contact the Wichita Office of Senator Moran at (316) 631-1410 to allow for an accurate meal count by September 23, 2011.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Opening Remarks and Introductions
Senator Jerry Moran
Eric B. Banks, State Conservationist, NRCS
Location: EQUUS Beds Groundwater Management District, 313 Spruce St., Halstead, KS
9:15 – 10:15 EQUUS Beds Groundwater Management District
Harvey County Tour stop
Tim Boese, Manager, EQUUS Beds Groundwater Management District No. 2
Location: 313 Spruce St., Halstead, KS
11:00 – 12:30 p.m. Aquifer Storage and Recovery Site
Sedgwick County Tour stop
Deb Ary, Superintendent of Production and Pumping, City of Wichita
Location: 117th Street N and 119th Street W, Wichita, KS
**Location is 2 miles east of 151st Street W at 117th Street N.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch
Syl’s Restaurant
Location: 205 West Wichita Ave., Colwich, KS
Meal will include buffet and choice of drink for $6.00.
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Wichita Water Center
Sedgwick County Tour stop
Libby Albers, Environmental Specialist, Water Center, City of Wichita
Location: 101 East Pawnee St., Wichita, KS
**Located at cross streets of Pawnee and Broadway.
4:00 – 5:30 p.m. Jackman Forest and Local Watershed Programs
Butler County Stop
Dennis Carlson, District Forester, South Central District, Kansas Forest Service
Herb Graves, Executive Director, Kansas Association of Kansas Watersheds
(Directions from Leon: Travel north through Leon and turn east on High Street. Follow High Street east to SE Cole Creek and turn north. Travel north on SE Cole Creek Road to Walco Road [SE 80] and follow black top east until you reach SE Munson Hill Road. Turn south on SE Munson Hill Road and travel about half a mile to the property gate.
Friday, September 30, 2011
8:00 – 8:15 a.m. Meeting Point
Location: Fall River Post Office, 412 Merchants Ave, Fall River, KS
**Caravan to the first site will depart from the Post Office at 8:15 a.m.
8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Livestock Alternative Watering Supply
Greenwood County Stop
Diamond R Ranch
**Caravan to Diamond R Ranch will leave Fall River Post Office at 8:15 a.m.
9:15 – 9:45 a.m. Salt Scar
Greenwood County Stop
Norman and Diane Grundy, Landowners
**There will be a sign located one mile south of Climax on Highway 99, turn west and follow the markers.
10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Stream Bank Restoration
Greenwood County Stop
Teichgraeber Ranch
**This is a difficult location to find. Please join the tour at either 8:00 a.m. or 9:15 a.m. if you would like to take part in the Stream Bank Restoration stop.
11:00 – 12:00 p.m. El Dorado Waste Water Treatment Facility
Butler County Stop
Kurt Bookout, Director of Public Utilities, City of El Dorado
Location: 105 W Wetlands Dr., El Dorado, KS
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
Butler County Conservation District
Location: El Dorado Waste Water Treatment Facility, 105 W Wetlands Dr., El Dorado, KS
Meal will be catered by Butler County Conservation District and will cost $8.00 per person.
1:30 – 3:30 El Dorado State Lake and Cole Creek
Butler County Stop
Rick Sellers, Manager El Dorado Lake, Army Corps of Engineers
Sandy Kootz, Water Quality Coordinator, Butler County Conservation District
Location: 2710 NE Shady Creek Access Rd., El Dorado, KS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) today announced that he is accepting applications for nominations to the United States Service Academies. The academies include the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. Those selected will enter the academies in June 2012.
Selections are based on SAT or ACT test scores, class rank, grade point average, school records, extracurricular activities, leadership potential, motivation, recommendations and interview evaluations. Applicants must meet the individual admission requirements of each academy in order to receive Sen. Moran’s nomination: applicants must be legal residents of the state of Kansas, at least 17 years of age but not past their 23rd birthday on July 1 of the year of admission, citizens of the United States, unmarried, not pregnant and without legal obligation to support children or other dependents.
The application deadline is October 1, 2011. Applicants will be required to interview with Sen. Moran’s Service Academy Selection Board on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at the K-State Student Union in Manhattan. The academies will make the final decision on who will receive an appointment of admission in early 2012.
Interested applicants can request application materials on Sen. Moran’s website at www.moran.senate.gov under the “Services” menu, or by calling Sen. Moran’s Olathe office at 913-393-0711. Additional information is also available online at www.moran.senate.gov.
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Sen. Moran Announces Eleventh Annual Conservation Tour Dates
Tour will focus on maintaining quality of Kansas water
Sep 12 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) has announced that his 11th Annual Partners in Conservation Tour will take place on Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30, 2011. This year’s conservation tour will focus on water conservation and will feature stops in Sedgwick, Butler, Harvey, Greenwood and Elk Counties. Specific tour stops in each county will be announced later this week.
“Conserving our natural resources is critical to preserving Kansas for the next generation,” Sen. Moran said. “Water conservation and natural resource management is particularly important to our economy and quality of life. Water is the lifeblood of our municipalities, the foundation for statewide recreation, and will direct the future of manufacturing and production agriculture. The conservation tour gives me the opportunity to learn how farmers and businesses, conservation groups and government programs are partnering together to ensure a successful future for Kansas, while maintaining and improving the environment."
Since coming to Congress, Sen. Moran has held regular tours across Kansas to observe conservation practices at work, and he is continuing this tradition as a United States Senator. The tour is open to members of the press and anyone else interested in attending. Questions about Sen. Moran’s participation may be directed to Lindsey Trent at Lindsey_Trent@moran.senate.gov.
Sen. Moran Flood Insurance Relief Bill Approved By Banking Committee
Provides financial relief to communities upgrading their levee systems
Sep 12 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran’s (R-Kan.) legislation to provide financial relief to homeowners in Kansas and across the country has been adopted by the Senate Banking Committee as an amendment to the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2011. The Moran Amendment would allow homeowners living behind a levee nearing completion to pay a lower rate for their flood insurance while that levee is in the final stages of construction. While many factors affect the calculation of flood insurance premiums, this could save residents of eligible communities hundreds of dollars per year.
“With fewer dollars flowing from Washington D.C., levee upkeep has become very much a local effort, and communities are digging deep to find the resources necessary to rehabilitate their aging flood protection systems,” Sen. Moran said. “My amendment recognizes those communities who are making significant progress toward improving their levees and lowers the insurance rates for citizens living within that flood plain accordingly."
The maps the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses to assess whether or not a home or business lies within a 100-year flood plain are undergoing a massive update effort. As the new maps are completed, many citizens in Kansas and across the country may soon learn they are required to purchase flood insurance for the first time. The Moran Amendment provides financial relief to impacted residents as long as the community has secured the majority of the funding for the levee, more than 50 percent of the flood protection system is complete, and the reconstruction schedule lasts no more than five years.
“Senator Moran's legislation is a big break for residents and businesses in communities like Salina,” said Jason Gage, City Manager of Salina. “We recognize the need for the federal government to update flood plain maps and ensure our flood control levee provides the highest level of protection, but without Sen. Moran’s amendment, the timing of these projects could have resulted in a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to our community."
The Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2011 containing the Moran Amendment was voted out of committee last week and will now move to the full Senate for a vote.
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