WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) commended President Trump for announcing that the United States will withdraw from the United Nations (UN) Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The ATT was signed by the Obama Administration in 2013 and has threatened the Second Amendment rights of Americans. Since 2013, Sens. Moran and Inhofe have successfully led bipartisan efforts in the Senate to prevent the ratification of this treaty.

“From its outset, the UN Arms Trade Treaty has represented a threat to the lawful private ownership of firearms in our country, and at no point has it represented a real solution to the illegal export of arms,” said Sen. Moran. “The United States should ratify treaties only when they are in our national interest, clear in their goals and language, respect our sovereignty and do not infringe upon our constitutional freedoms. Because the ATT failed to meet any of these tests, I have joined Senator Inhofe in leading a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate in opposition. I commend President Trump for his decision today to formally reject the ATT and to uphold our country’s constitutional protections of civilian firearm ownership.”

“Since the Obama administration signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty in 2013, I have successfully blocked its ratification and prevented American tax dollars from going to fund its implementation,” said Sen. Inhofe. “By withdrawing the United States as a party to the treaty, President Trump is standing up for our sovereignty, our Second Amendment and our national security. I’m proud to work with him on this important issue.”

The ATT would have opened the door for U.N. bureaucrats to regulate the purchase of individual firearms and would have required approval from the international body before America could assist our allies, including Israel, Taiwan and South Korea.

On December 24, 2014, the ATT went into force and more than 60 countries have ratified the treaty. A Secretariat of the U.N. Conference on the ATT oversees the practical and logistical arrangements related to the work of the Conference. In discussions of providing funding to the Secretariat, many nations supported the idea that all signatory countries contribute, including the United States, even if they have not ratified the treaty. This would have likely required the U.S. to contribute approximately 22 percent of the funding – in line with their contribution level to the U.N. as a whole if it weren’t for Sens. Moran and Inhofe’s legislative provisions.

Items to note:

• On July 22, 2011, Sen. Moran led 44 Senate colleagues in expressing concern to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the dangers of the ATT and announcing their intent to oppose its ratification.
• On July 26, 2012, while the Obama Administration was negotiating the ATT, Sen. Moran led a bipartisan group of senators in expressing grave concern about the dangers posed to Americans’ Second Amendment rights by the UN ATT, and their intent, again, to oppose its ratification.
• On March 13, 2013, Sen. Moran sponsored an amendment to the Senate budget resolution that would uphold Americans' Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the U.N. ATT.
• On October 15, 2013, Sens. Moran and Inhofe led a bipartisan group of 50 Senators in opposing the ratification of the treaty and that the United States will not be bound by its obligations. 
• On September 25, 2014, Sens. Moran and Inhofe expressed frustration with the U.N.’s implementation of the ATT.
• On March 3, 2015, Sens. Moran and Inhofe announced the support of 12 freshman Senators in joining the Senate’s strong opposition to the ATT.
• In March 2017, Sens. Moran and Inhofe secured language in the National Defense Authorization Act banning funding for the ATT’s implementation.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) released the following statement after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) released its report assessing the likely economic impact of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA):

“The completion of the ITC report is an important step toward passing USMCA. While I look forward to fully reviewing the report in detail, I am pleased to see it confirms enacting USMCA would positively impact the U.S. economy, increase exports and create jobs. The importance of Mexico and Canada as trading partners to Kansas and the nation is clear. It is now critical that Democrats work in good faith with congressional Republicans and the administration to draft and pass legislation to enact the trade agreement.”

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced the Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy (EASE) Act. This bipartisan legislation would assist rural communities and rural electricity cooperatives to overcome the barriers to renewable energy storage and grid improvements by providing access to relevant resources and expertise.

“Kansas is a nationwide leader in renewable energy and an increased capacity for energy storage is imperative to grow and capitalize on our renewable energy potential,” said Sen. Moran. “This commonsense, bipartisan legislation will increase grid reliability and resilience, and help communities in Kansas and across the country – especially in rural areas – access energy supplies during peak usage periods with less burdensome rate hikes.”

“We need a comprehensive energy strategy that puts America back in control of our energy supply—one that creates jobs, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, keeps energy costs affordable for all Americans, and responds to the challenges of global climate change,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “This bipartisan legislation will improve rural community energy resiliency and autonomy, spur economic activity, and improve public and environmental health.”

In 2013, the Department of Energy created the Solar Utility Network Deployment Acceleration (SUNDA) project, in partnership with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), to increase the adoption of solar energy in rural communities across the country. The SUNDA project ended in 2018, but the EASE Act would implement similar initiatives and make it as easy as possible for rural communities and their electricity cooperatives to plan, implement, and maintain their own renewable energy storage and microgrid projects.

The need to improve energy grid capacity and resiliency, as well as the intermittency of solar and wind power, has increased interest in energy storage, which can contribute to meeting electricity demand during peak times. In 2017, the U.S. generated four billion megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity but had only 431 MWh of electricity storage available. Although tax incentives have aided development of renewable energy projects, some of the most significant barriers to exploration and establishment of new renewable energy projects like storage in rural communities is navigating the planning, implementation, and maintenance of these projects. Some of these major barriers to development of new rural projects can be reduced by providing communities and rural electricity cooperatives with access to relevant resources and expertise.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in calling on Amtrak to continue service to rural communities in Kansas and across the United States by investing in long-distance and state-supported routes, including the Southwest Chief.?

“We are writing in strong support of Amtrak’s national network, including the long-distance and state-supported routes,” the senators wrote. “These routes serve small, midsize, and rural communities in our states and provide essential connections to jobs, tourism, and family that are critical to the people and places we represent. As you develop Amtrak’s plan for the long-term viability of the company, we urge you to recognize the critical importance of the entire national network, which includes the long-distance and state-supported routes. Once again, we seek your firm commitment that Amtrak will abide by its statutory purpose – maintaining a truly national network for our rail system.”?

“Congress purposely created a national network of long-distance and state-supported train service throughout the nation, in recognition of the importance of a transportation system that reaches every community – regardless of how rural it may be,” the senators continued. “Amtrak is more than a collection of individual train routes; it is a web of essential connections that bind our country together and link rural communities with major markets and economic opportunities.”

The letter requests responses to questions about Amtrak’s budgeting process and their future plans regarding long-distance train routes and their interest in introducing new short distance routes. The letter also addresses the changes Amtrak made to long-distance routes last year, such as the removal of ticket agents at stations across the country, and asks when Amtrak plans to restore the services it previously provided passengers.

Sen. Moran has led a bipartisan push to make certain Amtrak maintains train services along the established, long-distance passenger rail route of the Southwest Chief, which runs daily between Chicago and Los Angeles, connecting towns and cities across the western United States and providing train and long-distance passenger service, particularly through rural areas. The Southwest Chief stops in several Kansas communities, including Lawrence, Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City.

The letter was also signed by Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

Full text of the letter is here and below.

Dear Mr. Anderson:

We are writing in strong support of Amtrak’s national network, including the long-distance and state-supported routes. These routes serve small, midsize, and rural communities in our states and provide essential connections to jobs, tourism, and family that are critical to the people and places we represent. As you develop Amtrak’s plan for the long-term viability of the company, we urge you to recognize the critical importance of the entire national network, which includes the long-distance and state-supported routes. Once again, we seek your firm commitment that Amtrak will abide by its statutory purpose – maintaining a truly national network for our rail system.  

Amtrak’ recent appropriation clearly demonstrates Congress’ strong, bipartisan support for the network. In making this investment, Congress chose to ensure the continued viability of Amtrak’s entire system, including the National Network’s long-distance and state-supported routes. These funds should be used to operate the entire existing system and, where possible, expand the system to grow both revenue and ridership. 

Congress purposely created a national network of long-distance and state-supported train service throughout the nation, in recognition of the importance of a transportation system that reaches every community – regardless of how rural it may be. Amtrak is more than a collection of individual train routes; it is a web of essential connections that bind our country together and link rural communities with major markets and economic opportunities. It provides residents of these communities with transportation options on which families, seniors, and businesses rely to access jobs, create economic opportunities, see our beautiful country, and visit family. The federal investment in Amtrak ensures the small, midsize, and rural communities served by Amtrak’s long-distance and state-supported routes continue to receive this essential service. The long-distance and state-supported routes of the national system are no less important than the Northeast Corridor (NEC), another critical aspect of Amtrak service. 

The long distance and state supported trains generate more ridership than the NEC and similar levels of revenue.  Many long-distance sleeper cars are regularly sold out. The entire national network helps cover Amtrak's fixed corporate costs such as police, facilities and capital expenditures, particularly when the route shares trackage with the NEC. Continuing and expanding the entire national system of long-distance and state-supported routes is both good for Amtrak’s business, and our national economy. ?

We look forward to working with you and receiving assurances of your commitment to the national network. For these reasons, we request your response to the following questions by April 29, 2019.  
 

• Amtrak customers have already experienced a deterioration in service as Amtrak pursues efficiencies. A recent report in Trains Magazine[1]indicated that Amtrak utilizes accounting mechanisms to inflate costs associated with the national network, by charging long-distance and state-supported routes for costs which may be more appropriately charged to the Northeast Corridor. We are concerned that Amtrak's accounting is intentionally obscure and is causing a false inflation of costs of lines outside of the Northeast Corridor.  Please provide the accounting methods used to determine the costs referenced.?
   

• Does Amtrak plan to truncate or otherwise alter any of the long-distance train routes? If yes, then:
  
  

• Which routes are under consideration for alteration?
  
  

• Would any of these routes be altered in such a way that they would fall under the definition of State Supported routes, requiring states to find local operating funds for existing service? What discussions has Amtrak had with states, if any, that lead it to believe states would be willing to assume this financial obligation????
  
  

• Amtrak says it wants to introduce new short distance routes with daytime service and multiple frequencies. What specific routes is Amtrak considering? What discussions—if any—has Amtrak had with host railroads, stakeholders, or government officials regarding these additional frequencies? 
  
  

• Amtrak claims that public demand for its long-distance interstate service is declining. Yet the number of passengers using the total long-distance network in FY 2017—the last year without major service interruptions—was 10.6% higher than it was eight years earlier in FY 2010. It was also higher than in all but three of the last eight years. This growth occurred in spite of worsening on time performance, capacity reductions and other changes to service levels. On what basis does Amtrak claim that demand is declining for long-distance trains?

• Amtrak has made a number of changes impacting long-distance routes in 2018 that may reduce revenues and services, such as the removal of ticket agents at a number of stations across the country.  Why did Amtrak calculate ridership totals based on weekly boardings on routes that do not run daily?  When will Amtrak restore or otherwise alter assistance it provides passengers at stations based on Congressional directives in the Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations Act??
  
  

• Amtrak has expressed concern at how the dispatching practices of some host railroads has led to deteriorating on-time performance (OTP). Does Amtrak have a strategy to improve OTP and better interface with the host railroads? Are there policies that would assist Amtrak in this endeavor?
  
  

• Sleeper cars provide approximately 40-50% of the revenue on many long-distance trains. Please provide us with an update on the 25 sleeper cars that were scheduled to be delivered in 2015 and 2016. Please provide a timeline for completing this order and putting the new cars into service?

Our constituents – in both large and small communities rely on Amtrak service.  We look forward to continue to work with you to preserve and expand the long-distance and state-supported routes, and to reviewing your response to our questions.?

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