WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined his colleagues to urge U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to strengthen agricultural trade as the administration prepares to begin negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The letter was led by U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.).

“As Senators representing states with significant agricultural exports, we appreciate the careful approach the administration is taking to strengthen the NAFTA agreement, while ensuring that no changes are made that could result in harm to U.S. agriculture,” the senators wrote. “We look forward to working with you throughout the congressional consultation process to ensure that NAFTA continues its substantial economic contributions to U.S. farmers and ranchers and to the growth of our agricultural economy.”

Last month, the Trump administration notified Congress of its intent to open negotiations with Canada and Mexico with respect to NAFTA. The notification triggers a 90-day consultation period under the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (TPA), and the administration is required to provide specific negotiating objectives at least 30 days before any negotiations begin. 

Since NAFTA was signed into law in 1993, Canada and Mexico have been two of the top five destinations for U.S. agriculture products. Last year, the two countries accounted for 28 percent of the value of total agriculture exports from the United States. Since NAFTA’s enactment, livestock and meat exports to Canada have doubled and agriculture commodity exports to Mexico have increased significantly.

Click here to read Sen. Moran’s statement on the administration’s plans to renegotiate NAFTA.

Full text of the letter can be found below:

The Honorable Robert Lighthizer
U.S. Trade Representative
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
600 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC  20508

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:

As you prepare to begin negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), we write to emphasize the economic significance of agricultural trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico and the critical role that NAFTA plays in the trade relationships. 

NAFTA has been an important trade agreement for the United States for more than 20 years. While we strongly support continued participation in the agreement, we also support the administration’s effort to review and strengthen NAFTA.  Given the significance of agricultural products in U.S. exports, we request that you avoid any revisions to NAFTA and other previously negotiated trade agreements that would diminish the opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers to export their products, particularly given the current depressed state of the agriculture economy.

Since NAFTA was signed into law in 1993, Canada and Mexico have been two of the top five destinations for U.S. agriculture products.  Last year, the two countries accounted for 28 percent of the value of total agriculture exports from the United States.  Since NAFTA’s enactment, livestock and meat exports to Canada have doubled and agriculture commodity exports to Mexico increased significantly.  The longstanding trade agreement between the three countries has proven to be an important success within the agriculture industry. 

As Senators representing states with significant agricultural exports, we appreciate the careful approach the administration is taking to strengthen the NAFTA agreement, while ensuring that no changes are made that could result in harm to U.S. agriculture.  We look forward to working with you throughout the congressional consultation process to ensure that NAFTA continues its substantial economic contributions to U.S. farmers and ranchers and to the growth of our agricultural economy.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today applauded the signing of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act into law. This spring, Sen. Moran joined U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) to introduce this legislation, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives this month. Sen. Moran released the following statement after the bill signing:

“Since the disturbing reports of veterans being neglected and mistreated across the country and in Kansas, I have been committed to developing legislation that gives the VA authorities to hold bad actors accountable while protecting veterans and VA whistleblowers who are trying to do what is in the best interest of our nation’s heroes. I am pleased the President signed this bipartisan legislation that I spearheaded to ensure the VA supports hardworking VA employees who care deeply about our veterans, and rids the VA of those few bad actors who fail to perform their duties in service to veterans.

“Many Kansans are familiar with the alarming case at the Leavenworth VA where a VA employee who stands accused of abusing the veterans he was supposed to serve and is able to collect benefits after voluntarily retiring from the VA. We must make certain this kind of injustice never happens again, which is why I added a provision in this bill with strong consequences to VA employees and their benefits when they are convicted of a felony against veterans or related to their position at the VA. This law is a step forward for our veterans and one of many changes the VA must take if they are going to earn back the trust of veterans and provide them with the care they have earned and deserve.”

Background on the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act:
The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act increases the VA’s authority to remove employees at all levels of the department, shortens the removal process and ensures an individual removed from the VA is not kept on the VA’s payroll while appealing that decision. It will also make it easier for the VA to remove poorly performing senior executives and replace them with qualified candidates. Additionally, any appeals by senior VA executives would no longer be brought before the Merit Systems Protection Board, but instead would be handled directly by the VA secretary under an expedited timeline.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act will establish in law the newly created Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection within the VA.

The bill is widely supported by key veterans stakeholders including the VA and U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs’ committee leadership. It has also won the support of numerous advocacy groups that represent millions of veterans in the United States and key government accountability groups. Read more about the legislation’s support here.

The legislation also includes a number of other provisions to hold employees accountable, including:

• Requiring the VA to evaluate supervisors based on the protection of whistleblowers;
• Incentivizing managers to address poor performance and misconduct among employees by requiring the VA secretary to include this as part of the annual performance plan;
• Prohibiting bonuses for employees who have been found guilty of wrongdoing; and
• Prohibiting relocation expenses to employees who abuse the system.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today issued the following statement after the President’s announcement regarding Cuba:

“While I support the administration’s efforts to reevaluate our trading relationships to make certain we put America first, for Kansas’ economy and for our ag community, putting America first means exporting what we produce to countries across the globe. Cuba is a natural market for our nation’s farmers and ranchers, and when we don’t sell to Cuba, another country does. In addition, increased engagement with the United States empowers the Cuban people. I remain invested in finding ways to increase trade with Cuba rather than cut off relationships that have the potential to create new jobs, bring in revenue and boost our national economy.”

Sen. Moran’s background on Cuba trade policy:

• Sen. Moran introduced legislation, the Cuba Trade Act of 2017, in March of this year to restore trade with Cuba and grant the private sector the freedom to export American goods and services to Cuba while protecting U.S. taxpayers from any risk or exposure associated with such trade. He introduced similar legislation in 2015.
• Sen. Moran has long fought for commonsense changes to trade policy with Cuba to open up more markets for American farmers and ranchers. As a member of the House of Representatives, then-Rep. Moran offered an amendment (H.Amdt.1031 to H.R.4871) prohibiting funds from being used to enforce sanctions for food, medicine and agriculture products in a sale to Cuba. His amendment passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 301-116. The adoption of this amendment opened another needed market to farmers throughout the country. Unfortunately, changes in regulations by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2005 once again severely restricted this market for U.S. agriculture producers.
• Click here to learn more about Sen. Moran’s views on the importance of trade with Cuba.

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WASHINGTON – As a Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) yesterday questioned Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford regarding the Department of Defense’s FY2018 budget request.

Sen. Moran questioned Sec. Mattis and Gen. Dunford regarding the need to rebalance Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) across the force as the Army increases end strength. In addition, Sen. Moran highlighted his flight in Textron’s Scorpion jet during a recent visit in Wichita to emphasize the need for the light-attack aircraft.  

Click here to watch Senator Mornan’s questioning. 

Sen. Moran (0:05): “I was able to visit in this setting not too many days ago with General Milley regarding end strength levels beyond the FY2017 NDAA mandate. I want to have a conversation about how those brigades will be divided, and what kind of brigades we need. The new threat environment, I assume in your assessment, means that we are going to need to rebalance those brigade structures, with the Russian aggression, our reassurance efforts, and the conversation this morning about Afghanistan. I do know that back-to-back armor brigade combat team deployments to Europe is occurring. I know that the Big Red One in Kansas is a part of that – we will have 4,000 of those soldiers with the 2nd Armored BCT this fall. What do you believe, Mr. Secretary, is the right mix of light armor, light attack armor and advise and assist brigades and consequently where will the BCTs require training?”

Sec. Mattis (1:35): “Those brigades will be joining the general purpose force, so what we do is look at what is a threat as best as we can determine. I would tell you sir that as we put this proposal forward if we do not remove the Budget Control Act caps and we bring those troops in, the only way we will be able to pay them two years from now, is by stopping, again, modernization. So there is a danger here to even discuss this if we don’t look at the broader budgetary horizon.”

Gen. Dunford (2:20): “Senator when we talk full spectrum what we are really saying is that the United States of America given our security challenges can’t prepare for Russia and China, or violent extremism. We have to prepare for all of those challenges. Two areas we have found now to be very stressed. One is armored brigades, even the rotation now as you know is a pretty tight turn. What that impacts is the amount of time that our soldiers are home, but it also affects the amount of training that they are able to do across the spectrum. Right now even our armored brigades have been singularly focused on violent extremism and the challenges in Syria than we would like to have. Increasing the armored capacity is something that General Milley has spoken about. In terms of the advise and assist brigades, that is an initiative that the army has been working on now for a couple of years. General Milley’s leadership has put that over the goal line. Our methodology for dealing with the violent extremism problem in particular is to train local forces, so they can assume responsibility for securing their countries. Those advise and assist brigades are designed exactly to do that. I would emphasize one point the Secretary made and that is our caution in growing capacity now without certainty about what the next several years would be. In other words, the worst thing we could do now is to grow capacity and then not have the funds available to properly train and equip those units. I do believe we will have to grow, I think the defense security review that the Secretary will lead will indicate a need to grow in capacity. Balance means two things, it means being prepared to deal with threats across the spectrum and it also means we have a balance in our training equipment and personnel to ensure the units are whole.”

Sen. Moran (4:45): “I recently took a backseat ride in a light attack fighter, the Scorpion, over the skies of Kansas. I want to highlight for you this issue that we are going through a process of a new attack fighter, developed by the private sector, and would want you to respond perhaps – and take one for the record – about its value to the entire military. At the moment there is a focus by the Air Force, but I have the view that it has a value to a broader way of our military efforts.”

Sec. Mattis (5:18): “Yes sir, we are on board with it. The first test was done at CENTCOM, and I am keenly aware of that test. We are watching it closely and it has a lot of promise.”

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