September 5th, 2013

Hello.

Each and every year August proves to be one of the most important and productive months in the Congressional calendar. Each August I am home for a major statewide swing where I hold town hall meetings, meet with job creators and local community groups, and listen to hard working Kansans about what is important to them. This August was no different. I wrapped up the first leg of my Kansas tour last week, before returning to Washington, D.C. to be briefed on the developments in the Syrian conflict. I am back to Kansas to meet with more Kansans and visit the State Fair. Here is a sampling of what we have been working on this August.

This weekend, I returned to Washington, D.C. to receive a briefing from the executive branch on the latest developments in Syria and hear President Obama’s proposal for military action in support of the rebel force in Syria.

The Syrian civil war has been brutal and filled with tragedy.  I recognize the horror of citizens and their children being murdered by their own government, whether by poison gas or by bombs and bullets, yet it is clear we have no meaningful coalition of allies, nor detailed plan of action, nor clear picture of our objective when it comes to United States military intervention in this war-ravaged country. I am especially troubled, based on the briefings I have received, that the President wants open-ended authority to use military force in Syria. That simply doesn't square with this President’s highly publicized statements calling for limited action. 

These conflicts are the central concerns I have with the President’s request, and are the reasons I cannot vote in support of military intervention in Syria. In light of the glaring lack of leadership from the White House, I am unwilling to place one single young American man or woman's life at risk. This Marine knows from experience that a country should never engage in an aggressive action without a clear objective, a plan of alternative actions and a clear exit strategy. It is clear to me we have none of these in relation to the Syrian conflict.

As I have traveled across Kansas the last few weeks, one concern remains at the forefront of public debate – Kansans are wholeheartedly and unequivocally opposed to Obamacare. I am too. The President’s health care overhaul is going to raise premiums for families, force some families to change plans from the ones they already have and like, and, perhaps worst of all, threaten the doctor- patient relationship with federal interference.

We must do everything we can to stop this law from hurting families in Kansas and across the country.  In this spirit, I recently joined a letter championed by my colleagues Senator Ted Cruz from Texas and Senator Mike Lee from Utah declaring our intent to defund Obamacare in the appropriations process. The Founding Fathers gave Congress the power of the purse, and we will seek to use this power to defund and dismantle Obamacare before it can further damage our economic recovery, or the health care system.

As always, August has proven to be one of my favorite months of the year. I have the opportunity to leave our nation’s capital for an extended amount of time each summer and return home to Kansas to spend time with the hardest working people in the greatest state in the country.  Here are some highlights from the first leg of this August’s Kansas Listening Tour.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with and listen to the folks at the Rotary Club of Wichita. We had a very productive talk about the impacts of Obamacare on everyday Kansans and affects of the President’s inflammatory rhetoric against the general aviation community. I sincerely look forward to my next visit.

After a round table with my friends at the Kansas Hospital Association, in which we talked about the status of health care in Kansas and the challenges they face with Obamacare coming down the pike, I had the chance to tour the facilities at Via Christi Hospital in Wichita to see the great work they are doing there.

I was then able to visit with the folks at The Opportunity Project in Wichita and talk about their important work in early childhood education.

The next day, I dropped by JACAM Chemicals to take a tour of their facilities in Sterling.  It was a wonderful tour of a fantastic Kansas job creator.

We next drove over to Great Bend to enjoy a lunch with the young professionals and community leaders at the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce prior to a tour of Fuller Brush Company and The Raptor Center.

On Thursday I traveled over to Holcomb to visit the crew at the Sunflower Electric power plant. It was startling to hear the negative impact government over-regulation has on the Kansas economy.   

I then had the opportunity to visit the Garden City Chamber of Commerce for a discussion about the Kansas economy, the regulations facing our job creators and the uncertainty unleashed by the President’s health care law.

Later that day I stopped by WindRiver Grain for a discussion of agricultural policy with several leading employers in southwest Kansas.

Friday it was off to Grant County for a tour of Praxair Helium. Southwest Kansas is the helium production capital of the world.

Then we met up with our friends from the Kansas Farm Bureau at the Sipes family farm for a tour and a talk about value added agriculture.

Then I had the rare opportunity to visit the Cimarron National Grasslands in Morton County at the very corner of our state.  Notice the post that marks the border between Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma.

Saturday morning my wife Franki and I had breakfast with leaders in the agriculture community from Dodge City and around Southwest Kansas to talk about the importance of crop insurance and the need for a comprehensive farm bill to plan for the future.

After breakfast I traveled over to Clark Pharmacy in Cimarron for a town hall meeting to listen to Kansans’ thoughts and concerns about the issues of the day.

Finally on Saturday we stopped by Hoxie and visited the team at Case IH.

Monday we had another town hall meeting this time in Ottawa County.  It was a great turn out and I want to thank everyone who was able to make it.

Next it was over to Salina for a meeting with the local Rotary Club.

Then we continued our trek east with a visit to the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

Then over to Topeka for a series of meetings with several engineering companies who continue to drive the Kansas economy.

Finally we ended this leg of my 105 county tour with a treat: a visit to my alma mater K-State to see the Grand Opening of the West Front of the Bill Snyder Family Memorial Stadium. Even though it ended on a sour note with a tough loss for the Wildcats, it is always good to be in Manhattan.