United States Sen. Jerry Moran made a much-needed pit stop in Great Bend Thursday morning.
“Before I head back to Washington, I wanted to get a dose of common sense,” he said during a brief impromptu appearance at the Nex-Tech store on 10th Street during the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce weekly coffee. Moran was on his way from his Hays home to a luncheon in Salina before heading back to the nation’s capitol.
“I wanted a chance to visit with local folks,” said Moran to the large crowd packed into the business. “I just wanted to get a picture of the community.”
Living in Hays and raised in Plainville, he claims Great Bend as his birth place.
“The Senate is out of session,” the longtime Republican lawmaker said. This means, he joked, that no more damage is being done.
The partisan rancor between Republicans and Democrats, and between Congress and President Obama frustrates Moran. “This country needs some direction.”
Bringing his comments closer to home, he gave a nod to event host and Kansas-based communications company Nex-Tech. “If rural Kansas has a future, it’s technology.”
Also affecting Kansas is the Federal Communications Commission’s current review of its Universal Service Fund, a program implemented in 1996 to promote the availability of reasonably price telecommunications in rural areas. “There’s a lot of uncertainty.”
Other issues close to local constituents are jobs, the economy and the oil industry, which he said is plagued by over regulation. He also questions the 12-member national Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the Super Committee.
Moran now has all 105 Kansas counties to visit as a senator, a post he came to in 2010 after serving as the First District congressman since 1997.