Dear KS (Kevin Stoda) Common Sense

Dear KS (Kevin Stoda) Common Sense,

I am Jerry Moran (Moran as in idiot–not necessarily the Kansas congressmen who puts out weekly nonsense letters) and I don’t have common sense–so my buddies and I decided to threaten to close down congress to help create one of the most inequitable budget while maintaining the least equitable tax system possible.

Thank for voting for my buddy and namesake, Jerry Moran, in 2010 and keep us on your minds in 2012–if you don’t impeach my bud (and namesake) Jerry before then.

Yours,

J. Moran
Inequitable County
State of Kanza

Averting a Government Shutdown
We were minutes away from a government shutdown on Friday night when an agreement was finally made. The goal of the short-term continuing resolution Congress passed late Friday night is to provide sufficient time to put finishing touches on a longer-term spending measure agreed to by Republican and Democrat leaders for the remainder of this fiscal year. I am anxious to see the details and hope it includes the necessary spending cuts.
It is time we put these short term continuing resolutions behind us and move on to find ways to reduce spending in 2012 and beyond. Freeing our country from running deficits and a burdensome national debt will set our country on the path toward a stronger economy. Click here to watch a KCTV interview from Friday on the potential government shutdown.

Comment on:
Preserving Access to Credit
This week I introduced commonsense legislation to reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Better consumer protection is a shared goal of most lawmakers, but included in the Dodd-Frank Act passed by Congress last year was the CFBP, a new bureaucracy with the power to significantly affect the availability of credit. I introduced legislation this week that would restructure this new government agency so a variety of viewpoints would be considered when making rules to regulate the banking industry – rather than just the viewpoint of a single, unelected director. My bill would replace the single CFPB Director with a Senate-confirmed five-person commission – similar to the leadership structure of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Allowing a single unelected official to define their own jurisdiction and regulate vast segments of our economy without accountability or restraint is a “reform” that should be rejected.
My legislation would also allow Congress to better monitor the actions taken by the Bureau so banks and credit unions can continue to make responsible loans to creditworthy borrowers by subjecting the CFPB to the regular appropriations process. The Dodd-Frank Act currently allows the CFPB director to set his or her annual budget by withdrawing funds directly from the Federal Reserve, rather than going through the annual Congressional appropriations process like most independent agencies. The CFPB has more power and authority than almost any independent agency in history and asking them to present a budget to Congress for approval is a very modest request. Click here to read more about the legislation and click here view my comments about this legislation at a hearing with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Comment on:
Congress Passes Repeal of 1099 Mandate in Health Care Law
On Tuesday, I voted in favor of H.R. 4, the House-passed bill to repeal the costly and unprecedented 1099 tax-reporting mandate in the new health care law. The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 87 to 12, and the bill has been sent to President Obama’s desk. When the president signs H.R. 4 into law, it will mark the first significant change to the health care law. Back in February, I voted in favor of a Senate-originated amendment to repeal the 1099 provision and also sponsored two bills to accomplish this objective.
The repeal of the 1099 requirement is good news for small businesses and agriculture producers, who would bear the largest burden under this onerous provision. The new requirement would have increased 1099 tax filings by 2000 percent and buried businesses in paperwork, substantially increasing the cost of doing business in an already challenging economic environment. This is the first of hopefully many commonsense reforms to the damaging health care law.
I will continue to work to ensure the law is replaced with provisions that improve our current health care system, reduce costs, and keep personal health care decisions between patients and
their doctors.