Jerry Moran

Moran was elected to Congress in 1996 and reelected five times, never facing serious opposition in the conservative 1st district. In 2006, his opponent for the 2006 midterm election was John Doll, against whom he received almost 79 percent of the vote—one of the highest totals for a Republican congressional incumbent in that election.[8]

During his time in the House of Representatives, Jerry Moran conducted an annual town hall meeting in each of the 69 counties in Kansas' "Big First" Congressional District. He continues the tradition in the U.S. Senate for all 105 counties.[9]

As a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, then-Congressman Moran worked with colleagues to craft legislation to aid Kansas farms and ranches. Moran was also an active member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, where he served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Health.[10]

Slate's David Weigel pointed out that, despite his insistence that earmarks are a way that get members of Congress to vote for spending "that we can't afford," Moran requested $19.4 million in earmarks in the 2010 budget.[11]

Moran became the 2010 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Kansas after defeating fellow Congressman Todd Tiahrt in the Republican primary, 50–45%.[12] In the general election, Moran took 70 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Lisa Johnston, Libertarian Michael Dann, and Reform Party candidate Joe Bellis.[13]

Moran was elected Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 113th U.S. Congress on November 14, 2012.[14] Moran oversaw the Republican gain of nine Senate seats in United States Senate elections, 2014, resulting in the first Republican Senate majority since 2006.[15]

• United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies[16]
  • Subcommittee on Department of Defense
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
• United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
  • Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
• Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works[17]
• United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs[18]

• Afterschool Caucuses[19]

Jerry Moran (far right) assisting with a dinner at Fort Riley

In March 2019, Moran was one of thirty-eight senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue warning that dairy farmers "have continued to face market instability and are struggling to survive the fourth year of sustained low prices" and urging his department to "strongly encourage these farmers to consider the Dairy Margin Coverage program."[21]

In May 2019, Moran was a cosponsor of the Transporting Livestock Across America Safely Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Ben Sasse and Jon Tester intended to reform hours of service for livestock haulers through authorizing drivers to have the flexibility to rest at any point during their trip without it being counted against their hours of service and exempting loading and unloading times from the hours of service calculation of driving time.[22]

Moran opposed the Medicare reform package of 2003, unlike most congressmen from rural districts. He also opposed the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the health care reform bill championed by President Obama.

In May 2011, Moran sponsored S. 1058, the Pharmacy Competition and Consumer Choice Act of 2011.[23] In the House, he served as Co-Chairman of the House Rural Health Care Coalition and co-founder of the Congressional Community Pharmacy Coalition.[24]

Moran announced that he was voting 'no' on the July 2017 Senate health care bill. Moran criticized the closed-door process for developing the bill and criticized the legislation for not repealing the entire 2010 health law.[25][26]

Congressman Jerry Moran and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers at the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France on June 6, 2004.

Since 2014, Moran has served on the United States Air Force Academy Board of Visitors.[27]

In the early 2000s, Moran opposed a timetable for military withdrawal from Iraq.

Since entering Congress, Moran has traveled to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan to visit deployed American forces and meet with foreign leaders.[28] His most recent trip to the region was in August 2017 to the Northern regions of Afghanistan.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran with Kansans serving in Afghanistan in April 2011.

In March 2018, Moran was one of five Republican senators to vote against tabling a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required President Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda.[29] In October 2018, Moran was one of seven senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressing that they found it "difficult to reconcile known facts with at least two" of the Trump administration's certifications that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attempting to protect Yemen civilians and were in compliance with US laws on arms sales, citing their lack of understanding for "a certification that the Saudi and Emirati governments are complying with applicable agreements and laws regulating defense articles when the [memo] explicitly states that, in certain instances, they have not done so."[30] In June 2019, Moran was one of seven Republicans to vote to block President Trump's Saudi arms deal providing weapons to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Jordan, and was one of five Republicans to vote against an additional 20 arms sales.[31]

In January 2019, Moran was one of eleven Republican senators to vote to advance legislation intended to block President Trump's intent to lift sanctions against three Russian companies.[32]

In February 2019, amid a report by the Commerce Department that ZTE had been caught illegally shipping goods of American origin to Iran and North Korea, Moran was one of seven senators to sponsor a bill reimposing sanctions on ZTE in the event that ZTE did not honor both American laws and its agreement with the Trump administration.[33]

In July 2019, Moran was one of sixteen Republican senators to send a letter to Acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin encouraging them to work with them to prevent a continuing resolution "for FY 2020 that would delay the implementation of the President’s National Defense Strategy (NDS) and increase costs" and that the year long continuing resolution suggested by administration officials would render the Defense Department "incapable of increasing readiness, recapitalizing our force, or rationalizing funding to align with the National Defense Strategy (NDS)."[34]

Moran critiqued President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order imposing a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, stating: "While I support thorough vetting, I do not support restricting the rights of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Furthermore, far-reaching national security policy should always be devised in consultation with Congress and relevant government agencies."[35]

In March 2019, Moran was one of twelve Republican senators to vote to block President Trump's national emergency declaration that would have granted him access to $3.6 billion in military construction funding to build border barriers.[36]

In May 2019, Moran was one of eight senators to cosponsor the Global Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing Act, a bill that would develop new institutes that supported American manufacturing in technology and grant more federal investment in the national network such as preexisting institutes being made to compete globally as well as continue American economic and national security.[37]

Moran supports accountability metrics for public schools, but believes federal initiatives need to provide flexibility to states. In 2001, Moran voted against passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) because he felt it did not afford sufficient flexibility to schools.[38] In 2017, Moran voted to confirm Betsy DeVos as United States Secretary of Education.[39][40]

Moran has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) for his consistent support of pro-gun policies.[41] The NRA endorsed him for his 2010 Senate run. He was described as a "steadfast supporter of our freedom," by NRA-Political Victory Fund chairman Chris W. Cox.[42] Since 1998, the NRA has donated $23,850 to Moran's political efforts.[43]

In 2013, Moran joined other Republicans in saying they would filibuster any Democrat's proposals that Republican's considered a threat to the Second Amendment.[44] In April, Moran voted against the Manchin-Toomey proposal for universal background checks for gun purchases.[45][46]

Moran supports the concept of eliminating gun-free zones on military installations and recruitment centers. He stated that they are an "infringement on the constitutional rights of our service members" and that gun-free zones make military sites "increasingly vulnerable to those who wish to do harm."[47]

In 2016, Moran voted against the Feinstein Amendment, which would have banned suspected terrorists from acquiring guns.[48]

Moran responded to the 2017 Olathe, Kansas shooting stating "I strongly condemn violence of any kind, especially if it is motivated by prejudice and xenophobia."[49]

In January 2019, Moran was one of thirty-one Republican senators to cosponsor the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, a bill introduced by John Cornyn and Ted Cruz that would grant individuals with concealed carry privileges in their home state the right to exercise this right in any other state with concealed carry laws while concurrently abiding by that state’s laws.[50]

As of 2017, based on his environment-related votes, Moran had a lifetime score of 8% from the League of Conservation Voters, and a 0% score for 2016.[51]

Moran voted in 2015 against a Senate amendment acknowledging that human activity contributes to climate change.[52] In 2016, Moran and several other Senate Republicans signed a letter calling upon the U.S. to withdraw funding from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.[53] In 2009, Moran voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Waxman-Markey), which would have established a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change.[54]

Moran is a strong supporter of the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.[55][56] During the consideration of the Keystone XL pipeline legislation, Moran introduced an amendment to remove the lesser prairie chicken from the list of threatened species. The amendment failed on a 54–44 vote, having failed to get the required 60 votes.[57][58]

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran talking with entrepreneurs about their startup competing at the 2013 South by Southwest Accelerator competition.

Moran is "one of the most active members of Congress when it comes to reaching out to Silicon Valley."[59] In 2014, Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro dubbed Moran, "Mr. Innovation" and described him as "one of the biggest tech entrepreneurship leaders in the U.S. Senate."[60] Moran is the lead sponsor of Startup Act 3.0 legislation which includes several provisions that would reform the American visa system for high-skilled, American educated, and entrepreneurial immigrants. Moran also sponsored the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, also known as the JOBS Act, legislation to expand crowdfunding options for startups. Since the bill's 2012 passage, he has criticized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's JOBS Act rulemaking as drawn out and potentially counter productive to the legislation's intent.[61] Moran is an advocate of increased engagement between Washington and the Startup community and has spoken on the issue at events like South by Southwest (SXSW) and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).[62][63][64]

Moran opposed the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).[65] On November 2011, Moran, along with Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Maria Cantwell, sent a letter to Senate Leadership indicating they would place a Senate hold on PIPA, citing the threats PIPA (and SOPA) posed to liberty and innovation.[66][67]

In 2017, Moran voted to repeal FCC Internet privacy rules that blocked internet providers from sharing or selling data on customers' private data (such as browsing history) without the customer's permission.[68][69]

Moran opposes abortion.[70][71] He has cosponsored legislation to ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy.[72] He voted in favor of making harming a fetus during a crime a crime.[73]

Moran opposes same-sex marriage. The Human Rights Campaign has rated his voting record as zero in five separate scorecards.[74][75][76][77][78]

In September 2018, Moran voted for a package of 70 Senate bills that cost $8.4 billion and altered programs across multiple agencies as part of a bipartisan effort to prevent opioids from being shipped through the U.S. Postal Service and grant doctors the ability to prescribe medications designed to wean opioid addictions.[79]