Welcome back to the new and improved, relaunched monthly Kansas GOP newsletter. Happy Kansas Day! As we begin with a recap of the first month of 2021, we begin with some excellent news on this day we are celebrating March for Life virtually due to COVID-19. You can watch along here.
Thanks to your efforts this past election cycle, we now have a solid conservative supermajority in the Kansas Legislature - and that supermajority is already paying off. I am happy to report that the Value Them Both Constitutional Amendment passed both chambers of the Legislature with the requisite 2/3rd majority to get on the ballot in August 2022. A Kansas Supreme Court decision finding a right to an abortion in our Kansas Constitution has prevented our Legislature from implementing common sense abortion restrictions for two years. Furthermore, the laws already on the books are being threatened by legal challenges. Thankfully, Value Them Both will restore the power to the people of our state, not liberal judges appointed by Kathleen Sebelius and Laura Kelly. Majority Leader Dan Hawkins provides some excellent insight on this topic in our State Update below.
On a separate note, yesterday I testified before the House Elections Committee in favor of legislation to restore the power of selecting a replacement Treasurer or Insurance Commissioner to the people. Right now, the power rests with the governor, as we saw with Laura Kelly appointing Lynn Rogers to replace Jake LaTurner recently. When voters go to the ballot box and select a Treasurer, they vote for the policies of the party of the individual. A governor of the other party shouldn't be allowed to subvert the will of the voters by filling a vacancy with someone of the other party. We should fill these replacements just like we do for legislative vacancies, and I am confident this bill will move forward to do so.
Unfortunately, 2021 is beginning with not all good news. Governor Laura Kelly is overseeing one of the most disastrous state government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in America. Kansas is near the bottom in every category, including testing per capita, vaccine distribution per capita, and economic recovery. Governor Kelly has nothing but excuses to show for it. That's why our top priority this election cycle is making sure she is a one-term governor and she is replaced by a strong conservative leader in 2022.
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Kansas is in crisis under Governor Laura Kelly.
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At the federal level, the Biden Administration has gotten off to exactly the type of start we feared - as Senator Roger Marshall will explain in the Federal Update below. Joe Biden spent his entire campaign and his inauguration calling for unity and healing, and over the first few weeks of his administration he's has unilaterally enacted divisive policies favored by only the left fringe of his party. President Biden's executive orders have eliminated 11,000 American energy jobs by blocking construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, put a new glass ceiling in place for women by threatening to withhold federal education funding for schools unless they allow biological male athletes to compete in girls' sports, reinstated the policy of spending taxpayer dollars on abortions in foreign countries, and much more. With Democrat majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, there's not much our federal delegation can do to stop Biden. That's why another top priority for 2022 will be defeating Sharice Davids and sending a conservative to Congress to end Nancy Pelosi's tenure as Speaker of the House.
On a positive note, members of our federal delegation have been hard at work fighting for perhaps the most important issue we face - life. Senator Marshall introduced legislation to prevent any COVID-19 relief funding from going to pay for abortions. Senator Moran joined him as a cosponsor of the bill. Representative Estes introduced legislation to ban abortions on the basis of a Down syndrome diagnosis. We greatly appreciate these legislators working on our behalf and we are going to make sure they're joined by a Republican from the Third District in 2023.
We won't be able to do any of this important work without your help. If you're already sick and tired of the Biden Administration like I am, and you want a Republican governor leading our state, chip in with a recurring donation to make sure we have the resources we need to stop them. Anything you can afford will go a long way for us, even $5 a month. Your generosity is what fuels this movement and will lead us to victory in 2022 and beyond.
Thank you as always for your unwavering support.
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Well, folks, my first few weeks in the U.S Senate unfortunately find us in the midst of another sham Democrat impeachment effort. Not only is it unconstitutional to impeach a President after he leaves office, I firmly believe an impeachment effort at this juncture will only raise already heated temperatures of the American public and further divide our country. And on top of that, we found that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will not even preside, making this a charade. For these reasons we must vote on a motion to dismiss this charade.
While the Democrats in Congress are chasing headlines about impeachment, President Joe Biden meanwhile – appearing Machiavellian – is issuing Executive Order after Executive Order, committing all of his sins in the first week. Biden and the left promised unity and to lower the temperature but everything they have done thus far has only heightened the temperature and further divided the nation. Their policies are creating uncertainty, killing jobs, slowing economic recovery, making us dependent on oil from the Middle East, and driving up prices for Americans across the board. He even went so far as to issue an Executive Order forcing schools to include transgender athletes in girls' sports.
That said, I am focused on the real work: getting the COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of all those who want and need it, boosting job recovery, opening our economy back up to pre-pandemic levels, and protecting our Kansas way of life.
In fact, when it comes to protecting our Kansas way of life, I was proud that my first bill in the U.S. Senate protects life of the unborn. You can learn more about my bill here. Being pro-life is just part of who I am and there is no other alternative. As an obstetrician, it’s been a thrill of my life to get to bring thousands of babies into the world and now it’s a thrill of my life to be in the U.S. Senate and continue the fight for pro-life policies.
Make no mistake, we have an uphill battle ahead of us having lost the White House and being in the minority in both chambers of Congress. But, if we stay united as a party, we can protect our Kansas values, our freedoms, and our liberties all the while tackling the many issues facing our nation.
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The 2021 legislative session has already been a busy one. One of the first items on the agenda every year is the Governor’s proposed budget. This year, Governor Kelly included a third attempt to refinance KPERS payments and bring on an additional $4.6 BILLION dollars in debt to be covered by future generations. Her proposed budget also includes a tax increase on digital sales, including streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.
In addition, Governor Kelly is once again trying to expand Medicaid, a flawed plan that would massively expand government and increase the administrative workload during a time when her administration is already struggling to process unemployment claims, combat unemployment fraud, and perform many of the other core services government is required by law to accomplish.
The Governor continues to promote policies Kansas voters have rejected time and again. It’s up to Republicans to make the voices of Kansans heard in Topeka.
Stay tuned for Legislative Republicans to unveil a number of important action items in an attempt to improve life for Kansans, reopen our economy, and encourage strong economic growth. For now, I want to highlight the Value Them Both constitutional amendment which is an essential response to the radical Kansas Supreme Court decision that found the Kansas constitution contains the right to an abortion. Without this amendment nothing stands in the way of unrestricted abortions on healthy babies, up to the moment of birth — using extreme procedures like partial birth and dismemberment. That’s why this is the most important legislation I will ever work on in the House, and that’s why Republican leadership has worked night and day to ensure we do the will of the people by passing this vital measure without delay. Fifteen lives a day are worth the effort.
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As COVID-19 continues to alter everyone's plans, we are moving our state convention back a few months in the hopes for a safer environment with greater attendance.
Purchase your tickets before January 31st to get the early bird rate of $50. Prices will go up to $75 on February 1st.
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