Friends,
March 1 is my mother’s birthday, and very fitting for her special day, it is also International Women’s Day. I admire my mom, and the many life lessons she has taught me and still teaches me to this very today. From an early age, she showed me the value of hard work, she worked a full-time job while also raising a family and caring for us around the clock.
From teaching me the importance of having the entire family sit down for dinner, to her endless advice and support, she will always amaze me! Happy birthday, mom!
Discussing Trade and Health Care with President Trump
Last past week leaders of the Republican Study Committee had the opportunity to sit down with President Trump and talk about conservative agenda for this Congress.
As the Chairman of the Health Care Task Force, I talked to the president about our plans to drive down health care costs and other market-based reforms that would give patients choice, access, and protect those with preexisting conditions. Fixing our broken health care system has been a top priority for my office since day one- As a physician for nearly 30 years, I saw many of the problems with our current system firsthand!
But before the President and I discussed health care, he singled me out to deliver one clear message to Kansas farmers- he told me to tell the folks back home that he would not sign a bad trade deal for Kansas producers. The president confidently said that they are making significant progress with China and will prioritize the approval of USMCA by Congress.
It was great to sit down and discuss both the need of our farmers and ranchers, as well as our common vision to fix our broken health care system.
International Women’s Day
March is Women’s History Month, and March 1 is International Women’s Day, so please, I challenge you to thank those women that have positively influenced your life, improved your community and contributed to the success of our great nation.
Supporting our Veterans- Addressing Suicide and Addiction
At our legislative coffee in Junction City many of you talked with me about your time serving our nation and resources available to veterans. Supporting our men and women in uniform and our nation’s veterans is a top priority for me. Last week I wrote an op-ed discussing the common issues that many veterans are facing and what we must do to help.
One of my top concerns today is veteran suicide rates. Last week the president signed the PREVENTS (President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End A National Tragedy of Suicide) executive order to help put a stop to the 20 veterans who commit suicide each day in the United States. This new task force will be tasked with encouraging private-public partnerships to make mental healthcare more readily accessible to each and every veteran in the U.S.
In Kansas, we just opened a brand-new state of the art medical center, the Robert J. Dole Veterans Medical Center, that focuses on Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment. This center honors the 220,000 veterans across Kansas and the 20 million veterans across the United States. It’s dedicated to helping veterans who have contemplated, or attempted suicide, veterans struggling with addiction, and those in recovery.
Substance abuse and addiction is a terrible problem in our nation and often for our veterans. I fully support the work being done by this administration and in our clinics around Kansas. For as long as I am in office I will continue to fight for the men and women who have fought for us.
Read my latest op-ed on the new veterans treatment facility in Wichita HERE.
Raising Awareness for PCOS- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
During my time as an OB-GYN, I helped numerous women that struggled with PCOS through their pregnancies and their deliveries. Now on the Hill, I serve as the Co-Chair of the PCOS Caucus, where I am able to be the voice for millions of women across the country suffering from PCOS.
I am working with my fellow Co-Chair, Rep. David Scott, this Congress in introducing H.Res 146. H. Res 146 will designate September 2019 as PCOS Awareness Month. Furthermore, I am actively working with Scott on a letter that would have HHS do an inter-agency study on their work on PCOS and increase much-needed research. By advocating for both more awareness and research, I am hopeful we can help gather more information on this disease that impacts so many families. We want them to improve inter-agency collaboration, develop an awareness campaign, improve research output that will someday lead to better patient outcomes.
Last week I had the pleasure to speak with people who traveled from all over the country to D.C. for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Advocacy Day. It is so great to see so many people getting involved and advocating to their lawmakers for more awareness of this disease.
Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition is so important
I had the honor of speaking at the annual WIC Leadership Conference lst week. I’ve always supported WIC and am again working on a letter to my colleagues urging them to keep the WIC program fully funded in 2019.
As an OB-GYN, I know firsthand the importance of nutrition, and I want to assure the people of Kansas that I will always work to support mothers and children. As a physician I could not stress enough to my patients the importance of their Infants and children receiving proper nutrition at an early age. I look forward to continuing my work with WIC!
Rep. Omar- Hate has no home here
Last week I voted to stand against hatred and Anti-Semitism. This Congress must make it clear to Rep. Omar that we will not tolerate her continuous anti-Semitic rhetoric and beliefs. During this time it is important to ask ourselves why an anti-Semite is still on the Foreign Affairs Committee. We can only hope that Nancy Pelosi will see how wrong it is to allow it. It’s mind-boggling to me that Democrat Leadership keeps turning a blind eye and not taking action to remove this type of hatred from this important committee.
Dr. Roger Marshall, R-Great Bend, is the Kansas First District Congressman.