Friends,
This week people across the country gathered with their friends, families, and churches to celebrate the National Day of Prayer, we also remembered the six million lives lost under the Nazi regime, for Holocaust Remembrance week. Every work week that we’re in D.C., I attend a bipartisan weekly prayer group with other members. In those meetings we give thanks to the Lord and pray that he continues to protect and guide us and this great nation. We must continue above all else to pray and to love each other, always standing firm against hated and antisemitism in all forms and never forget what evil this type of destruction caused during the darkest days of our world’s history.
We also received a great pro-life ruling from the Trump Administration this week. The HHS ruled that no physician or nurse should be forced to perform an abortion. This is great news, and I am thankful that the Trump Administration is standing up for the pro-life community’s religious liberties.
Holocaust Remembrance
This week we Honor the 6 million Jewish men, women, and children who were violently murdered by the Nazi regime for their religious beliefs. We remembered the victims that lost their lives to this evil regime with a bipartisan candle lighting ceremony in the Capitol, and we celebrated with survivors that beat the unthinkable odds and stood before us and shared their stories.
As the most well-documented genocide in human history, the evil and unimaginable torture throughout the Holocaust will forever haunt us. We must never tolerate or overlook antisemitism in any form.
In 2017, I had an emotional experience at the Holocaust Museum in Israel with my wife. There we heard from other survivors and walked through the hall of names honoring the six million victims of the Holocaust.
The Holocaust showed that a society that tolerates antisemitism is susceptible to other forms of racism, hatred, and oppression. We must make it abundantly clear to those with this deep hatred in their heart, that this country has zero tolerance for this type of evil.
This week I addressed the House floor to tell the story of a Kansas survivor of the Holocaust.
National Day of Prayer
This week millions of Americans gathered and celebrated the National Day of Prayer. This year’s theme, based upon the words of Jesus in John 13:34, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you.” As we are met with challenges, we must continue to seek his guidance and wisdom through prayer and always above else, love one another.
Every week I sit down with other members of our bipartisan prayer group and we pray together for his continued direction and wisdom when serving this country. As we are met with challenges, we must continue to seek guidance through prayer.
Community Bankers in DC
We had a full house on Tuesday when the Kansas Community Bankers came through the office! We talked about the importance of community banks across Kansas, and how they’re working to protect consumer data privacy and ensure access to capital for our farmers, ranchers, and main street businesses. As a former community bank board member myself, I understand the importance of these institutions to our small communities, and appreciate the work they’re doing to help rural America thrive!
Meeting with the Ambassador to Paraguay
This week I met with the new Ambassador from Paraguay, Mauel María Cáceres, to discuss the long-standing friendship between Paraguay and Kansas. In 1968, Kansas-Paraguay Partners Inc. (KPP) and the Comité Paraguay Kansas (CPK) developed hundreds of community-based partnership projects in both Kansas and Paraguay as part of the Partners of the Americas program. Since its creation nearly 2,000 Paraguayan’s have attended Kansas Universities as a result of the exchange. Today our partnership continues and the relationship remains as strong as ever.
The educational exchange seeks to benefit both sides of the partnership through learning opportunities covering agriculture, education, the cultural arts, health, international trade, natural resources, citizen participation, emergency preparedness, and much more.
In our meeting, we discussed the exchange between Paraguay and Kansas, and the bond we have through this program. We have a lot in common with Paraguay, they too rely heavily on their farmers, agribusiness, and selling of commodities through international trade. Also much like Kansans, the majority of Paraguayans are Christian and care deeply about god, family, and their country.
I was glad to meet with the Ambassador and look forward to building upon the Kansas-Paraguay relationship in the future!
Agriculture Subcommittee Hearing
The US dairy industry has faced a multi-year period of low margins and challenging market conditions. To address these issues the Livestock and Foreign Agriculture subcommittee, on which I proudly serve, held a hearing this week to hear directly from dairy farmers and experts from different regions on ways Congress can help address these issues. We discussed the ongoing labor shortage on farms, the importance of passage of USMCA and other trade deals, and the role that dairy cooperatives owned by family farmers play in assisting dairy producers back home.
Cooperatives, like Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), guarantee producers have a place to sell their milk, even if it means taking it at a loss. They also provide many other services for their members that producers rely on for making the right decisions on their farms. DFA recently relocated its headquarters from Missouri to Kansas and has a large milk powder processing plant located in Garden City. The plant is owned by twelve of its member farms in Southwest Kansas and is helping to support the industry’s continued growth in the region, as well as meet rising demand for U.S. dairy both domestically and globally.
Grain Inspection and Weighing Agency
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to meet with and address the American Association of Grain Inspection & Weighing Agencies. AAGIWA represents the state and private partners, authorized by the Federal Grain Inspection Service, to provide official inspection and weighing services to the grain industry on their behalf.
We discussed the importance of pending trade deals, farm bill implementation, foreign aid, and the need to repair and modernize our country’s aging infrastructure system. There were several Kansans in the group representing the Kansas Grain Inspection Service, which is responsible for providing official grain inspection services for all of Kansas, Colorado, western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. KGIS maintains offices in Colby, Concordia, Dodge City, Garden City, Salina, Sidney, Kansas City, Wichita, and Topeka where they are responsible for grading samples representing roughly 500,000,000 bushels of wheat (57%), sorghum (19%), corn (15%), soybeans (7%), and other grains (2%) annually.
We are blessed to have farmers who produce the safest, most plentiful, and highest quality grains in the world. The work being done by AAGIWA and KGIS allow the fruits of that labor to get to market safely and efficiently. I look forward to continuing to support this important work and appreciate them inviting me to speak!
Electric Cooperatives
Many representatives from electric cooperatives across the district were in town this week to discuss issues impacting their industry. From the importance of upgrading and maintaining infrastructure to innovations helping our co-ops deliver energy more cleanly and efficiently to consumers, these companies understand the unique challenges facing rural America and are working hard to keep their members at the forefront of the conversation.
Dr. Roger Marshall, R-Great Bend, is the First District Kansas Congressman.