Stop Stalling Act and Creates Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, this week, as we know, our Nation observes National Police Week, a time when we pay tribute to our law enforcement officers, especially those who died in the line of duty. Today I rise to honor their dedication and their significant and tremendous sacrifice.

On Monday evening, thousands of people gathered on the National Mall to pay tribute to the 371 officers who gave their lives in the line of duty. Four officers from Kansas were among those memorialized on Monday.

Last June, Wyandotte County sheriff's deputies Theresa King and Patrick Rohrer were shot and killed while preparing to transport a prisoner. Theresa King joined the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office in 2005. A working mother of three children, Theresa, or ``TK,'' was known for coming to work every day with a smile and a willingness to help out in any way that she could. She is a founding member of the Kansas City- based Lancaster-Melton Peacekeepers Civitan Club, a group of law enforcement officers and their families dedicated to honoring slain officers.

Patrick Rohrer, a husband and father of two children, joined the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office in 2011. Patrick was known as a dedicated deputy that never lost his sense of humor and often peppered his colleagues with his favorite ``Star Wars'' quotes. He was also known for his competitive spirit.

Patrick had been a varsity letterman on the swim team at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. His family's motto became ``Keep on Swimming.''

I will echo Wyandotte County's Sheriff Don Ash's words in memorializing the deputies: ``Theresa and Patrick were heroes in every sense of the word'' when they put ``their lives between a cold-blooded killer and the citizens they swore an oath to protect.''

In September, Deputy Sheriff Robert Kunze of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office was fatally shot during an encounter with a suspect in a stolen vehicle. He, too, was a husband and father who had served with the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office for 12 years and had previously served with the Shawnee County Sheriff's Office for 6 years.

Robert Kunze's impact on the department was made apparent when Sedgwick County's Sheriff Jeff Easter referred to his death as the loss of a ``family member.'' Robert was known as an exceptional law enforcement officer and has been remembered by his colleagues as having a contagious laugh that always made others feel welcome.

This year we also memorialized Jefferson County undersheriff George Burnau, who died in the line of duty on April 29, 1920. His dedication set an example for generations of law enforcement officers in Kansas and around the country, those that followed him.

I would like to honor one additional law enforcement officer who is serving on my staff as a Department of Justice fellow. ATF Special Agent Matt Beccio has become an integral part of our team over the past year, giving sound advice on issues relating to Justice and traveling to Kansas to meet with local law enforcement officials. His firsthand enforcement experience and passion for bettering the lives of law enforcement officers across the country have been tremendous assets to our office. This week Matt led members of my staff in participating in Police Week's 5K memorial run alongside Kansas law enforcement and their colleagues from across the country.

Thank you, Matt, for your dedication and for using your role in our office to better support your colleagues in law enforcement.

During National Police Week and throughout the year, we are reminded that law enforcement needs our support. We must provide them with the resources they need to do their jobs. As chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Department of Justice and, particularly, those law enforcement grants, I am committed to doing so.

We know we must provide the tools that law enforcement needs to build and strengthen the bonds of trust with those they serve and provide our best efforts to address the underlying challenges and the challenges of our society and of our country that face each and every community.

We honor the service and sacrifice of our Nation's fallen law enforcement officers, not only for the sake of those who have departed but as a reminder to all of us that remain.

May God bless our law enforcement officers and protect them from harm as they faithfully perform their duties each and every day.

65th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

Mr. President, on the of 65th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision on Brown v. Board of Education, I rise to pay tribute to the Topeka, KS, families, led by the Browns and all Kansans who took part in challenging the injustice of racial segregation.

For 60 years, leading up to Brown, much of America adhered to the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that established the doctrine of ``separate but equal.'' However, when applied to school buildings and the education of our children, nothing about it was equal.

In 1951, Linda Carol Brown was in the third grade and would walk six blocks to a bus stop that would take her to Monroe Elementary, more than a mile away from her home, despite the fact that Sumner Elementary was seven blocks from her home. Even after repeated applications for attendance at the neighborhood school, the Browns and other families were rejected. They were rejected because of the color of their skin.

In that year, 13 parents, led by Linda's father Oliver, filed suit against the Topeka Board of Education on behalf of their 20 children. Combining other cases throughout the country, Thurgood Marshall argued on their behalf before the U.S. Supreme Court--the Court that he would later join as a Justice.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously issued its landmark decision announcing that Plessy's ``separate but equal'' doctrine violated the Fourteenth Amendment. While full integration would take years to accomplish, the events set in motion by these determined parents were irreversible, and they are worthy of our respect and honor today.

Nowhere was this truer than in the city where it all started. Before the case had even reached the Supreme Court, the Topeka Board of Education began integrating its primary schools.

Kansas had its pre-Civil War bloodshed to determine whether the Territory would enter the Union as a free State or slave State, and Wichita was home to one of the first sit-ins to integrate drugstore lunch counters. But it is Brown v. Board of Education that is our State's greatest connection to the Nation's pursuit of racial justice.

That these events happened in Kansas reflect the imperfect history of our State and of our Nation, but also the resolve of individual Kansans and national organizations like the NAACP to right wrongs and to make ``a more perfect union,'' as our Constitution contemplates.

On this anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, we remember the legacy left behind by Linda Brown and her parents. Linda Brown just passed away last year, and we honor her, her family, and all those involved in the civil rights movement.

This legacy is one that requires all Americans--each of us--to uphold the self-evident truth that all men and women are created equal. Let us remember the legacy of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, and in doing so, I ask every American to commit to racial justice and equal opportunity.

Disaster Relief

Mr. President, I rise to speak about the devastation I have seen as I toured flooded areas of Kansas, as well as parts of Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa, and the need for Congress to pass a disaster bill to provide assistance to impacted agricultural producers.

Kansas farmers and ranchers have endured several challenging years. Since 2013, net farm income has been cut in half due to low commodity prices. The flooding across Kansas and the Midwest has been one more setback in the long list of challenges facing our farmers and ranchers.

In the days following the worst flooding, I visited areas of Kansas that were underwater. I saw farm ground that cannot be planted or put into use until significant time, effort, and resources are invested in restoring that land. Continued rainfall across the State and region has threatened to cause additional flooding in many areas as well as delayed planning for many farmers.

It is important and it is necessary that Congress meet the challenge of providing assistance to those producers, many of whom lost everything. As negotiations continue on a disaster bill, I would like to highlight the importance of providing funds for the Emergency Conservation Program and amending the current disaster program to help cover the cost of lost stored grain.

The Emergency Conservation Program was authorized to help producers restore land damaged from natural disasters, including floods. Kansans are, unfortunately, familiar with ECP as a result of assistance our State received to help rebuild fences following the devastating wildfires of 2017 and 2018. However, this program does not currently have sufficient funds to cover producers impacted by this year's floods.

I asked Secretary Perdue about the ECP budget shortfall at a recent Ag Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, and as expected, he gave his full endorsement and support for Congress to provide funds for ECP in this disaster bill. Secretary Perdue recognizes that funds must be provided to ECP and other ag disaster programs to help producers restore damaged land and remove flood debris. Congress must also provide assistance to producers who lost stored grain due to floods.

Oftentimes, the farmer's income or revenue is not money in the bank but instead grain stored in a bin waiting to be sold. With market uncertainty due to trade disputes, farmers have more grain in storage than usual, waiting for prices to increase. When that grain is wiped out by floods, it is similar to the family's savings account being drained of its cash.

Currently, disaster programs are not equipped to help these producers who lost a year's worth of work and income when their stored grain was damaged or destroyed. Congress has the opportunity in the disaster bill to give USDA the authority to cover the loss of stored grain and to help these producers get back on their feet.

While faced with these great challenges, farmers and ranchers continue to provide the food, fuel, and fiber to our Nation and the world. Agriculture is one of the most demanding ways of life. It is full of uncertainty, but it is also a very noble calling.

It is imperative that Congress pass a disaster bill to help producers who lost goods to floods and other disasters and to make certain farmers and ranchers across the Nation know that we appreciate what they do to provide for our Nation.

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