Senator Marshall: Kansans Need a Cost of Living They Can Afford

Senator Marshall Joins KNSS's Woodard & Whit with Ted Woodward & John Whitmer to Discuss Government Funding & the Cost of Living in Kansas

Ottawa - On Friday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined KNSS'sWoodard and Whit with Ted Woodward and John Whitmer to discuss government funding, the cost of living, and healthcare in Kansas, a possible deal with Greenland, and more.

Click HERE or on the image above for Senator Marshall's full interview.

On government funding and the budget:

"Yeah, and I think we're going to be okay, the House made great progress yesterday. Both sides, the House and Senate, already passed six of the twelve buckets to fund the government. They passed the other six yesterday, and they'll come over to the Senate. I'm hoping there's no drama. Look, no one wins when there's a government shutdown. I think the good news I would communicate to folks is that we held the budget flat this year. Look, I tried to cut it-I think we're spending way more than we need to-but for the first time, in who knows how long, we've actually held our part of the budget flat. But remember this, we only get to control about a third of the budget. Two-thirds of it is mandatory spending, like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as well. So anyway, we held it flat. We're going to get through that, and then we can get down to the real issues, which I think are the cost of living, the cost of housing, the cost of health care, the cost of childcare."

On whether the Democrats will shut down the government:

"Oh, I think they'll come on board. The one they're upset about is funding for DHS, and eventually for ICE. So, they're still with this failed policy of theirs of defunding the police. Look, that's an 80/20 issue: 80% of Americans want to fund the police. But you know, the good news here is that our border is now secure, our families are safe, and we are at the lowest murder rate in America since 1914. So, we're going to fund ICE, we're going to fund DHS, and we're going to make sure families are safe and secure. They'll make a lot of noise, but I think at the end of the day, the Democrats will come along."

On the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act:

"Yeah, so you know the cost of health care has gone up over 50% under the previous administration. And you know, the premiums have doubled over the last decade or so, the deductibles have gone from $1000 to now $5-10,000 is very, very common. We've been working with the White House; Dr Oz and I started on this a year ago, New Year's Eve, with a plan. And really, this is a plan that I started five or six years ago, and this is the culmination of it. And the lead bill in this, the flagship bill for this, is our price tag bill. It would force every health care provider to show you the prices up front. Just like you would see a menu in a restaurant, and you see the cost? You would get the same thing. You say, "All right, the doctor says I need a knee surgery. Here's the code." We would have an app that you download, and you can say, "Okay, within 60 miles, here's all the prices." You would be amazed, John, the cost difference between having a hip replaced-in my home in Great Bend, we might get $15,000 from Medicare, but they might reimburse some other hospitals $55,000. An MRI-it might be $400 at an outpatient center, versus $4,000 in a medical center. So, patients deserve to know the cost. We think this will bring down the cost of healthcare to $1,000 a month for a family."

On the cost of living in Kansas:

"Well, I think it's the cost of living. Kansans are very happy that families are safe, and there's lots of good news. You know, GDP in the third quarter was 4%, we're looking at 5%. So, the economy is growing, but there's a segment, a significant group of people in Kansas, that are struggling with the cost of living. I mentioned earlier the cost of housing, the cost of health care, and the cost of childcare, and we're coming out with plans to help address those. So, working with the state officers, your state elected officials, you know, what can they do for the cost of housing? One of the biggest runups for housing is the regulatory environment, and part of those regulations come from D.C., but part of them are from Topeka, and part of them are in your backyard from your own county, your own city, that are driving up the cost of building new homes. So, what can we work on together? We're working together on our Rural Health Transformation fund, we've got $220 million. Again, this is something Dr. Oz and I started talking about a year ago, New Year's Eve, and it's come to fruition. I mean, we are on Trump Time now and just excited about the year ahead of us. We had a great year last year. Look, we've set the table last year, and I think this year we're going to see the banquet."

On a possible deal with Greenland:

"You know, I think we're starting to see it. And I keep thinking back to the story of Seward's Folly-it's one of my favorite stories that, at the time, everyone thought was a horrible idea. Matter of fact, when Thomas Jefferson did the Louisiana Purchase, he did that without even telling Congress, and a lot of people thought that was a bad idea as well. But look, Greenland is so important in today's world to our national security. The shortest distance between Moscow and Wichita, Kansas-and your listeners-is right over Greenland. So, as we build up this Golden Dome and have our interceptor missiles, just like Israel does, the best place to pick off those missiles is Greenland. And John, I'm telling you, we are three to five years away from having lasers that will do the same thing. I met the guy up in Israel who invented the laser that's actually going to work to do this. Israel will be installing it, I bet, over the next year or two. So look, we want to make your family safer, and Greenland is part of that. So, I think he's working a deal to get it. There's not going to be a military invasion; sometimes folks overreact. A word to the wise: if President Trump has a microphone in front of him, he's negotiating; he walks into a room, he's negotiating. No different than going in to buy that new car you want. You don't go in and pay the sticker price, you start negotiating, right?"

On the winter storm this weekend:

"Yeah, everybody, stay warm. Drink plenty of water. Believe it or not, you can get dehydrated when it's really cold outside, as well. If you don't need to be outside this weekend, maybe stay home. But for me, I'm going to try to go duck hunting."

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