Sen. Pat Roberts: GOP Senate is answering calls for action

One phrase you won’t see in headlines this year is “the do-nothing Congress.” The GOP-led Senate is on pace to more than double the number of votes held in the last Congress during the tenure of former Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

On the Senate Agriculture Committee, we have written, approved and signed into law three major provisions: reauthorizing mandatory price reporting, the National Forest Foundation Act and the U.S. Grain Standards Act. We’ve held more than a dozen hearings, and as chairman, I decided we’d hear from farmers and ranchers first, ahead of the administration – not a popular thing to do on Capitol Hill.

It is very important that we have finally repealed Country of Origin Labeling, protecting livestock producers, consumers and businesses across the country from $1.2 billion in trade retaliation.

On the health care front, we repealed Obamacare. The president is set to veto the bill despite the latest reports that Obamacare will cost our economy 2 million jobs by 2025. In 2016, we will continue work to fix health care, not Obamacare. We must improve access to quality care.

We passed the first balanced budget since 2001, critical veterans’ health bills, and a pay raise for our troops. We passed a major cybersecurity bill and addressed the doctor fix in Medicare – no more patches. We also approved a landmark bill combating sex trafficking.

After seven years of delay, we passed a five-year highway bill, allowing Kansas communities to plan critical projects to improve the safety and efficiency of travel.

I fought for and won critical tax relief including bonus depreciation, which is now extended for five years allowing Kansans, especially farmers and ranchers, to make long-term plans for their operations.

I am particularly proud of legislation I authored, now law, to restore local education decision-making. Washington, D.C., can no longer force a state to adopt Common Core, or any future set of standards.

Legislation I introduced to improve the safety of underground natural gas storage facilities was approved by the Commerce Committee and now goes to the full Senate. It will prevent loss of life and property suffered after the explosions in Hutchinson in 2001.

President Obama still wishes to close Guantanamo Bay and move terrorists to places like Fort Leavenworth, despite Congress’ clear opposition. As I have done since the president first tried this in 2009, I will use all tools available to stop him. Let’s keep up the pressure to keep terrorists out of our communities; sign my petition at Roberts.senate.gov.

All this represents a strong start, but we have much, much more to accomplish in 2016. As we face this ever-growing threat from ISIS and radical Muslim terrorists, we need to ensure that our intelligence community and law enforcement have the capability to keep us safe. Years of leading from behind have left our national security and foreign affairs in disarray.

In 2016, Kansans can look forward to more. We will continue to get results.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Sen. Pat Roberts: GOP Senate is answering calls for action."