The biggest mistake you can make in business is hiring the wrong person.
It looks like the big 1st Congressional District of Kansas may have hired the right one for the job. Congressman Roger Marshall stopped by the KJCK studios Monday afternoon for an exclusive interview where he discussed everything from agriculture to healthcare.
Marshall said he’s not worried about the appointment, or lack thereof at this point, of an Agriculture Secretary in the Trump Administration.
“I just have to have faith; Mr. Trump has made great appointments so far [and] I would assume the reason he’s not announced somebody is that he hasn’t found the right person for the job – and I think most of us that have been in business realize that the biggest mistake you can do is hiring the wrong person , but I have faith he’ll find the right person,” said Marshall.
Marshall was selected for a seat on the House Agriculture Committee for the 115th Congress, something he says is very important for Kansans.
“We’re the largest Ag producing Congressional District in the country…the average income for a farmer last year was $6000 – we need a safety net – and what it means to the average farmer is we have to somehow figure out a way to keep them solvent and not go in to bankruptcy,” said Marshall.
Kansas has maintained a seat on the House Ag Committee for the last century, with the exception of the last three years.
An obstetrician from Great Bend, Marshall said that healthcare reform will be one of the key issues for legislators as Donald Trump prepares to take office.
“I want to reassure people we’re not going to push them off a cliff, we’re not going to pull a rug out from under them…you know this is not going to transition overnight – we’ll write the law this summer but we will give everybody plenty of time to change over,” said Marshall.
Marshall said that he traveled 30,000 miles across Kansas during his campaign, and the overwhelming majority of people were dissatisfied with the current Federal Healthcare Law.
“Unfortunately, it was a nightmare what we saw were $12,000 deductibles and premiums going up 20, 40, 60 percent; so even though people had insurance it wasn’t functionable, if you’ve got a five or ten thousand dollar deductible – who’s got that type of money in savings – so it just proved to be impractical,” said Marshall.
Marshall said he doesn’t foresee a federal mandate under the Trump administration requiring everyone to have health insurance.
Marshall will spend the next week visiting communities in the First Congressional District, which includes Junction City, before preparing for the Inauguration of Donald Trump this weekend.