Supporting Police

This week, President Obama announced he would seek to restrict local law enforcement from receiving lifesaving, surplus federal equipment, such as riot helmets and riot shields. After the riots in Baltimore, Ferguson, and New York City, where protesters torched police cars and hurled bricks, cement blocks, and glass bottles at law enforcement, why would we make it harder to send riot gear that would otherwise sit unused to unprotected police officers across the country?

I cannot stand by and watch the President take away this lifesaving equipment from the brave men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting our communities all across Pennsylvania and America. That is why I sent a letter directly to President Obama clearly laying out my concerns with his decision.

We should be helping our police officers who are running towards chaos, destruction, and violence - as we recently saw during the motorcycle gang shooting Waco, Texas. We should not be making their jobs more dangerous. You can read my entire letter to President Obama here. You can also watch my video from last week as our nation celebrated National Police Week.

Last year, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a form of blood cancer. In response, my wife, Kris, has embarked on an extraordinary journey. While reading a magazine at her mother's bedside in the hospital, she discovered a team was being put together by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation for the Ironman Lake Placid this July to raise money for research, and with the support of our family, she decided to undertake the daunting task of competing in and completing the race.

While Kris is training hard and will be prepared, it will not be easy. An Ironman competition consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike course, and a 26.2-mile run. While I am glad to join my wife for 3-mile runs, I can't imagine myself competing in this event. So, I will be rooting her on from the sidelines in Lake Placid and look forward to seeing her cross the finish line.

This week, I attended the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Charity Classic in Washington, D.C., and spoke with survivors and patient advocates. My family and I are committed to raising awareness of this disease, and we look forward to the day a cure is found.

You can learn more about Kris's efforts and training in Women's Running.

The town of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania is in Centre County and has a population fewer than 4,000. It sits in a beautiful valley in the shadow of Mt. Nittany. Boalsburg claims to be the birthplace of Memorial Day - as do about two dozen other towns across our country.

Having visited and met with the people of Boalsburg, I know they are right. Legend and scholarship tell us that in the fall of 1864, three local women visited the cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of a father and son who had died in the Civil War. As the women left, they agreed to return the next year to remember not only their loved ones, but others.

The following July 4, friends accompanied them. Prayers were offered. Graves were tended. No headstone was left unadorned. Their tradition continued. And in 1868, May 30 was declared Decoration Day across the country. But it wasn't until 1971 that the U.S. officially celebrated Memorial Day on the last Monday in May.

The three Boalsburg ladies are the mothers of a rich American tradition and fitting tribute to those who gave their lives in defense of our country. This year, we will celebrate Memorial Day on May 25^th. I will be visiting Hope Cemetery in Kutztown to attend the American Legion Post 480's Veterans Memorial Day Ceremony. Meeting with Pennsylvania veterans is a constant reminder that we owe our veterans a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay.

I encourage you to read about three Pennsylvania war heroes in my recent column here.

I recently sat down with the Editorial Board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to discuss how the Republican-led Senate is getting things done, how I am working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and my legislative priorities for this Congress.

So far, the Senate has passed more than a dozen bipartisan bills this year. We passed the Clay Hunt Act to provide better mental health services to our returning soldiers, a bill to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline to create thousands of jobs, legislation to fix a flawed Medicare formula, a bill to give Congress a say on any final nuclear deal with Iran, and legislation that targets human traffickers and better protects the victims. The Senate also passed a budget that balances in nine years, as well as bipartisan bills which I have cosponsored that will help protect our law enforcement - for example, legislation reauthorizing the bulletproof vest grant program.

The American people deserve better than how the Senate had been run in the past few years. With new leadership this year, I am working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reinvigorate the Senate's legislative process and advance common sense policies that will help Pennsylvanians.

You can read more about my visit to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review here . (Photo: JC Schisler/Total Trib Media)

On Tuesday, Penn State University President Eric Barron visited my Washington, D.C. office. We discussed the economic development plan of the university, including how they are pairing researchers with advisors from their business school to develop products that can be brought to the market for consumers.

Penn State is a world-class university that I am proud to represent in the Senate. I look forward to staying in touch with President Barron and continuing our relationship to advance the research and education of its students.