Unlike the former vice president, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wouldn’t describe President Obama’s decision-making on Afghanistan troop levels as “dithering,” but Roberts told Topeka TV station WIBW that Obama has “got to get off the dime. He’s got to make a decision.” While Obama goes through one comprehensive review after another, Roberts said, “you’re endangering the support of our allies, who wonder if we’re really going to be there. You’re certainly endangering our relationship with (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai, regardless of what you think of him, and I think you’re endangering a lot of young men and women who are under a great deal of pressure over there and their lives are at stake.”
Kansas’ GOP members of Congress oppose cutting billions of dollars in federal subsidies to privately run Medicare Advantage plans as a way to help pay for health care reform. But Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger says the cuts make sense. “When Congress is looking for savings, this is a very appropriate place to look,” Praeger told the Kansas Health Institute News Service. “I mean, keep in mind, Advantage plans are supposed to be costing less, not more.” Praeger said the private plans currently cost 13 to 14 percent more than traditional Medicare.
The 2010 Legislature expects to re-examine the death penalty and debate a state smoking ban, as well as deal with a budget crisis. But it should be brief, noted Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Ric Anderson. “If there’s ever been a year for a short session, this is it,” he wrote. “Last year, it cost $78,158 per day for the Legislature to be in session. This year, the price tag will be slightly higher because of an increase in the per diem compensation given to lawmakers, which means a 90-day session would cost well more than $7 million. Cut the session to 45 days, though, and there’s $3.5 million that could be spent somewhere else in the budget. Granted, that’s a drop in the bucket when the latest projections show revenue is $235 million short, but every little bit helps.”
To encourage lawmakers to get in and out as quickly as possible, Anderson proposed “adopting a temporary rule change allowing legislators to throw their shoes at anyone who proposes frivolous proclamations or bills, like naming an official state spore or imposing a ban on declawing cats.”
“We’ve got a whole generation who will be negatively impacted . . . by the idiots and fools in Washington and Topeka that have been making policy.” — 2010 Commission member and former Kansas GOP chairman Dennis Jones of Lakin
“We’ve cut so deep in the meat, it’s tragic.” — Lawrence schools superintendent Rick Doll
“You can’t get blood out of a turnip. By joining it, we’re draining what resources we have left.” — Silver Lake school board president Sam Grant, who opposes joining another Schools for Fair Funding lawsuit against the state
