Pat Roberts in Politico.com

On Budget & Economy: Ok to spend in time of war; otherwise don't be over-generous

Gov. Sam Brownback showered Roberts with praise for his work on a $404 million research lab at Kansas State University. But Brownback didn't mention that Roberts voted against a sweeping spending bill earlier this year that provided the money for the research lab; had his position prevailed, the project could have collapsed.

"I have voted for omnibus [spending] bills in the past; in the past, I have voted for [raising] debt ceilings," Roberts said. "But that was a time of war; we were doing emergency spending." Now, "all of a sudden, you are at $16 trillion debt," he said. "It's astounding. Now, $17 trillion, $18 trillion."

Similarly, Roberts said he voted against the farm bill because its subsidies for certain commodities were too generous and it did too little to overhaul the food stamp program. Still, when Roberts travels through the state, he touts his role crafting the law's provisions reforming the crop insurance program.

Source: Politico.com weblog on 2014 Kansas Senate race Jul 8, 2014

On Homeland Security: $200M for new fleet of tankers at McConnell Air Force Base

Roberts has a tricky task in this campaign: to showcase his clout in Congress as a reason to give him another term without allowing a grass-roots, anti-Washington movement to coalesce against him. His balancing act was on display at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita last week. A group of high-ranking politicians, including Roberts, had gathered to break ground on a nearly $200 million construction project for a new fleet of refueling tankers. Roberts boasted that he'd been pushing Congress since 2003 to act on the issue, going as far as hauling in a 3-foot rusty piece of the aging fleet to convince lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee the investment was worth it.

Gov. Sam Brownback showered Roberts with praise for his work on the project, as well as his support for a $404 million research lab at Kansas State University.

Source: Politico.com weblog on 2014 Kansas Senate race Jul 8, 2014

On Principles & Values: Group ratings more conservative in 2014 than in 2012

The end result is clear: Roberts has a substantially more conservative voting record in this Congress versus in 2012, according to ratings by Heritage Action, FreedomWorks, Club for Growth and the American Conservative Union. Indeed, in one campaign leaflet, Roberts not only touts how Heritage Action now rates him as "one of the top 5 most conservative senators" but also that he "joined" Cruz's effort to defund ObamaCare last fall, an effort that triggered a two-week government shutdown.

[His primary opponent Milton] Wolf accuses Roberts of "posing" like a conservative to save his job. "He does whatever Ted Cruz does," Wolf said. Yet as ripe as the conditions here are for a tea party upset--an entrenched GOP incumbent in a reddening state--Wolf has failed to capitalize. The 43-year-old radiologist has been hobbled by a February report in the Topeka Capital-Journal that he had posted X-ray images of gunshot victims on his Facebook page along with macabre humor.

Source: Politico.com weblog on 2014 Kansas Senate race Jul 8, 2014

The above quotations are from Columns and news articles on Politico.com. Click here for other excerpts from Columns and news articles on Politico.com. Click here for other excerpts by Pat Roberts. Click here for a profile of Pat Roberts.
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