By DAVID CLOUSTON
Salina Journal
The United States is the only country in the world that's deliberately devastating its own economy by refusing to develop its own energy resources, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said Monday at a meeting of the Salina Noon Rotary Club at the Bicentennial Center.
Roberts said the No. 1 concern in the U.S. right now is energy and gasoline prices. He said he supports greater domestic energy production.
"I support a comprehensive approach," said Roberts, who's up for re-election. "We need to increase domestic energy production from all sources.
"We need to allow deep-sea drilling, we need to expand the alternative energy production," including oil shale, ethanol, biodiesel, battery-powered vehicles, wind, solar power, coal and nuclear energy.
While the purchasing oil from overseas suppliers contributes to the nation's budget deficit, the heart of America's budget deficit lies in entitlements -- think Medicare, Social Security -- that are ripe for reform.
Roberts said you can add in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina and tornadoes such as the one that nearly wiped out Greensburg.
"Everyone hollers about discretionary spending," said Roberts, 72. He said so-called "earmarks," money in congressional appropriation bills tagged for lawmakers' home state projects, have been flat for two years.
"It's entitlements that's been eating up (the budget)," Roberts said.
"If we can reform Medicare and get at the root causes instead of trying to ration health care out here, then you can do Social Security," he said.
Earmarks not all bad
Several of Salina's interstate highway interchanges that have driven business development in south Salina through the years were funded by earmarks.
"You'll be hearing this (earmarks) term a lot this campaign season. I just want you to know that while some may call those earmarks or pork, I call them investments in Salina, jobs and also economic development for north-central Kansas," he said. "At any rate, I think there's a big difference."
Roberts' election opponent, Democrat Jim Slattery, a former Kansas congressman, has challenged Roberts for his stands on what Slattery calls the "big three" issues -- the war in Iraq, fuel prices and the federal budget deficit.
Roberts, in his remarks to the group and later with a reporter and editor at the Journal, addressed those issues and others, such as the newly passed federal farm bill.
Not a great farm bill
Commodity tax and renewable energy programs in the newest farm bill that Congress passed will provide farmers a safety net when prices fall, Roberts said. He broke with President Bush over the issue, voting to override a White House veto of the bill.
"It's not the best possible farm bill, but it was the best bill possible under somewhat difficult circumstances," Roberts told his audience.
The bill increased transparency of transactions in the commodity futures market, he said. It also addressed a loophole enabling market speculators to use the commodities markets to drive up the price of crude oil, heating oil, gasoline and diesel fuel.
Roberts' harshest criticisms Monday were leveled at proposed cuts in Medicare reimbursements. The House and Senate in July overrode President Bush's veto and reversed a cut in doctors' pay and other aspects of Medicare. The White House favored the reductions in Medicare programs.
Reversing the cuts is crucial to the survival of health care providers, pharmacists and others in the state's rural areas, Roberts told the audience.
"They call it 'triage' in Washington. That's a real fancy word for rationing health care in our rural areas," he said. "I regret the president chose to veto the bill, but we overrode that veto."
Boeing tanker contract
Later at the Journal, Roberts spoke about the reopened, $35 billion refueling Air Force tanker contract competition between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman, which is partnering with European aircraft maker Airbus.
Chicago-based Boeing's original proposal was rejected by the Air Force, which wanted a larger plane with a greater fueling capacity, enabling fighter jets and other military planes to operate over longer distances. Boeing has supplied refuling tankers for half a century.
Roberts said Boeing's medium-sized tankers can be built faster and cheaper, and he questions the need for a larger plane with more fuel.
To put the military's eggs in the basket of a foreign contractor with a military procurement matter as large as the tanker fleet is risky, Roberts thinks.
Roberts' years of experience in Washington are already being seized upon by Slattery in TV commercials, which note that "40 years should be enough for anyone."
Slattery criticizes Roberts as a Washington insider, going back to the time Roberts was a congressional aide in Washington. Roberts actually has 28 years service in both the House and Senate.
Slattery served six years in the Kansas House and 11 years in the U.S. House as the 2nd Congressional District representative. He joined a Washington lobbying firm after losing the 1994 race for governor, giving him 25 years Washington experience.
"I was elected to do a job for the public," Roberts said. "He was there earning money for himself. But there was nothing wrong with that."
n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.
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