A new proposal designed to keep Lawrence in the 3rd Congressional District will be made this week in the Kansas Senate.

State Sen. Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said Saturday the plan would put most of Douglas County outside of Lawrence in the 2nd Congressional District and split Johnson County between the 2nd and 3rd districts.

Although part of Douglas County has always been in the 2nd District, Johnson County has always remained entirely in the 3rd District.

“What’s good enough for Douglas County is good enough for Johnson County,” Hensley said during the Capital Connections legislative breakfast conducted by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. About 90 people attended the breakfast at the Hereford House, 4931 W. Sixth St.

Although the proposal puts southern Johnson County in the 2nd District, the district boundaries do not divide any cities, Hensley said.

The proposal will be made to the Senate Committee on Reapportionment, said Hensley, who is the ranking minority member on that committee.

Earlier this month, the House approved a new congressional map that splits Lawrence between the 2nd and 3rd districts roughly along Iowa Street, with the eastern side remaining in the 3rd District.

Both U.S. Reps. Dennis Moore, the 3rd District’s Democratic representative, and 2nd District Republican Jim Ryun attended the breakfast. They promised to continue to work together no matter how Lawrence and Douglas County might be divided.

The other major topic during the breakfast was the state’s budget woes. Despite the latest proposal from Gov. Bill Graves, legislators are not even close to a resolution, Douglas County lawmakers said.

“When we get done, very few of you are going to be happy with us,” said Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence.

Graves’ proposed a new budget Friday calling for $364 million in new taxes and $366 million in spending cuts to deal with a deficit of about $700 million.

The situation is so bad and agreement on solutions so elusive that “we are in uncharted waters,” said Rep. Troy Findley, D-Lawrence.

Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, said she continues to support a mixture of new taxes and cuts. She and the other legislators said they were especially interested in protecting spending on education.

If taxes are increased, however, the Legislature needs to take a comprehensive look at what those taxes are  especially in the area of sales taxes  and not just look for short-term solutions, Praeger said.

Rep. Ralph Tanner, R-Baldwin, criticized legislative leaders for not showing leadership in tackling the budget.

“It’s a sad situation  nobody’s in charge,” Tanner said.

On the national level, Moore and Ryun said the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 last year unified the country more than anything else in decades. Despite the needs in defense and anti-terrorism efforts, Congress should focus on fiscal responsibility, Moore said.

Moore also said Congress needs to get to work on providing financial relief for senior citizens paying for prescription medication.

Ryun said he supports a rollback in cuts in home health care. Moore said cuts in Medicare reimbursements went too far in an attempt to balance the budget two years ago.