Washington ? Kansans in Congress vowed to push forward with initiatives to revive the economy and fight terrorism outlined in President Bush’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Bush’s efforts to boost the sagging economy are anchored by a $674 billion plan, nearly all of it devoted to tax cuts. GOP Rep. Todd Tiahrt said the plan is good for his Wichita-based district, whose aviation industry has endured more than 11,000 layoffs.

“It is important to remember these laid-off workers need a paycheck, not just an unemployment check,” Tiahrt said. “The economic growth package the President unveiled tonight will help create jobs.”

That’s good for cities and towns in Kansas, said Rep. Jerry Moran, the Republican who represents western Kansas.

“If we’re going to have an improved economy in our state, it’s going to be because good things happen on Main Street and in small manufacturing,” Moran said.

Tiahrt and GOP colleagues planned to get started today on one component of Bush’s plan: $3,000 personal “re-employment” accounts to pay for training, child care, transportation and other costs of finding a new job.

Tax-cut plan

Republican Sen. Sam Brownback said Bush’s plan to make already-scheduled tax cuts happen faster “will make positive strides to ease the tax burden on hardworking families.”

“The federal government has overtaxed the people of Kansas for too long,” Brownback said, adding that he wants to go beyond Bush’s economic plan to reform the U.S. tax code.

The only Kansas Democrat in Congress, Rep. Dennis Moore, said he agreed with some tax cuts in Bush’s plan but was worried about a controversial proposal to eliminate taxes on stock dividends.

Kansas’ tax collection system is built on the federal tax code, and state officials say the stock dividend idea would cost Kansas revenues of $51 million.

“Kansas is in a billion-dollar hole, and they just simply can’t afford to take a hit like that,” said Moore, who represents the Kansas City-area suburbs and part of Lawrence. “The other part of the problem with this dividend proposal is, what will it do to municipal bonds?”

Officials are worried the Bush tax break would make stocks a more attractive investment than the bonds issued by states and municipalities for building schools, roads and other projects.

Foreign issues

Only half of Bush’s speech covered domestic priorities; the other half focused on the threat posed by Iraq as well as ongoing efforts in the war on terrorism the United States has waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

To bolster efforts to prevent further attacks, Bush is proposing a new Terrorist Threat Integration Center to merge and analyze information from the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security Department and Department of Defense.

The move drew applause from Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Roberts said the panel’s work has shown lawmakers that the U.S. intelligence community has trouble “connecting the dots” between bits of intelligence information gleaned from sources and sharing it smoothly among agencies.

“For the first time, there will be someone in a position to see all relevant information, and to analyze all portions of the relevant databases,” Roberts said.

Bush singled out Iraq as the gravest danger in the war on terror as he worked to rally support for a possible war. All the Kansans in Congress have supported Bush on Iraq.

Rep. Jim Ryun, a Republican whose district includes part of Lawrence, said: “Tonight’s speech demonstrates that President Bush intends to not only win the war on terror but to take action to grow our economy, improve access to affordable health care, and encourage all of us to take an active part in the life of our community and our country.”