Brownback still confident of confirmation; Colyer preparing to step in as governor

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback tells reporters Tuesday that he is still confident he will be confirmed as President Trump's ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom before the end of the year. He also says Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer is taking a leading role in crafting the next budget proposal.

? Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday that he believed he would be confirmed for a diplomatic post in the Trump administration before the end of the year, and he said Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer was preparing to step into the governor’s office.

“I think there’s a good chance it’s going to take place,” Brownback said during an impromptu news conference outside the governor’s mansion, Cedar Crest. “I’ve cleared through committee. Contacts have been good. I saw the vice president (Mike Pence) a week ago, I talked with him. I’ve talked with the ranking Democrat on the (Senate) Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin (D-Md.), someone I’ve worked with previously on human rights issues, so I think we’ve got a good prospect for getting up for a vote, and if I can get up for a vote, I’ve got a good prospect for passing.”

Brownback has been nominated to be President Trump’s ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom. His nomination passed out of the Foreign Relations Committee Oct. 26 on a straight party-line vote, 11-10, as Democrats objected to his record on LGBT rights.

Since then, Senate Democrats have said they would not agree to confirming him by consent, which means leaders of the Republican majority will have to go through more procedural steps to bring his nomination to the floor.

While that’s a relatively minor issue in the context of Washington politics today, it has complicated matters back home in Kansas where it is now not entirely certain who the governor will be when the Kansas Legislature convenes the 2018 session on Jan. 8.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback tells reporters Tuesday that he is still confident he will be confirmed as President Trump's ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom before the end of the year. He also says Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer is taking a leading role in crafting the next budget proposal.

Colyer has been in an awkward position since Brownback was nominated for the ambassadorship in July. While he prepares to step into the governor’s office and is actively running for a full four-year term of his own in 2018, he has been unwilling to speak out on policy issues as long as Brownback is still in office.

That, however, is beginning to change as the 2018 session draws closer.

On Wednesday, Colyer is scheduled to make an announcement normally reserved for governors: appointing a new cabinet secretary.

Colyer will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday to announce the appointment of a new secretary of the Department for Children and Families, a person who will succeed embattled Secretary Phyllis Gilmore, who has announced her retirement effective Dec. 1.

Meanwhile, Brownback said Colyer has been taking a leading role in crafting the budget proposal that the administration will present to lawmakers in January.

“He’s getting ready for the legislative session to get that put together,” Brownback said. “Fortunately, our receipts are picking up nicely. Our sales tax receipts have been up 3 percent, which is really helping a lot, but he’s putting those things together.”

During the 2017 session, lawmakers passed a two-year budget, so the spending plan that lawmakers will consider in the 2018 session will be only a package of adjustments to that budget.

The dominant issue during the session will be how much money should be added to the school funding formula, which the Kansas Supreme Court struck down as inadequate and unconstitutional in October.