Sen. Sam Brownback is getting some attention this week for his role on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which gets first crack at the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts.But he’s also drawing commentary on his proposal to essentially pay Washington D.C. residents to get married.USA Today reports today that: “Children from two-parent families are better off emotionally, socially and economically, according to a review of marriage research released today in The Future of Children, a journal published jointly by the nonpartisan Brookings Institution and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.”At the same time, the paper reports, “a controversial proposal on Capitol Hill would pay couples to marry. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is pushing a pilot program for low-income couples in the District of Columbia. Under the plan, couples who earn less than $50,000 a year could get a “marriage bonus” of up to $9,000 to buy a home, pay for a child’s college education or start a business. The proposal, which has been approved in committee, could reach the Senate floor as early as this week, and if it passes, he’d like to see it expanded to other jurisdictions.”But the proposal doesn’t have universal backing from conservatives. At The National Ledger, columnist Frederick Meekins writes: “As a nation founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, most Americans view marriage and family as one of the building blocks of a stable social order. Thus, those brave enough to question a proposal being introduced by Kansas Senator Sam Brownback will no doubt be cast as enemies of children and families.”But, Meekins said, “if we are now considering dishing out what amounts to what could be rightly construed as a marriage subsidy, doesn’t this amount to yet another form of welfare? Furthermore, such handouts would do little to actually strengthen marriage since such funds would most likely go to those that don’t value marriage all that much to begin with.”Other links:Sam Brownback links (AP) CBC Wants Roberts Probed on Civil Rights: A Roberts who would limit the Supreme Court’s reach would please the 10 Republicans on the committee, who used their opening statements Monday to complain about the Supreme Court’s reach into areas they felt were more properly left to local, state and national legislators. “Perhaps the Supreme Court’s most notorious exercise of raw political power came in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, two 1973 cases based on false statements which invented a constitutional right to abortion,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. “The issue had been handled by the people through their elected representatives prior to that time.”Pat Roberts links (AP) Senators call for more pressure on Japan to lift beef import ban: Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and nine of his colleagues have asked the U.S. Agriculture Department to reconsider allowing Japanese beef imports as long as Japan continues its ban on American beef. In a letter last Friday, the lawmakers complained that Japan’s food regulators have unreasonably delayed the resumption of beef trade with the United States despite scientific evidence that U.S. beef is safe.(Boston Globe opinion) Necessary truths: Yes, the Senate Intelligence Committee did issue an initial report on prewar intelligence failures. The preelection agreement, however, was that after the election the committee would turn its attention to the way senior policy makers used that intelligence in the run-up to the war. It has since become blindingly apparent that Senator Pat Roberts, the committee chairman, intends to retreat on that commitment. In a July 20 letter to US Senator John Kerry, the Kansas Republican made it clear that he doesn’t see that as an important priority, and that even if his committee completes phase II, the results may not be made public.(Newsweek) Iraq: A Very Touchy Subject: The intel community discussions are underway at a time when influential members of Congress have been asking similar questions about the consequences of U.S. troop reductions in Iraq. On a recent trip to the region, Sen. Pat Roberts, Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, asked several of the U.S. officials he met with whether intelligence agencies had begun to examine what would happen if forces were cut back or withdrawn, says one official.Dennis Moore links (Human Events) Katrina Freeing Criminals: Big business quietly held a major fund-raiser Wednesday evening to help the 15 Democratic House members who voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and have had their funding cut off by organized labor. … All 15 recipients of the business aid have liberal voting records as measured by the Americans for Democratic Action. Vic Snyder of Arkansas and Jim Moran of Virginia each voted 95 percent liberal last year. They were followed at 90 percent by Ruben Hinojosa of Texas, Dennis Moore of Kansas and Edolphus Towns of New York.How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation here.