Sam Brownback links(Knight Ridder Newspapers) Gay-marriage ban returns to agenda: The Senate this week will debate a measure that everybody knows is doomed – a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. A waste of time? Not to its supporters. The purpose of debating the amendment now is not constitutional change. It is climate change – of the political variety. The Republican Party’s conservative base has grown increasingly angry over immigration and federal spending, adding to other problems that make 2006 a tough election year for the GOP. And politicians in trouble always turn to their base. Sen. Sam Brownback, a chief supporter of the amendment, called the timing incidental: “I’ll take the floor time when I can get it,” the Kansas Republican said. “This is a critical policy issue.”Pat Roberts links(AP) Calls increase for opening up CRP land: The drought that has plagued many wheat fields in northwest Kansas has also affected cattle grazing, spurring calls for the federal government to open up reserved land. On Wednesday, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow grazing on CRP in virtually all of northwest Kansas. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., also pledged his support. Without the CRP, Roberts said in a statement, “Producers will be left with two choices: continue to graze and severely damage native pastures, or begin to liquidate cattle herds. Neither option is good for Kansas livestock producers. They need access to this acreage before such actions have to be taken.”(Capital Press) 21 U.S. senators defend states’ rights over food standards: Three U.S. senators – Richard Burr, R-N.C., Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and Ben Nelson, D-Neb. – introduced the National Uniformity for Food Act on May 25, but by the next day 21 senators led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had joined together to oppose the bill on the grounds that state governments often protect citizens before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acts. The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Products Association both praised the senators for introducing the bill. “We urge the Senate to quickly consider and pass the National Uniformity for Food Act, so that consumers in all 50 states receive a single set of food safety standards and warning labels just as they do now for nutrition information, allergen labeling and pesticide tolerances, and we also call on the Senate to hold a hearing on this important issue as soon as possible,” the GMA and FPA said in a joint statement. The bill has already passed the House of Representatives without a hearing.Jim Ryun links(LJWorld.com) Ryun says immigration is No. 1 issue: U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, a Republican from Lawrence, on Friday filed to seek re-election for a sixth term and said illegal immigration was the top issue on voters’ minds. “The No. 1 and No. 2 issues are immigration and immigration,” said Ryun, who gained fame early in life as a record-breaking track star. Ryun, 59, represents the 2nd Congressional District, which includes west Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan and much of southeast Kansas. The district also extends north to the Nebraska border.Jerry Moran links(Chicago Tribune) FARM LOBBY’S POWER HAS DEEP ROOTS: On a sunny Saturday morning last month at a farm exhibition in Great Bend, Kan., Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., a member of the House Agriculture Committee, stood onstage dressed in Wranglers and cowboy boots to take questions. The farmers there had a one-track mind: maintaining government aid for farmers, from drought relief to ethanol promotion to the more basic subsidies. “And even when they don’t talk about it, it’s never far from their minds,” said Moran, whose district has collected the second most in farm subsidies since 1995, $6.2 billion, according to the Environmental Working Group, a conservation organization. “It is a part of whether their son or daughter has a future in farming.”Todd Tiahrt links(Wall Street Journal) Why airlines are picking a fight with business jets: Business jets represent more than 18 percent of all flights, but they pay just 5 percent of those FAA fees. Infuriated airlines, which represent some two-thirds of flights but pay more than 90 percent of the fees, have long complained they are overpaying. Now they’ve launched a high-stakes lobbying battle to get business jets to shoulder a bigger share of the cost of today’s system and of an advanced, satellite-based system planned for the near future. Mr. Bolen points out that the airlines’ user-fee proposal would transfer some control of the FAA from Congress to a user-fee board that’s almost certain to be dominated by the airlines. The airlines argue that eliminating Congress’s role would save money by cutting pork projects and closing FAA facilities that individual Congressmen support but that aren’t FAA priorities. “They’re talking about taking oversight away from Congress,” Mr. Bolen told Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt, whose Wichita, Kan., district includes the three big manufacturers of smaller aircraft. Rep. Tiahrt, shaking his head, responded, “I would oppose anything like that.”(Occupational Hazards) House Votes to Prevent EPA from Easing Toxics Reporting Requirement: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an amendment that denies EPA any funds to implement or enforce the agency’s proposed “Burden Reduction” rule that would relax reporting requirements for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., sponsored the amendment, which was attached to the fiscal year 2007 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill (H.R. 5386). Pallone’s amendment passed 231-187, with 182 Democrats supporting it and 172 Republicans voting against it. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., objected to Pallone’s amendment, calling it “a direct assault on the jobs in America.” He said the TRI reporting requirements are particularly onerous for small businesses, and he cited data from the Small Business Administration Advocacy Group estimating that regulatory compliance cost manufacturing firms with fewer than 20 employees $21,919 per employee in 2004 compared to $8,748 per employee for firms with 500 or more workers.How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation here. o/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=782&ArticleID=25206&TM=48627.3