Here are today’s headlines from the Kansas congressional delegation:Sen. Pat Roberts (R)!(AP) Surge Foes Unite: Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., had been sponsoring competing measures opposing Bush’s strategy of sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to the war zone, with Warner’s less harshly worded version attracting more Republican interest. The new resolution would vow to protect funding for troops while keeping Warner’s original language expressing the Senate’s opposition to the buildup. Warner’s resolution will now rival a proposal by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that would identify benchmarks for the Iraqi government. McCain’s measure is intended to give Republicans an outlet for expressing that the U.S. commitment in Iraq must not be open-ended, without openly criticizing the president. McCain’s measure also picked up steam Wednesday, with Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and GOP leaders saying they might support it. “I don’t think this war can be sustained for more than six months if in fact we don’t see some progress,” said Roberts.(AP) Senators want Iraq progress by fall: Until now, most Republicans have been reluctant to set any timetable on the war’s conduct. Their comments appear designed to hold Bush and the Iraqi government to the goal of securing the country by fall. … Roberts, who said he planned to support McCain’s measure, said he was willing to entrust Bush’s plan with Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Iraq. “People trust this military and I think they trust Petraeus,” Roberts said in an interview. “He is the right man at the right time for a very, very difficult job.”Rep. Nancy Boyda (D) !(The Hill) Freshmen in money chase : Many Democratic freshmen raised tens of thousands of special-interest dollars toward their reelection even before they were sworn in for the 110th Congress. The numbers show that although they said during their campaigns that they would reform the “culture of corruption” in Washington, many quickly immersed themselves in the town’s lobbyist-dominated fundraising network to fill up their coffers and retire their debt. … Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.), who beat a favored Republican incumbent last year, raised only $13,000 since Election Day, her filings show. But Rep. David Loebsack (D-Iowa), who surprised former Rep. Jim Leach (R), has already raised $71,000.Rep. Jerry Moran (R) !(AP) House Passes Crucial Spending Bill: A must-pass bill covering about one-sixth of the federal budget swept through the House on Wednesday in which a sizable number of Republicans joined virtually all Democrats in approving spending increases for education, veterans and the AIDS battle in Africa. … Other lawmakers, including Reps. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Dave Weldon, R-Fla., complained about inadequate spending. Moran pushed in vain for $3.3 billion in more money for farm disaster aid. Weldon complained that a $545 million cut to NASA would jeopardize the agency’s plans to send man back to the Moon and on to Mars.Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R) !(AP) House Considers Outside Ethics Panel: House leaders on Wednesday announced a task force to examine whether an outside panel should investigate ethics problems involving House members. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that she and the House Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, had agreed that the task force would report by May 1. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., will lead the eight-member task force, which has four lawmakers from each party. Other Democrats on the panel Reps. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts, Bobby Scott of Virginia and Betty McCollum of Minnesota. The Republicans are Reps. Lamar Smith of Texas, Dave Camp of Michigan, Dave Hobson of Ohio and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas.