Here are today’s headlines from the Kansas congressional delegation:Sen. Sam Brownback (R) !(Wichita Eagle) Brownback adds flat tax to platform: Remember the flat tax? The policy proposal gained traction among conservative politicians for a while in the 1990s, but it withered amid little real-world political support. Now it’s back, as a fiscal policy cornerstone of Sen. Sam Brownback’s campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. “We need a flat tax instead of the dreadful, incomprehensible tax code we now have,” Brownback wrote in the letter that announced the creation of his presidential exploratory committee.(The Ethiopian Herald) Senator Brownback says US gov’t appreciates Ethiopia for crushing terrorist group in Somalia: After holding talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Senator Sam Brownback told journalists yesterday that the US government and its people are stunned by the fact that the Ethiopian Defence Forces crushed terrorists in Somalia within a short period of time. Ethiopia’s victory over the terrorist group in Somalia after swift military intervention is indeed exemplary to other countries, the senator said. “I am here to express appreciations on behalf of the US government and its people on Ethiopia’s victory over the terrorist group in Somalia,” Senator Brownback told journalists.Rep. Nancy Boyda (D)!(LJW) Boyda criticizes Bush’s new plan for Iraq: U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, on Friday criticized the Bush administration’s new plan for the Iraq war that includes a troop surge. Boyda said she believed there was no evidence that Iraqis would be able to take more of a leadership role under the plan. She also said she would vote against a nonbinding resolution to support the plan and against funding it if the troop surge were presented separately.Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R)!(Wichita Eagle) Tiahrt gains influence in key appropriations post: Life in the Congressional minority is turning out well for Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas. The seven-term incumbent reportedly has been tapped to be ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on the interior, environment and related agencies. Late last week, the Republican Steering Committee and the Republican conference on Friday ratified his nomination as ranking member of the subcommittee. Tiahrt will wield greater influence in the minority than he ever did in the majority.Etc.(McClatchy) House OKs drug-price bargaining: House Democrats ignored a White House veto threat and passed legislation Friday that would require the government to negotiate lower drug prices for the Medicare prescription drug program. By a vote of 255-170, with 24 Republicans joining the majority, Democrats scored a symbolic if not substantive victory, rejecting a Republican-crafted ban on government negotiations that many feel is too generous to the drug industry. In the Kansas delegation, Democrats Dennis Moore and Nancy Boyda and Republican Jerry Moran voted for the bill. Republican Todd Tiahrt voted against it.(LJW) Kansas delegation focuses on Farm Bill: Members of the Kansas delegation to Congress know most of their work this year will involve reauthorization of the Farm Bill. “It’s going to be a tough row to hoe. There’s already been quite a bit of criticism in the national media,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. In the U.S. House, Jerry Moran, R-Hays, and Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, have spots on the agriculture committee. Roberts also has one in the Senate.