Roberts denies Cheney pressure to stall Iraq probe

Here are today’s headlines from the Kansas congressional delegation:Sen. Pat Roberts (R)!(McClatchy) Senator: Cheney stalled inquiry: Vice President Dick Cheney exerted “constant” pressure on the Republican former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to stall an investigation into the Bush administration’s use of flawed intelligence on Iraq, the panel’s Democratic chairman charged Thursday. In the 45-minute interview, Rockefeller said it was “not hearsay” that Cheney, a leading proponent of invading Iraq, pushed Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to drag out the investigation of the administration’s use of prewar intelligence. “It was just constant,” Rockefeller said of Cheney’s alleged interference. He added that he knew that the vice president attended regular policy meetings in which he conveyed White House directions to Republican staffers. Roberts’ chief of staff, Jackie Cottrell, blamed the Democrats for the investigation remaining incomplete more than two years after it began. “Senator Rockefeller’s allegations are patently untrue,” she said in an e-mail. “The delays came from the Democrats’ insistence that they expand the scope of the inquiry to make it a more political document going into the 2006 elections. Chairman Roberts did everything he could to accommodate their requests for further information without allowing them to distort the facts.” Bill Duhnke, Roberts’ staff director, said: “I’m not aware of any effort by the vice president, his staff or anyone in the administration to influence the speed at which the committee did its work.”Sen. Sam Brownback (R) !(LJW) Brownback favors proposal for smaller troop increase: Kansas presidential hopeful Sam Brownback said Thursday that he disagreed with both President Bush’s increase of troops in Iraq and a Senate committee resolution critical of Bush’s plan. Instead, Brownback, a Republican senator, said he favored a proposal by U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., that has been described in reports as endorsing a much smaller troop increase in the western Anbar province of Iraq, while also supporting the president’s authority over U.S. forces. Brownback said Warner’s approach “is much more to my liking.” (Reason Online commentary) The Rise of Stem Cell Research: When Bush first restricted federal funding to embryonic stem lines derived before his nationally televised speech on the subject in 2001, researchers feared that such limits would send a signal that would strongly “chill” research in the field. For example, many researchers worried that Sen. Sam Brownback’s (R-Kan.) bill to ban both publicly and privately financed therapeutic cloning research was just the first step toward outlawing all human embryonic stem cell research. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the research restrictions-real and proposed-provoked a strong pushback by researchers and eventually the public. States began big time funding of embryonic stem cell research, e.g., $3 billion in California and $270 million in New Jersey. And the floodgates of private funding opened, showering hundreds of millions on stem cell researchers. It is highly probable that far more embryos have been used for stem cell research than would have been the case had President Bush not imposed his restrictions.Rep. Jerry Moran (R) !(Washington Times) Legislation would relax Cuba policy: Legislation to chip away at the Bush administration’s hard-line Cuba policy is in the works in the House, where Republicans and Democrats are planning a variety of measures aimed at easing the U.S. policy on Cuba. … Other possibilities include legislation to ease payment restrictions for cash sales of food to Cuba. Rep. Jerry Moran, Kansas Republican, is planning to introduce one such payment-regulation bill next week. He said Wednesday that stand-alone Cuba legislation is more likely to reach the House floor now than under Republican leadership, partly because Republican leaders were adamantly opposed to dealings with Cuba. Former Rep. Jim Ryun(Topeka Capital-Journal) Ryun cites coverage in failed campaign: Acknowledging he had run a “lackluster campaign,” former U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun placed part of the blame for his re-election loss on what he considers unfair reporting by The Topeka Capital-Journal. ,,, Ryun said he wasn’t bitter about things that happened in that election. “That chapter is closed. I’m not living in the past – I’m living in the future,” he said. For the immediate future, he plans to devote more time to his runners’ training camps and maybe make speeches. He was asked whether he would run for the U.S. Senate in 2008 when Sen. Sam Brownback steps down. “We’re leaving all options on the table,” Ryun said.