Here are today’s headlines from the Kansas congressional delegation:Sen. Pat Roberts (R)!(Atlanta Journal-Constitution commentary) Gas at $6 per gallon? Get ready.: Get ready for Congress to solve the energy problem just as it has previously solved the illegal immigration problem. A bill being debated in the Senate this week is described by some of its supporters as “far from perfect” but “a good start.” A good start, yes, to higher gas and food prices, to new taxes and to forcing consumers to pay for high-cost “renewable” energy sources – solar and wind, for example – that are to energy independence what bicycle trails are to traffic-congestion relief. … With the the concurrence of the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley of Iowa, and others (Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Pat Roberts of Kansas, all Republican), the committee is proposing $29 billion in new taxes on oil companies. The tax is to subsidize wind and solar power, hybrid vehicles and biofuel. The bill calls for a sharp increase in the use “renewables,” including heavily-subsidized ethanol, up from 8.5 billion gallons next year to 36 billion gallons by 2022.(National Review Online commentary) Immigration Vote Count : Opponents of the immigration bill recognize that the vote on cloture (maybe tomorrow, but probably early next week) will be key. Outside groups are scoring a vote for cloture as a vote for the bill. Cloture will succeed with 60 votes. Outspoken critics of the bill can be expected to vote “No.” Yesterday, Georgia senators Chambliss and Isakson announced their opposition. Given the size of the unpersuadable caucus that will support cloture, opponents are fighting uphill. Based on talking with well-informed sources, this is the most accurate list I’ve seen of the Republican senators whose intentions are unknown and whose support will be needed in order to defeat cloture: Richard Burr (N.C.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kit Bond (Mo.), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Gordon Smith (Ore.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Norm Coleman (Min.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (Tex.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Bob Bennett (Utah), and John Sununu (N.H.).(Hutch News) Roberts named co-chair of Rural Health Caucus: U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., will become co-chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, following the death of previous co-chairman Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is the other co-chairman. Roberts has been a member of the Senate Rural Health Caucus since entering the Senate, a press release noted. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, is a member of the House Rural Health Caucus.Rep. Dennis Moore (D) !(AP) Weather radios bill introduced in House: Mobile homes across the nation would come equipped from the manufacturer with early-warning radios to alert residents of dangerous weather under a bill announced Thursday in Washington. The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., mirrors state legislation dubbed “C.J.’s Law” that sailed through this year’s General Assembly. It requires all mobile homes installed after June 30 to come equipped with the radios that broadcast warnings from the National Weather Service. … The federal bill, also called “C.J.’s Law,” is co-sponsored by Reps. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., Kay Granger, R-Texas, and Spencer Bachus, R-Ala.Rep. Nancy Boyda (D) !(New York Times) Making Waves in Dairyland: Mr. Kind, a six-term congressman, has introduced legislation that would drastically reduce farm subsidies while pouring more money into land conservation programs and rural development. He gathered 200 votes for a similar bill in 2002 and says he believes he has additional momentum this time around. … The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, and the House majority leader, Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, both voted for Mr. Kind’s bill in 2002. But now that they are in leadership positions, attacking farm subsidies could alienate voters in rural districts, particularly in the South and in the Corn Belt. Several Democratic lawmakers who represent rural, conservative districts, like Jim Marshall of Georgia and freshmen representatives like Zachary Space of Ohio and Nancy Boyda of Kansas -support extending the current farm bill and the generous subsidies that go with it.(WIBW) Boyda: DOT Violating U.S. Law: Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (D-2nd Dist.) spoke out at a press conference Thursday in Washington, D.C. against a Department of Transportation decision to go ahead with a pilot program which would allow Mexican trucks to travel on American roads. Sparking before highway safety advocates, representatives of the transportation workers, and senior lawmakers, Ms. Boyda called the cross-border program a clear violation of U.S. law.Rep. Jerry Moran (R) !(Hutch News) U.S. Rep. Moran gets Porker of Month title: A group that watches spending in Washington gave its “Porker of the Month” title to a U.S. House of Representatives’ agriculture subcommittee on which Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, is a ranking member. The subcommittee voted unanimously to extend the “archaic, costly and wasteful” farm subsidy system, Citizens Against Government Waste said in a press release Thursday. In the release, Moran called the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management’s action “a step in the right direction.” The subcommittee “reinstituted the safety net of the previous Farm Bill that many producers are comfortable with,” Moran said.Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R) !(Wall Street Journal) Democrats Steer More Funds to Oversight: Stepping back, the House Appropriations Committee yesterday began to spell out the home-state projects contained in the bills in a more transparent fashion and to cut the funding for them to half the level under Republican rule. Less than $120 million, about half the total in 2006, was devoted to members’ projects in a $27.6 billion natural-resources bill, for example. How that measure fares next week will be a major test of whether the committee and its embattled chairman, Rep. David Obey (D., Wis.), have righted themselves. The bill covers the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department and Forest Service, and follows a series of 38 hearings overseen by its manager, Rep. Norman Dicks (D., Wash.). The legislation — $1.9 billion over Mr. Bush’s budget — includes extra money for inspectors general at Interior and EPA, and funds an amalgam of programs affecting Western lands and rural Southern districts important to Republicans. “I found it fascinating, some of the problems we’re facing,” said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, the bill’s Republican manager. Mr. Tiahrt broke with Mr. Dicks over the last $335 million added to the bill, but the conservative Kansan supports many initiatives that grew out of the expanded hearings, including some affecting Native Americans and the Forest Service.