TOPEKA — Republican Senate leaders who have been at odds with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius over proposed budget cuts said Friday they hope Sebelius does get picked by President Obama to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services. “It might actually be helpful,” said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence. He said he thought about writing a letter to Obama on behalf of Sebelius in getting the HHS job. Both he and state Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, vice president of the Senate, said Sebelius hasn’t been helpful in solving the current state budget problems. Lawmakers face a growing budget deficit of nearly $200 million that is expected to increase to nearly $1 billion in the next fiscal year. Amid the state budget fight, Sebelius has been named in media reports as a top contender for the HHS job after Obama’s first pick, Tom Daschle, dropped out because of tax problems. In Kansas, GOP leaders and Sebelius have been at loggerheads over how much to cut public schools in order to bridge the current budget gap. Sebelius has praised a bipartisan plan to reduce school spending by approximately $25.3 million while Republican leaders say the cut should be at least double that to protect other areas of the state budget. But Sebelius has criticized GOP leadership plans, saying more targeted cuts are needed instead of broader across-the-board reductions.