U.S. Senate Pat Roberts

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Oct 19, 2008 by James Carlson

By James Carlson

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Pat Roberts is shooting for a third term in the U.S. Senate and a six-year extension to his 28-year career in Congress.

The 72-year-old Roberts was born in Topeka and graduated from Holton High School. He then graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in journalism and wrote for the military publication Stars and Stripes for a while.

He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, then as a congressional staffer before winning a seat in the U.S. House in 1980. The Republican Party is his home, he said, because it believes "in limited government, a strong national defense, keeping Kansas competitive in the global marketplace, fighting to lower taxes for families" and other tenets.

The Bush tax cuts need to be made permanent, he said.

"The best economic stimulus is allowing Kansans to keep more of their hard-earned dollars," he said.

He also supports a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.

With families struggling with gas prices, he supports "drilling here and drilling now." That means exploring for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in the nation's coastal waters and in the Rocky Mountain oil shale areas. He said the argument that drilling won't ease gas prices for years is "no reason to stop moving forward."

"Had we opened our seas to drilling 10 years ago, we would not be in the position we are in today," he said.

On the war, he said he supports bringing the troops home but only "based upon the advice of our commanders in the field."

Earmarks aren't the evil they've been made out to be, he said. For one thing, they account for less than 2 percent of all federal spending, and he said it is the best way to target money to needed projects on a local level.

"As Kansas' senator, I believe I have a better idea of what is good for Kansas than some bureaucrat in Washington who has never been to our local communities," he said.

He doesn't release all his requested earmarks but does publish every project that receives federal money through his office.

James Carlson can be reached at (785) 233-7470 or james.carlson@cjonline.com.