Dedicated to the proposition that Nancy Boyda is a one termer.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Reader e-mail

Just finished watching the KU game. Another season falling just short. So, I decided to get my mind off it by posting here.

I get a lot of e-mails from readers. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep up with all of them. So, I wanted to highlight a couple here.

One reader wanted us to highlight this:

According to the latest Gallup Poll, Congressional approval ratings are down to 28%, right about where they were before the election last fall. The honeymoon is over.

And yet another said:

"Boyda has no clue what is going on in Congress and simply votes party line. She is NOT representing her constituents. She should be recalled immediately before taxes are raised, our military bases closed, and our armed forces are hollowed again."

Keep sending me e-mails, comments and tips. I will try and use as many as I can.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

(TAKE THIS!)

BRAC funding — Money is there

Wrangling in lame-duck Congress, along with political posturing, makes truth tough to see

Published Sunday, March 25, 2007

Six weeks ago, The Capital-Journal chided congressional Democrats and Kansas Rep. Nancy Boyda for holding up more than $375 million that had been designated for Kansas military bases.

Highlighting our concern was the fact Fort Riley is preparing for a major influx of soldiers, and we speculated that because of the Democrats' inaction, vital construction projects at the fort were in jeopardy.

Turns out, we were wrong. Both in our logic and our concern.

The Department of Defense last week announced plans to release $325 million for construction projects at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth.

Most of the money, according to Boyda, will be targeted for Fort Riley, including $152 million for a combat aviation brigade complex and $87 million for division and brigade headquarters.

We mention this for two reasons.

One, it is great news.

Two, we feel compelled to clear up a misunderstanding about a budget process dominated by politics, not to mention confusion.

Bottom line, the lame-duck Congress didn't pass a fiscal 2007 budget last fall. Instead, the 109th Congress approved a continuing resolution, financing the Base Realignment and Closure Commission at 2006 levels but eliminating money for projects at both Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth.

The continuing resolution dictated all new military construction stop on Oct. 1, 2006.

A second continuing resolution, approved on Dec. 6, funded the federal government through Feb. 15. Congress then adjourned without passing a 2007 fiscal year budget.

By late January, with the second continuing resolution on the verge of expiring, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed another resolution that actually raised BRAC funding by $1 billion.

The Republicans immediately countered with an aggressive flurry of press releases, many of them directed to Kansas, in general, and at Boyda, whose congressional district includes both Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley, in particular.

The GOP public relations campaign claimed the Democrats' resolution cut $3.1 billion from BRAC. What the campaign didn't mention was that the money technically wasn't there in the first place because no budget had been passed.

Democrats countered by pointing out they proposed $1 billion more for BRAC projects than the Republicans had but that the money would have to come from supplemental appropriations.

We have to acknowledge we didn't understand this process. We'd guess most Americans didn't and, probably, still don't.

That doesn't absolve us. We should have known better.

We were told the Democratic-controlled House had pulled the plug on Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, and neither was going to receive the money needed to complete construction projects.

That scared the heck out of us.

Turns out, those Republican charges were wrong, not to mention deceptive.

We improperly chided Boyda last month. Today, we properly pat her on the back.

Anonymous said...

OK, tempted to not even reply to the shameless post that takes the TJC's irresponsible reporting at face value, but I can't help it. The Second District deserves to know the truth. I'll keep it as short as I can.

Only about $310 million of the roughly $343 million is in the bill.

And yes, the R's should have finished FY07 funding, but here's the difference...EVERY GOP FY07 funding bill had the full Second District funding in it. The SHORT-TERM CR's that were passed (very common, by the way, until the full bills are done) were just extensions of the FY06 levels to keep the government running until the FY07 bills were done.

The Dem CR, however, was for the FULL FY07 YEAR! It was their way of passing the FY07 funding. And guess what...it left out $43 million in military funding for the Second District.

Blame the GOP if you want. But it sure rings hollow when the KS-02 Rep was too busy representing her leadership to so much as go to the floor to object to these cuts for her district.

It's a shame for the district, and an embarassing failure in reporting for the Cap Journal.

Anonymous said...

god bless the cap-journal for reporting reality...a place some of the posters on this blog should visit sometime.

Anonymous said...

The cap journal was right the first time and wrong today. The Democrat fillibuster threat in the Senate prohibited the Republicans from finishing the appropriations bills. Saying the Republicans are now to blame shows just how stupid the editors at the Cap Journal are. Fact is, Boyda wasn't even concerned about the fact the money for Fort Riley wasn't in the bill until she was called on the carpet for it.

Anonymous said...

who gives a damn. nobody read that in the cap j, put people definitely read the stories about her ripping the funding away and her lame defenses.

so, no harm, who cares.

boyda is screwed. I predict a lot more puking from her in the coming months.

Anonymous said...

have you petty partisan forgotten already that Tiahrt and Moran voted against the BRAC funding, just last Friday?

Anonymous said...

"god bless the cap-journal for reporting reality...a place some of the posters on this blog should visit sometime."

I think you meant to say, "God bless the Cap Journal for reporting THEIR VERSION of reality." Those hacks are probably thrilled that they can get back on the pro-Boyda train.

Anonymous said...

Tiahrt and Moran voted against cutting and running. Nice spin though.

Anonymous said...

the cap-j? pro-boyda? are you crazy?

Anonymous said...

Oh for Pete's sake! TCJ endorsed Ryun! You'd be hard-pressed to find a LESS pro-Boyda piece of journalism. As always, verify your statements before presenting them as facts......it does wonders for your credibility.

Anonymous said...

The cap journal endorsed Ryun because he did a lot for the city (bridge funding, economic development funding, protecting forbes field, etc).

Boyda is a disaster . . .

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