Kassebaum-Baker reminds legislators of their responsibilities

opinions

October 7, 2013 - 12:00 AM

The conscience of Kansas gave her 2 cents worth Friday night.
“Kansas teachers should be valued with higher pay; the subjects of art, music and physical education should be included in every public school curriculum; and opposition to the Affordable Care Act is not a reason to withhold funding the federal government,” said former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker.
The senator, in league with Bob Dole as an esteemed Kansas leader, briefly lectured her audience Friday night in Fort Scott, where she received an award during the 10th Annual Gordon Parks Celebration.
Kassebaum represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate from 1978 to 1997. She married U.S. Sen. Howard Baker in 1996 and ever since has called Tennessee her home away from home.
During her 18 years as a U.S. senator, Kassebaum served as chair of the foreign relations committee, the budget committee, the commerce committee and the labor and human resources committee.
That experience and continued involvement in national and world affairs, makes Kassebaum, 81, an expert on current affairs.
As a longtime Republican, Kassebaum scoffed at Republicans in the House of Representatives withholding funding of the U.S. government in opposition to the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
“If there are problems with the new law, then the place to address them is in committee, where they can be reworked,” she said. “The Affordable Care Act is now the law of the land. It cannot be changed in the fashion Republicans are demanding.”
Kassebaum was equally frustrated with Kansas legislators and their cuts to education in the last several years.
“We need to emphasize teacher salaries and the teaching profession,” and to respect the valuable role teachers play in preparing Kansans for the future, she said. Respect is played out with adequate salaries, adequate support staff and adequate facilities, she said.

KASSEBAUM is a born and bred Kansan. Her sentiments for her home state and country run deep. It’s because of that passion that her words continue to  carry weight.
 — Susan Lynn

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