EDITORIAL: Why say ‘enough’?

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN
The implicit criticism of Kansas’s elected representatives in Washington about the state’s share of national highway money illustrates why prospects are bleak for a balanced federal budget anytime soon.

When Congress approved the federal highway bill a few weeks ago, it looked like a boon for Kansas-$305 million in new federal dollars over the next year. But when folks figured out that Kansas’s increase was only 19.2 percent compared with the average increase of 30 percent, and that Kansas ranked 45th among 50 states in percentage of increase, state highway officials began moaning and seemed to imply that our legislators didn’t do their job because they voted for the bill.

As long as appropriating federal money is an intramural competition between states, and success or failure of our elected officials is based primarily on their ability to grab a bigger piece of the federal pie, why would we expect the elected officials who inhabit our nation’s Senate and House to ever say “enough is enough”? -DR

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