Alaskan Republican Delegates Agree To Disagree ..(Cheney visit)

http://www.ktva.com/Stories/0,1413,163~29969~2077718,00.html


Article Last Updated: Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 11:43:48 AM AKST
Alaskan Republican Delegates Agree To Disagree
By Ben Deci





A 2 hour lay-over in Anchorage yesterday, and Vice President Dick Cheney was on to Tokyo and his mission in Asia. In Washington, Cheney sits as president of the Senate, and he works closely with Alaska's Three-person delegation to the capital- closely, but not always on the same side. Cheney, Murkowski, Young, Stevens, they're all republicans, so you might think they share the same agenda.But don't be fooled, lots of times the Alaska delegation finds itself butting heads with the white house. Still, that didn't stop Vice President Cheney from helping the Murkowski for Senate Campaign bring in thousands yesterday.

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But the White House has been known to butt heads with that delegation as well. Take education. Lisa Murkowski has said that parts of the "No Child Left Behind" law don't work in Alaska. That's despite the White House's repeated position that the law's value lies in it's uniformity. Still, as a Republican, Lisa Murkowski says she's had plenty of opportunities to make her case with the Administration.

"I've had an opportunity to really come to know Vice President Cheney and to help educate him on Alaska's issues," Murkowski said. Disagreements don't stop with education, or with Lisa Murkowski. Don Young has argued for an increase in the gas tax to help fund what he calls essential improvements in the nation's highway system. He's sending a highway bill to the White House that doesn't include that tax increase, but one that the president has already called too expensive.

"If we can work together there won't be a veto.. if there is a veto, we have the votes to over-ride him and he knows that and we know it... and I'm not thumping my chest," young said. "I'm just respectfully suggesting we ought to be able to work out a solution to this problem."

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With this rating of our schools in this country falling behind the rest of the world I think it is the Christian right that is doing it. Schools out of the belt, of the take over of schools by the Right, seem to be doing well but the rating of Al and Ga stay at the low end. The Churches had re-written books and now want state laws on what can be learned. This all sounds crazy to me. Our decrease seems to follow the church take over and has nothing to do with teachers unions which seem to be in the better rated schools. Has any study been done on this, I could read?

that we will find much literature to back it up.. It's that "fuzzy thinking".. :(