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Senator sets sights on bringing bioscience lab to Kansas Newswire TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Pleased by Kansas' success in the Defense Department's base realignment process three years ago, Sen. Pat Roberts now hopes to help the state capture another prize: a $451 million national bioscience research lab. The two-term Republican senator was named Friday by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as one of three co-chairmen of task force charged with leading the state's effort to land the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. Chairing the 43-member group with Roberts are Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson and former Kansas congressman Dan Glickman, who is currently president of the Motion Picture Association of America. Eighteen sites in 11 states have made the Department of Homeland Security's first cut for the facility, which will employ about 250 scientists. Kansas has two of those sites -- Manhattan, where Kansas State University is already home to a new Biosecurity Research Institute, and Leavenworth County, home of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks and the Army's Fort Leavenworth. Roberts said the military base realignment process in 2005, subject to intense lobbying, left Kansas in a strong position. The Army's 1st Infantry Division, or Big Red One, was returned to Fort Riley from Germany. That alone will bring thousands of U.S. troops and family members to Kansas. Retained in the shake-up was the military college at Fort Leavenworth, which the senator called the "intellectual center of the Army," and the military's presence at Forbes Field in Topeka and McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita. "Not many in Kansas, when we think about the economy, think about the military," Roberts said. "That benefit is over $1 billion." Roberts, 70, plans to run next year for a third Senate term. So far, he has no opposition. He said he was proud of his record on defense, national security, health care, agriculture and education. And, unlike some of his peers on Capitol Hill, he said he understands bipartisanship is a necessary component of good government. "Kansas is not like other states," Roberts said. "They don't want any special favors from the federal government. They want a fair shake. They know it's important to pass legislation, but it's just as important to prevent bad legislation from passing." November's elections gave Democrats majorities in both the House and Senate, but Roberts vowed to adapt. "I've learned in past years that to get anything done, if you want to be a party of governance, if you want to be an Eisenhower Republican, you've got to work across the aisle," he said.
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