Sebelius speaks about trip to D.C.
6:54 p.m. Thursday, March 1, 2007
Governor Kathleen Sebelius spent a long weekend in Washington DC, where she met with the rest of the National Governor's Association.
She says she enjoyed talking to the other state's governors and sharing some of the concerns they had with each other. The group did get a chance to meet with President Bush and express some of their concerns, but Sebelius was not satisfied with his responses.
"We could not get a clear answer about what is the next game plan and how the discussion will proceed. No real willingness to engage in discussion with other regions and other countries," Sebelius said.
She says says the group shared stories about the on-going problems they've had dealing with the missing National Guard equipment.
Sebelius says this leaves Kansas vulnerable to local natural disasters, because the resources to protect the state aren't there, and it put the troops overseas in danger. She also shared some other governor's horror stories about how bad the equipment situation has actually gotten
"We heard in two cases from governors whose National Guard troops were sent over to Iraq in the last two months, with welding equipment so they could up armor, hopefully, with bits and pieces they would find over there the equipment they were being sent with," the governor said.
Sebelius also spoke about a bad day for Kansas. Last week, eight Kansas National Guard members were injured in an explosion.
The governor visited one of them who is recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
She called it a sobering end to her visit, but also a reminder of the citizen soldiers who are putting their lives on the line every day.
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