06/10/2009

Associated Press

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts wants Vice President Joe Biden to extend a visit to Kansas to see what Roberts calls wasteful spending of federal stimulus dollars.

Roberts said Wednesday that Biden also should help with efforts to relocate the residents of Treece, a small, environmentally contaminated southeast Kansas town.

Biden plans to visit Overland Park Thursday for the groundbreaking of a new interchange on U.S. 69.

But Roberts said Biden should continue traveling south on U.S. 69 into Cherokee County, where the state plans to spend $760,000 in stimulus funds upgrading a stretch of road.

Roberts noted the federal government plans to use the same road under a stimulus-financed project to clean up contamination in the area — damaging the road and possibly forcing its repair a second time.