Boyda on the issues

Iraq

"I absolutely am committed to the war on terror. ... What we have to do is to support our president and do everything it takes to be successful in Iraq, to give our young men and women everything that they need to be safe and secure while they are there and be successful and come home."

Tax cuts

"We need to take a look at taxes and be very clear that any tax cuts that we give in this country need to be so focused and so purposeful that they go back and send money back to our local economies. And very purposefully send that money back so they will turn over and over and over again in the local economy and increase the overall stability of our communities and our economy. I think that we need to be very careful and very purposeful of any tax cut that we give. That being said, I support the middle class tax cuts because they are purposeful. I support giving tax cuts to the businesses that keep our jobs here. Those, again, are very purposeful. And I'll be out there fighting hard for those."

Deficit

"The deficit is being left to my children. I am as fiscally conservative as the day is long. The concept that now, we are leaving these deficits to my children, just makes me furious. ..."

Funding for Schools

"Our schools are having trouble with funding. And in Congress, I'll be fighting to make sure that we fully fund any federal mandate that comes down from Congress."

No Child Left Behind

"The No Child Left Behind Act is seen up and down the district as doing more harm than good. It's a nice concept, but it's inflexible. And you put that with the lack of funding and we have some real issues. I believe if the federal government can't fund No Child Left Behind, then let's let the states opt out of it. Don't get in the way with what's going on with our public schools here in Kansas. I am a strong, strong advocate of our public schools."

Draft

"I will do everything to make sure we don't have a draft in this country. But it comes back to our national security depends on a volunteer force. And I have had the opportunity to meet with the leaders of our military installations and they say the same thing: We want a voluntary force." . . . We have to make sure our troops reall yare given everything to be safe, to be strong and to be successful while we are putting them in harm's way. ..."

Patriot Act

"It's up for review in about another year. We need to take a look at that and we do need to keep portions of it that are keeping us safe. ... We need to make sure that we have a judicial overview. ... I'm OK with having people watch and see what's going on. I just want to make sure that our judicial overview has not been limited and that we keep the very essence of our democracy strong."