Estes backs Trump on firing FBI director

Ron Estes, Kansas’ newest Congressman, backed President Donald Trump’s decision to fire FBI director James Comey on Thursday as the uproar over the dismissal continued.

Asked if Trump had handled Comey’s firing appropriately, Estes said, “I think so.”

“The president should have their option to have their own FBI director,” Estes said. “There’s still the investigation going on in the Senate around that, and part of it, I think too, is that if Hillary Clinton had been elected president, she probably would have fired him as well just because of the way things happened during the campaign.”

Estes, who represents the state’s 4th Congressional District, which includes Wichita, gave a brief interview to The Eagle after he was spotted walking through the Statehouse. Voters chose Estes in an April 11 special election to fill the seat, which was vacated by Mike Pompeo when he became CIA director.

Earlier Thursday, Trump called former FBI Director James Comey a “showboat” and a “grandstander” who has brought turmoil to the agency. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the timing of Comey’s dismissal by Trump was troubling, however.

Trump, who abruptly fired Comey earlier this week, told NBC News in an interview Thursday that the FBI was in “virtual turmoil” less than a year ago and hasn’t recovered.

Since Trump fired Comey on Tuesday, Kansas’ members of Congress – all Republicans – have either backed the decision or withheld criticism.

Like Estes, Sen. Pat Roberts noted that the Senate continues to investigate Russian election tampering and the Department of Justice and Department of Defense continue to look into the actions of Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser.

“The best way to restore trust in the competency of the FBI is with a swift confirmation of a new FBI Director,” Roberts said in a statement.

Sen. Jerry Moran said the next director must be an impartial law enforcement professional. He also said the “American people deserve more information about the circumstances of Mr. Comey’s dismissal.”

Estes upbeat on health bill

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an overhaul of federal health care law last week. Estes voted yes on the bill, helping it narrowly pass, 217-213.

The bill would eliminate tax penalties in current law that clamp down on people who don’t buy coverage and it erases tax increases in the Affordable Care Act on higher-earning people and the health industry. It cuts the Medicaid program for low-income people and lets states impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients. It transforms Obama’s subsidies for millions buying insurance – largely based on people’s incomes and premium costs – into tax credits that rise with consumers’ ages.

It would retain Obama’s requirement that family policies cover grown children until age 26.

But states could get federal waivers freeing insurers from other Obama coverage requirements. With waivers, insurers could charge people with pre-existing illnesses far higher rates than healthy customers, boost prices for older consumers to whatever they wish, and ignore the mandate that they cover specified services like pregnancy care.

The Senate may significantly rewrite the legislation. Moran has said senators will start “from scratch.”

Estes suggested he doesn’t anticipate large changes.

“I would be surprised if it’s a major rewrite.” Estes said. “There might be some small things in terms of a different stamp or a different flavor on that. I’m very hopeful we can get this through. It seems like the impression I have up there is that there’s a lot of optimism and enthusiasm on the part of both chambers as well as the White House.”

Critics of the bill say it will raise health care costs on older Kansans and those with pre-existing conditions and block Medicaid expansion. Brownback vetoed expansion earlier this year, and state lawmakers were unable to override the veto.

“Perhaps most shocking is that Kansas’ congressional delegation voted to take away the power of the Kansas Legislature to expand KanCare – a measure that enjoys the broad support of Kansans and Kansas legislators – and bring our federal tax dollars back home,” said David Jordan, director of the pro-expansion Alliance for a Healthy Kansas.

“Fortunately, the U.S. Senate must pass this bill before it becomes law.”

Contributing: Associated Press

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Estes backs Trump on firing FBI director."