Kansas Gov. Brownback turns down $31.5 million for heath care but wants $6.6 million to promote marriage

Via SparklePony

Brad Cooper of the Kansas City Star reports that the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services wants $2.2 million a year for three years to pay for counseling that encourages unwed parents to marry. Free marriage licenses would be given to those who do.

In giving up the $31 million, the governor said that every state should prepare for less federal cash, given that so many questions are swirling about government spending...
     Kansas Sen. Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said the Brownback team is picking grants based on how they fit with its worldview.
     Turning down the $31 million made a statement opposing President Barack Obama’s health care initiative, Hensley said. Promoting marriage was another matter for the Republican governor, he said.
     “When it benefits their philosophical ideology, everything is fine,” Hensley said. “Where it doesn’t fit in or goes against them — either from a policy or political standpoint — then the federal money isn’t OK.”
     Brownback’s staff didn’t detail why one grant would be more acceptable than the other...