Arizona: House

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I briefly touched upon the comments of Rep. Ray Barnes during the recent special session in an earlier post, i.e., he said that the state could file for bankruptcy (as I explained, no, it cannot).

I had not seen Rep. Barnes' extended comments at the time. It turns out this whopper was part of an angry ignorant rant that has now gone viral since the video below was posted. This makes Sen. Sylvia Allen's "6,000 years" video look sane by comparison. The Daily Show is likely to catch up to this video when it comes back from hiatus since Arizona has been such fertile ground for comic material this year.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

If you needed any further evidence that the Accidental Governor is a lame duck governor who is neither respected nor feared by her own Republican dominated legislature, Monday should have erased any doubt.

Governor Jan Brewer on July 1, 2009 in her veto message of the state budget:

I received early this morning a fatally flawed legislative budget. The legislative budget ignores my consistently expressed goals and instead incorporates devastating cuts to education, public safety, and our state's most vital health services for the frail. In particular, this package of bills is shortsighted, in that it sets up an enormous revenue shortfall that will severely harm our State's future.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In an unprecedented defeat for the Federal Reserve, an amendment to audit the multi-trillion dollar institution was approved by the House Finance Committee with an overwhelming and bipartisan 43-26 vote on Thursday afternoon despite harried last-minute lobbying from top Fed officials and the surprise opposition of Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who had previously been a supporter. Fed Beaten: Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Passes Key Hurdle (by Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post):

The measure, cosponsored by Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), authorizes the Government Accountability Office to conduct a wide-ranging audit of the Fed's opaque deals with foreign central banks and major U.

by David Safier

You know that special session called by the Accidental Guv to do some budget cutting? It didn't quite work out that way.

A fragile budget deal collapsed in the Senate Thursday when Sen. Thayer Verschoor skipped the floor session and tied his support to a last-minute amendment to prevent cash-strapped agencies from hiking fees.

The House and Senate adjourned the special budget-balancing session until Monday in hopes that another deal can be worked out on the bills.

If at first at second at third at fourth you don't succeed . . . If you don't know what the hell you're doing, try, try, try again. It's bound to work out one of these times.