May 21-24, 2011
May 21 13:25 The Republicans' Messaging Problem? May 21 14:36 Rejecting Obama's Plan for Destabilizing the Middle East May 21 16:36 Spotted: Pigs Flying in V-Formation Over State Capitol May 21 19:53 Spotted: Pigs Flying in V-Formation Over Capitol, Part II May 22 02:46 Thoughts of a Grateful Constituent May 23 18:45 Times Pushes Dayton's Disastrous Budget May 23 20:12 Gov. Dayton, Sign the Budget May 24 23:52 Dayton Vetoes Pro-Growth GOP Budget Plan
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
The Republicans' Messaging Problem?
Doug Grow has written a few questionable columns but his post suggesting that the GOP has a messaging problem is farcical. Here's just one part that I got a chuckle from:
Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk started the week by lecturing Capitol reporters for not doing enough reporting on what he said are the most important elements of this session, the impact that Republican cuts would have "on working people." Reporters, he said, were too busy chasing Vikings stadium and gambling development and political tit-for-tat stories to get at the essence of this session.
First, it was Gov. Dayton and MnDOT commissioner Sorel that wasted an entire day courting NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and meeting with elected officials from Ramsey County and the city of Arden Hills.
Second, it was Gov. Dayton and Commissioner Sorel that wasted the day schmoozing with Commissioner Goodell rather than negotiating a deal on the omnibus transportation bill. I'm betting that that won't play well in the Twin Cities, especially in places like Eagan, Eden Prairie, Prior Lake, Stillwater, Shakopee, Buffalo, St. Cloud, Big Lake, Alexandria, Long Prairie, Little Falls and Onamia.
I'd also argue that the DFL has a major problem that it can't hide. That's because his name is Gov. Dayton. This past Wednesday, Gov. Dayton told GOP legislative leaders that he's prepared to shut the government down into 2012 if the legislature won't raise taxes. That was a true nightmare that Gov. Dayton started backpedalling from almost immediately.
The thing is that Gov. Dayton, aka Captain Erratic, returned Friday to his shutting down government tough talk :
Before we can discuss the particulars of $1.8 billion in spending cuts, we need to agree on the total amount of money we have to spend. Presently, we are $1.8 billion apart. Until that difference can be resolved, I cannot agree to a resolution of any budget bill.
Saying that he can't "agree to a resolution of any budget bill" unless he gets his tax increase is repeating his I'll-shut-government-down talk. It's time that Gov. Dayton made up his mind and said whether he'll shut government down or whether he's just talking tough.
More importantly, it's time that he decides whether he's intent on killing Minnesota's fragile economy with his tax hike. If he's that intent on raising taxes and/or shutting government down, that message trumps all others by a country mile.
On Friday, the Capitol halls were filled with construction workers, wearing hard-hats and calling on legislators to get to work on creating jobs. (The governor, along with some Republican legislators, has been disappointed at how the governor's bonding proposal went nowhere.)
Yes, that's an appealing message...to people who already agree with Gov. Dayton. It doesn't do a thing to persuade independents who think that bonding bills are essentially the state version of a stimulus bill. Thanks to ARRA, stimulus bills just aren't popular. People equate bonding with pork.
The cracks in Republican unity over social issues has led some to believe that there may be a handful of legislators who might ultimately be willing to side with DFLers in putting together a budget deal the governor could sign.
Social issues won't influence how Republican legislators vote on budget bills. PERIOD. It's wishful thinking on Mr. Grow's part to think otherwise.
At the end of the day, the average guy on the street is worried about whether the government will shut down and whether essentials are taken care of. Right now, Gov. Dayton is threatening to shut state government down by vetoing 'the essentials' in order to force Republicans to vote for raising taxes.
That message isn't playing well.
The fact that Gov. Dayton said he won't sign a single spending bill until the legislature raises taxes is telling and foreboding. It says that he's perfectly willing to shut government down if he doesn't get his way.
People understand that raising taxes while the economy is struggling is foolish. People pointing to Bill Clinton's tax increases as proof of the contrary don't understand that that situation isn't a good analogy.
Despite what Al Gore said on the campaign trail, the reality is that a recovery had started and was picking up steam. That can't be said in this instance. This recovery is anything but a sure thing. In fact, the chances of this turning into a full-blown real recovery are nil if the DFL's and President Obama's policies aren't rejected outright.
The DFL's messaging problem is their unappealing agenda and their governor. Until that changes, Republicans will win the messaging wars.
Posted Saturday, May 21, 2011 1:25 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Quigley at 22-May-11 10:34 AM
The GOP may have the right message but they are using carrier pigeons to get their message out to the public. The only place I see or read positives about the GOP budget is on conservative sites like yours. Whereas the DFL steps up to every open mic and reporter there is to whine, cry, and lie about the non-existent cuts, and that is what the general public sees and reads.
Comment 2 by JA at 23-May-11 09:35 AM
Dayton made it very clear that he wanted to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% during the campaign. Horner made it clear that he would balance the budget through increased taxes and budget cuts. Together these two got 54% of the vote. Isn't that the will of the majority?
I don't always agree that the will of the majority should be listened to (i.e. civil rights, south 1960s) but if one party touts the idea that they are doing what the people want, then it seems that the majority of votes want higher taxes in some form.
Rejecting Obama's Plan for Destabilizing the Middle East
If there's anything that should be rejected totally, it's President Obama's plan for destabilizing the Middle East .
"Remember that, before 1967, Israel was all of nine miles wide," Netanyahu said, emphasizing his words with his hands. "It was half the width of the Washington Beltway. And these were not the boundaries of peace; they were the boundaries of repeated wars, because the attack on Israel was so attractive."
Obama, frustrated by Mideast peace talks that have collapsed, is seeking to get both sides to contend with the issues of borders and security. Even progress on those enormous fronts would still leave unsettled the fate of Jerusalem and of Palestinian refugees. Netanyahu underscored just how difficult that last issue is alone, declaring that Palestinians will not be allowed to settle in Israel as part of any peace plan.
"It's not going to happen. Everybody knows it's not going to happen," he said. "And I think it's time to tell the Palestinians forthrightly it's not going to happen."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's comments with Obama were tantamount to "his total rejection of the Obama vision and speech."
"Without Mr. Netanyahu committing to two states on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps, he is not a partner to the peace process," Erekat said. "I think, when President Obama gave him a choice between dictation and negotiations, he chose dictation."
I agree with Mr. Erekat that Netanyahu's actions are the "total rejection of the Obama vision and speech." President Obama's speech and vision are truly worthy of total rejection. They destabilize the region because they embolden Hamas, Hizbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Fatah and other terrorist organizations operating in the Middle East and in North Africa.
Caroline Glick's article frames things perfectly:
Hamas is a jihadist movement dedicated to the annihilation of the Jewish people, and the establishment of a global caliphate. It's in their charter. And all Obama said of the movement that has now taken over the Palestinian Authority was, "Palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection."
Irrelevant and untrue.
It is irrelevant because obviously the Palestinians don't want peace. That's why they just formed a government dedicated to Israel's destruction.
As for being untrue, Obama's speech makes clear that they have no reason to fear a loss of prosperity. After all, by failing to mention that US law bars the US government from funding an entity which includes Hamas, he made clear that the US will continue to bankroll the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority. So too, the EU will continue to join the US in giving them billions for bombs and patronage jobs. The Palestinians have nothing to worry about. They will continue to be rewarded regardless of what they do.
Let's admit the obvious: The Palestinian Authority isn't interested in peace in the Middle East any more than Hamas is interested in it. This dance is a sham. That's what it's been for decades. This time, unfortunately, the U.S. president has sided with the terrorists and against Israel.
Posted Saturday, May 21, 2011 2:36 PM
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Spotted: Pigs Flying in V-Formation Over State Capitol
I'm watching the House floor debate on Rep. Keith Downey's A-4 amendment that would consolidate Minnesota's IT operations. Moments ago, Rep. Phyllis Kahn rose in support of Rep. Downey's A-4 amendment , stating that "this is a good first step" in consolidating IT operations.
Rep. Kahn later said something just as shocking. Here's what Rep. Kahn said :
"Rep. Winkler, who is almost never wrong, is wrong on this one."
I don't know this for certain but I think that's part of Rep. Downey's 15 by 15 legislation. Not surprisingly, Rep. Downey's A-4 amendment passed with a 116-16 vote.
This is a good first step in reducing the size of Minnesota's oversized government. The thought that each department needs an IT administrator is nonsense. Money doesn't grow on trees. It's time that politicians like Ryan Winkler stopped treating money like there's an endless money pit that bubbles up money whenever politicians need it.
That 116-16 vote is bigger than it appears. This says that the DFL is now starting to admit that the reforms Republicans have submitted, whether from Rep. Downey, Rep. Fabian ( HF1 ) or Rep. Banaian ( HF2 , HF1506 ), will save Minnesota's taxpayers lots of money.
Thanks to that vote, the DFL can't pretend that the Republicans' budget doesn't produce substantial cost savings through sensible reforms. That's a MAJOR STEP in this fight, especially from the standpoint of doing what's right for Minnesota's taxpayers.
That's a huge victory for common sense and a major defeat for the stubborn ideologues like Rep. Winkler.
Please understand that I don't think this vote ushers in a new spirit of true bipartisanship. I'm not that naive. What I'm saying is that Republicans can now point to this vote as proof that their reforms make sense and that they garner bipartisan support when dealing with the facts.
This gives the GOP a major weapon in the messaging wars with Gov. Dayton. That isn't insignificant.
Posted Saturday, May 21, 2011 4:36 PM
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Spotted: Pigs Flying in V-Formation Over Capitol, Part II
Earlier this afternoon, I wrote that Phyllis Kahn sided with Keith Downey while (gently) telling Rep. Winkler that he was wrong :
'Rep. Winkler, who is almost never wrong, is wrong on this one.'
As strange as that exchange was, this video might just be stranger:
Here's the transcript from Sen. Cohen's March 27th speech:
SEN. COHEN: We're going to be passing a budget that it billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars and at a level that we've never done before in the history of the state. The 12-13 budget will be $34.33 billions of dollars in general fund dollars taxed to the citizens of Minnesota. The 10-11 budget two years ago was $30.171 billion, I believe.
So the difference is over $4 billion, I believe. The largest state general fund budget ever, ever, ever, in the history of the state of Minnesota.
The numbers don't lie. It's impossible to honestly characterize this as "the Republicans' all-cuts budget." Spending $4 billion dollars more during the 2012-13 biennium than is being spent during the 2010-11 biennium is a pile of additional money.
Sen. Dave Thompson agrees in this statement:
Governor Mark Dayton and Democrats in the legislature continue to portray our budget solution as 'all cuts' and not balanced. Yet on the Senate floor, DFL Senator Dick Cohen criticized Republicans for proposing the largest biennial general fund expenditure in the history of the state. He correctly recognizes the nearly $4 billion increase in spending from the 2010-11 budget to the proposed 2012-13 budget. The video speaks for itself. Governor Dayton has our complete, balanced budget on his desk. Governor Dayton, sign the bills.
Gov. Dayton can ignore everyone, including what everyone is saying, including what a senior member of the Senate, is saying. He can veto all of the omnibus spending bills and send the legislature into a special session. Minnesota's Constitution gives him that authority.
Gov. Dayton best be forewarned, however, that that clip will be played in every swing district across the state for people who vote to sustain Gov. Dayton's vetoes.
Doug Grow wrote that the GOP has a messaging problem. Quite the contrary, I'd argue. The reality is that, between Gov. Dayton saying that he's willing to shut the government down into 2012 and Sen. Cohen saying that this would be the biggest general fund budget in Minnesota's history, I'd argue that the DFL has a major messaging problem.
The DFL will undoubtedly argue that Sen. Cohen's words are being taken out of context. That isn't a credible argument because "$34.33 billion" in spending is the same whether Sen. Cohen said this in March or whether he said them an hour ago.
I suspect that Sen. Cohen wouldn't repeat that speech now. That's because I'm certain Sen. Cohen has gotten a talking to since making that speech.
This is a big thing. This isn't the type of messaging that the DFL needs to defend right now. Make no mistake either. This is something that the DFL will have to defend.
If Gov. Dayton vetoes the spending bills, like it appears he'll do, he'll need to answer to Minnesotans why he vetoed the biggest budget in Minnesota history. Good luck with that.
Posted Saturday, May 21, 2011 7:53 PM
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Thoughts of a Grateful Constituent
I'm grateful to have King Banaian representing me. King's op-ed is just one reason I'm proud. In his op-ed, King lays out the multi-faceted case for the current budget GOP budget. This statistic and commentary jumped off the page at me:
The recent Star Tribune poll only asks for tax increases on other people. A general sales tax increase in that poll garnered only 7 percent support.
As George Bernard Shaw once observed, the government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul. The Star Tribune poll is a push poll for class warfare.
Let's be blunt about something. If a badly skewed poll like the Minnesota Poll shows that only 7 percent of people want a tax increase on themselves, that's proof that the appetite for tax increases is essentially nil. That's the real test about tax increases.
Here's another argument against raising taxes on Minnesota's job creators:
The argument that Local Government Aid cuts leading to property tax increases is shown false by the behavior of many area mayors. It is disrespectful to those who serve in local government for us to assume they would pass on any changes in local aid to their property taxpayers.
The DFL argument is that local units of government will automatically raise property taxes rather than looking for reforms in how government does things. I don't buy that for a split second. The reality is that most non-metro and several metro mayors and city councils have identified savings rather than reflexively raising property taxes.
I've written before about Prior Lake's fiscal stewardship :
When Prior Lake Mayor Mike Myser discovered last month that his city had a $2 million surplus, 'it was a huge surprise,' he said.
Then Myser, at a City Council meeting last month, made an almost equally surprising suggestion, that the city give the money back to taxpayers in the form of rebate checks.
'I simply said, 'Why couldn't we consider giving the money back?' he said last week.
What's interesting is that Prior Lake used to get LGA. Then their LGA payments were zeroed out. Rather than raising property taxes, they simply set intelligent priorities. The results speak for themselves.
I'd further argue that incumbents who opted for reflexively raising property taxes would get their butts kicked by reform-minded challengers the next time they ran for re-election. People are upset with status quo politicians. They want people who solve problems without adding to their financial burdens.
Saturday afternoon, I wrote about how Rep. Phyllis Kahn sided with Rep. Keith Downey instead of with Rep. Ryan Winkler in finding cost savings within state government:
I'm watching the House floor debate on Rep. Keith Downey's A-4 amendment that would consolidate Minnesota's IT operations. Moments ago, Rep. Phyllis Kahn rose in support of Rep. Downey's A-4 amendment , stating that 'this is a good first step' in consolidating IT operations.
Rep. Kahn later said something just as shocking. Here's what Rep. Kahn said :
'Rep. Winkler, who is almost never wrong, is wrong on this one.'
Rep. Downey's savings targets were so obvious that they were undeniable to a woman with a lengthy record of supporting liberal initiatives. This strengthens King's argument that it's quite possible to fund our priorities without raising taxes. The key in finding savings isn't difficult. It just involves scrutinizing everything in sight.
It's my contention that alot of spending is considered solid simply because it's been part of the budget forever. Why shouldn't our legislators' first instinct be to question past practices and past spending?
In fact, King's first bill does exactly that.
I'm proud of the job King has done. He's brought alot of great ideas to the legislature, ideas that will likely save Minnesota's taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.
Posted Sunday, May 22, 2011 2:46 AM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 22-May-11 08:30 PM
I'm envious of your superior representation at the Capitol! I'm stuck with a DFL lifer who stopped thinking in 2007.
Times Pushes Dayton's Disastrous Budget
The St. Cloud Times pushed Gov. Dayton's budget in this editorial :
Dayton, whom this board did not endorse for governor, offered a stellar solution Monday when he asked Republicans to meet halfway in resolving the state's $5.1 billion budget shortfall. The DFLer's plan postpones repaying school districts $1.8 billion the state owes them and covers the remaining gap with $1.8 billion in spending cuts and $1.8 billion in additional tax revenues.
Unfortunately, the initial reaction Monday from Republicans was a refusal to compromise, essentially rooted in the tiresome (and untrue) rhetoric of no new taxes.
First, be honest. The 'no new taxes' claim rings hollow. At best, it passes the buck (literally) to local jurisdictions.
Second, Dayton's compromise offer is fair. It raises tax rates on only 2 percent of all Minnesota tax filers. Sure, that's troubling to those paying the 'fourth tier' rate. But it also must be noted these are married couples earning more than $300,000 or singles earning $180,000-plus.
First, there's nothing in Gov. Dayton's budget that creates jobs. Gov. Dayton hasn't attempted making that argument because it's a losing argument. Fairness isn't an economic argument. It's a social argument. Right now, we need economic solutions.
Second, as King rightly pointed out yesterday, local governments make local decisions. Yes, LGA cuts have local impacts. Still, local governments can make the right decisions if they set smart priorities. St. Cloud, Willmar and Prior Lake are proof of that.
Perhaps even more telling, though, is the latest Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. Released Sunday, it showed 63 percent of respondents want a Dayton-like compromise and only 27 percent embrace what Republican leaders champion.
That Minnesota poll wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. It was total junk. Of the 63% that said we should raise taxes, only said they wanted their own taxes raised.
There isn't a great groundswell of support for increasing taxes. There's just a groundswell of ill-thought throught through populism. That's hardly reason for making poor decisions.
Posted Monday, May 23, 2011 6:45 PM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 24-May-11 08:46 AM
Your one sentence is incomplete. It should say only 7% want their own taxes raised. Always a big crowd shows up for the free lunch.
Gov. Dayton, Sign the Budget
Emphasizing that the final hours of the regular session is about time to face up to the economic realities, Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton said 'let's cut to the chase' and issued the following statement.
'The DFL message that the GOP budget protects the top two percent of wealthy Minnesotans and ignores the other 98 percent of us might send their base into rapture, but it's not reality,' said Sutton. 'The simple fact is the progressive budgets imposed when the DFL held the Legislature haven't helped, and in fact have hurt, the most vulnerable Minnesotans they claim to care about.'
'Has all of the increased spending on education under the DFL reduced the Achievement Gap?' asked Sutton. 'No, in fact students from low-income families fare worse in public schools,' he said.
'The Republican controlled Legislature has introduced and passed a bundle of education reforms that give low-income families more educational opportunities,' Sutton noted. 'The goal of public education is student achievement and fulfillment, not gilding the system,' Sutton added.
'Have government-run health care programs improved health care for low-income Minnesotans?' Again Sutton answered, 'No.'
'The Republican controlled Legislature has passed legislation that enables low-income Minnesotans to participate in the private insurance and health care market,' noted Sutton. 'Choice not only provides low-income Minnesotans with more health care value for taxpayer dollars, it restores their dignity and respect; treating low-income patients is no longer such an economic burden on Minnesota physicians.'
'Raising taxes only siphons more resources out of the private sector that produces the wealth that makes compassion and job growth possible,' said Sutton. 'The state budget should be based on economics, not a sense of righteous indignation and class envy.'
'The fact is, the budget sent to the governor is not the DFL rhetorical 'all-cuts' budget. It is a 'live within your means' budget that matches spending to projected revenue. The GOP Legislators raised the budget when the revenue forecast enabled it to. The budget forecast number was and is the GOP's 'last best offer,' said Sutton.
'The GOP budget is not just an accounting exercise,' Sutton added. 'It makes some real reforms that that will truly help Minnesotans. The difference is the GOP approach is based on economic realities and free market principles not just good intentions and collectivist thinking.'
'The Legislature's budget is on the governor's desk,' said Sutton. 'For the sake of ALL Minnesotans, the governor ought to sign it.'
It's time that Gov. Dayton admit that his budget isn't based on solid economic principles.
Posted Monday, May 23, 2011 8:12 PM
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Dayton Vetoes Pro-Growth GOP Budget Plan
In a totally expected and disappointing move, Gov. Dayton vetoed the GOP's pro-growth budget :
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed all nine GOP state government finance bills Tuesday, hardening a deep budget divide that can now only be resolved in a special legislative session.
This isn't surprising. It's disappointing, though. Gov. Dayton earned the rating of the worst senator for a reason, with his imagining an imminent terrorist being the chief reason but also his total lack of understanding economics.
Gov. Dayton didn't present an economic argument for his agenda during his state of the state address nor during the rest of the session. Instead, his presentation was about "the rich not paying their fair share." That's a quality-of-life, not an economic argument.
The biggest task facing GOP legislators is in explaining why Gov. Dayton's budget won't help the economy either in the short- or long-term and why Gov. Dayton's tax increases won't prevent property tax increases :
One thing that stunned me was Mary Kiffmeyer's statement that, in testimony before the House Taxes Committee, two people from the Dayton administration said that they couldn't guarantee that property taxes wouldn't go up if LGA is increased.
To big city mayors like R.T. Rybak, Chris Coleman and Don Ness, LGA is subsidizing their reckless spending habits. The fact that Gov. Dayton's hand-picked testifiers didn't rule out property tax increases speaks volumes the mechanics involved in property taxes.
If newspapers still employed investigative reporters, they would've exposed the DFL's myth ages ago. Unfortunately, that type of reporter is a rarity, especially in the Twin Cities. They would've noticed that some cities that got LGA are flourishing without it :
When Prior Lake Mayor Mike Myser discovered last month that his city had a $2 million surplus, 'it was a huge surprise,' he said.
Then Myser, at a City Council meeting last month, made an almost equally surprising suggestion, that the city give the money back to taxpayers in the form of rebate checks.
'I simply said, 'Why couldn't we consider giving the money back?' he said last week.
Consider the fact that Prior Lake's LGA was zeroed out since 2005 :
Prior Lake is not alone in the change. Some cities saw their homestead values actually fall in 2008 while their taxes kept going up. A nonpartisan research analysis of the $48 million increase in LGA that was granted by the 2005 Legislature found only 25 cents of property tax relief occurred for every $1 of increase received by the cities receiving them. LGA increases will not help our property taxes go down considering that many cities (including Prior Lake) have been deemed to be 'ineligible' for LGA since 2005.
That wasn't put together by a well-financed think tank. In fact, it was written by the Lady Logician in response to MN2020's Jeff Van Wychen think tank article on LGA. Interestingly, that was written by the Lady Logician when she chaired the SD-35 BPOU.
Not surprisingly, MN2020 and Gov. Dayton and the entire DFL still sing from that discredited hymnal. This is one of the DFL's hardy perennials in terms of rationalizations for raising other types of taxes.
The Dayton administration is off on the wrong foot. They vetoed a balanced budget that didn't raise taxes but did include health care reforms and another reform that would've dramatically improved Minnesota's budgeting system.
Speaker Zellers is right in saying that the alternative teacher licensure and permitting reforms will be big reforms, especially in the out years.
Gov. Dayton vetoed a pro-growth budget that doesn't raise taxes and that doesn't hurt Minnesota's job creators. In the end, that's the message the DFL will have to negate. Good luck with that.
Posted Tuesday, May 24, 2011 11:52 PM
Comment 1 by C Quigley at 25-May-11 06:56 AM
Dayton is a buffoon and has no idea what he is doing as governor. Just listen to him stammer and stutter when asked questions about the budget. The GOP needs to say no to a special session for the budget and let Gov. Goofy take the hit for not signing the balanced budget bills.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 25-May-11 08:06 AM
CQ, I agree that Gov. Dayton isn't well-equipped to be governor. That said, the people spoke & we'll have to deal with it. Though the DFL's apologists in the media are already trying to put the blame on Republicans, their problem is that you, me & Jerry can tell our friends, neighbors & cohorts that the legislature passed a balanced budget but that Gov. Dayton vetoed it.
Comment 2 by J. Ewing at 25-May-11 07:40 AM
Question 1: Is there some rule that says the GOP can't simply knock out funding for the Governor's gardener and then send the whole budget back to him, an hour after the special session starts?
Question 2: Is there anybody in the GOP with the guts to do something so sensible?
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 25-May-11 08:01 AM
Jerry, the legislature can't unilaterally do that sort of thing. That's part of the governor's budget & would need his signature. The only other way to do that is after a shutdown & a judge rules that the gardner is non-essential.
Q2: The entire GOP freshman class & many of the relative newbies are sensible & have done very sensible things already.
Comment 3 by Rex Newman at 25-May-11 10:05 AM
I don't know that I'd call this budget pro-growth, just less anti-growth. There is a difference.
Response 3.1 by Gary Gross at 25-May-11 10:43 AM
I'll respectfully disagree. The reforms in the GOP's bills alone justify that tag.
