Sometimes watching the goings-on in Congress truly makes you think of that colloquial expression, "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

That is certainly the case when we look at the whole issue surrounding the egregious earmark of Charles Rangel, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (pictured left). The earmark in question is to shell out $2 million dollars to go towards the creation of a center for public policy at the City College of New York. Now, there may be some debate in Congress about whether $2 million to go towards a building at a college is "egregious" or not. Certainly in the current paradigm that is Congress, where members routinely are sending home pork to their districts, this earmark unfortunately doesn’t really stick out. EXCEPT… Now, get this. It falls under the category of "you simply couldn’t… Read More

Some timely commentary from the Chairman of the State Senate Republican Caucus…

Time To Live Within Our Means Senator George Runner The Senate Republicans budget proposal has accomplished what some believed to be impossible: We have cut spending while leaving K-12 education and public safety alone. We went after people… Read More

Word from the Senate is that the session called for 9 a.m. this morning has been delayed, subject to the "Call of the Chair" — which means what?

It means that perhaps Senate President Don Perata is starting to realize that his immature budget antics aren’t moving the debate anywhere.

What is needed here is an acknowledgement that the Assembly-passed budget is DOA, and a reopening of the negotiations. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines should come back into town, and everyone should reopen budget negotiations, this time with the knowledge that there is a GOP line in the sand – no deficit spending.

Oh well, trying to suggest a logical course of action to Don Perata is a bit of a challenge — especially when he would rather be name calling than negotiating.… Read More

Porkbusters has ID’d 1776 individual earmarks in the latest Defense Appropriation bill.

We’ll give you three guesses as to which Californian has the most (38, making him third over all in Congress)…

What? You think you already know the answer?

Well, click here to verify your hunch.

Apparently Jerry Lewis (oh! I gave it away) is enough of an expert in these items to champion their funding requests — Center for Innovative Geospatial Technology, GeoSAR System Enhancements, Geospatial Intelligence Analysis Education, Joint Training Experimentation Program (JTEP), Homeland Defense Operational Planning System (HOPS), Lewis Center for Education Research, Norton AFB Infrastructure Improvements, MAGTGTC Range Transformation Initiative, Magneto Inductive Remote Activation Munition Systems MI-RAMS, Warrior Block 0 All-Weather, Hi-Fidelity Sensor Upgrades, MAGTFTC Range Transformation Initiative, Mobile Optical Sensor Suite (MOSS), Praetorian, Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology (CASIT), Cyber Threat Analytics, Integrated Information Technology… Read More

We’re not sure what it means, but apparently cattle-call is on for Democrat Senators to return to the Capitol, possibly indicating that a budget might be in the offing. Apparently Democrat Senators have been arriving in numbers this afternoon, zipping into the garage in their cars (well, I’m sure someone else was driving Migden’s car for her.) What does it mean? Who knows? Though my sources say there is no deal yet.

Also, apparently the Governor is speechifying in his press conference room. I am thinking that he is not commending Senate Republicans for their determination to pass a budget that spends less than that passed by the Assembly, which spends less than the one he introduced. Then again, one can hope…… Read More

This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger spent about 15 minutes taking Q & A on the state budget stalemate.

That said, what was the upshot? The Governor wants a budget now. How does he propose we get there? Well, he didn’t quite say.

But if you want to listen to him not say much yourself, you can listen to the press event here.

I am sure that the same economic conservative leaders who stood with you in your election would be happy to appear at another press conference with you, demanding that Democrats tighten the state’s belt just a litte bit more.… Read More

This just in from Republican State Senator Sam Aanestad, on the current budget situation…

They’re Not Listening, But I Am by Senator Sam Aanestad I find it confusing that the Majority Party is suddenly angered over Senate Republican demands for a truly balanced budget. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. We have been repeating the same line as a unified caucus since we passed the previous budget. … Read More

Here is an exclusive commentary from State Senator Roy Ashburn for FR readers…

Senate Republicans – Standing United Last week fifteen Republican State Senators faced down a political freight train and brought it to a grinding halt. By remaining united just fifteen of the one hundred and twenty California Legislators were able to draw a line in the sand and say “No” to an irresponsible State budget. To compare our ordeal to that of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae might be a bit of a stretch, but there have been times this week when it certainly felt like it. … Read More