I know that some of you would like me to talk more about issues other than fiscal/financial ones. And I will do that when bills move or issues come to the floor. However, I am a bean counter (CPA) by trade and I do sit on 3 of the 4 financial committees on which members of the House can sit (The only one I am not on is the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee). Numbers are kind of what I do. And of course, issue number 1, 2, and 3, both in the public’s mind and in DC, is the economy right now.

One of the services I hope to provide the readers of this blog is information about what is happening back here which will hopefully help you navigate the very treacherous economic waters ahead. To that end, all 3 of the committees on which I sit met last week. Here is a brief synopsis of what I learned from those hearings…..and some comments on other stuff you may want to know:

Budget Committee: Last week’s witness in this committee was Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner talking about the President’s budget. He vigorously defended the budget, which I would… Read More

I am pleased to offer this Guest Commentary from longtime FR reader Alyse Fulbright. Fulbright (pictured to the right holding the sign) was one of over 10,000 activists who rallied in Fullerton on Saturday to protest the recent passage of the largest tax increase in California history, as well as to decry the legislature’s placing Proposition 1A on the ballot which, if passed, would extend those taxes additional years…

Yesterday afternoon, I joined thousands of other Californians at the Tax Revolt in downtown Fullerton. The turnout shocked me, with estimates from 8,000 to 15,000 in attendance, depending on who you ask. It was a diverse crowd—college students, old folks, families with children—and everybody there was angry about the recently passed budget and the tax increases that came with it. … Read More

Saturday’s FR front page included an OC Register article about Orange County taxpayer dollars funding Planned Parenthood. Thankfully, Supervisor John Moorlach uncovered the county contracts that use tax dollars for “comprehensive reproductive education for teens and preteens.” This “comprehensive” education undoubtedly includes information about abortion availability for the “teens and preteens.”

CRI just sent out an email alert to our supporters encouraging them to call the OC Board of Supervisors before they consider this matter at their meeting tomorrow morning. If you’re a taxpayer in Orange County, you should demand the County Supervisors cancel this contract.

OC taxpayers should not be sending $341,788 to an organization whose annual budget now tops $1 billion. Let individual taxpayers decide which non-profit organizations they do and don’t want to support, especially regarding controversial issues like abortion and sex education for children.

The Board of Supervisors will meet… Read More

Our friends with Americans for Prosperity, California, were participants in yesterday’s massive anti-tax rally in Fullerton, and they sent this over for your reading pleasure. Below are a few photos from the days event…

Americans for Prosperity joined KFI radio personalities John and Ken for "Tax Revolt Day" in California. Speaking to a crowd of 15,000 people, AFP California’s Statewide Chairman Peter Foy spoke of the recent outrage over the $45 billion tax increase recently levied on taxpayers by politicians in Sacramento. Peter Foy reminded the crowd that the recent tax increase from Sacramento is costing taxpayers $21 Million dollars per day, equivalent to 913,000 per hour, 24 hours per day.… Read More

From the “Wake up and don’t smell the tobacco” department… Thanks to the Federal Strategy Group for sending along the quote of the day:

“They’re telling you how to live and what to do, and they’re doing it right here in America.”

–Edith Frederickson, 72, a smoker in Belmont, California, where a strict antismoking law effectively outlaws lighting up in all apartment buildings (New York Times, 1/27/09) From the “It’s not only Republicans mad at some of their legislators” department… This excerpted from a recent San Diego Democratic Club email call-to-action, and starring Assemblyman Marty Block:

Last Monday … the California State Assembly voted on HR 5, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano’s resolution declaring that the Assembly believes that Proposition 8 was an improper "revision" of our California Constitution rather than an "amendment" that could be rightly placed before voters as the Proposition 8 proponents did last fall. In… Read More

This was sent out statewide to the members of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association after yesterday’s massive, successful anti-tax rally in Fullerton…

At least 10,000 angry taxpayers (one official estimate was over 15,000) participated in the 2009 Tax Revolt rally in Fullerton today. A big Thank You to all the HJTA members who joined the protest against higher taxes and Proposition 1A, the $16 billion tax increase scam placed on the May 19 special election ballot by the Legislature. We know that many HJTA members were not able to travel to Fullerton, but were with us in spirit. This event was just the kickoff of the campaign to defeat Proposition 1A that is being deceptively marketed by… Read More

I can imagine the assignment editors hanging out in the Los Angeles Times newsroom when the fax comes over from KFI’s John & Ken show informing them of a "tax revolt rally" taking place in Fullerton. Never mind that the Times’ Orange County coverage is becoming more and more sparse, given the attention lately on the quickly growing discontent amongst taxpaying Californian’s in the wake of the passage a few weeks ago of the largest tax increase in this history of this state (or any state, for that matter), you would think that they would have assigned a reporter to cover the event. Perhaps maybe they might have also sent a photographer to snap some "clicks" of the crowd.

Invariably, though, the editors, who were probably leaders in PETA or Greenpeace on their college campuses before turning to a life in journalism (following most of their campus-left activists), just scrunched up the fax and tossed it into the trash.

That is certainly one conclusion that you could come to as you turn the pages of the Los Angeles Times print edition this morning, as my mom and dad did — they live in LA. My mom confirmed for me… Read More

I can imagine the assignment editors hanging out in the Los Angeles Times newsroom when the fax comes over from KFI’s John & Ken show informing them of a "tax revolt rally" taking place in Fullerton. Never mind that the Times’ Orange County coverage is becoming more and more sparse, given the attention lately on the quickly growing discontent amongst taxpaying Californian’s in the wake of the passage a few weeks ago of the largest tax increase in this history of this state (or any state, for that matter), you would think that they would have assigned a reporter to cover the event. Perhaps maybe they might have also sent a photographer to snap some "clicks" of the crowd.

Invariably, though, the editors, who were probably leaders in PETA or Greenpeace on their college campuses before turning to a life in journalism (following most of their campus-left activists), just scrunched up the fax and tossed it into the trash.

That is certainly one conclusion that you could come to as you turn the pages of the Los Angeles Times print edition this morning, as my mom and dad did — they live in LA. My mom confirmed for me… Read More