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The Week Ahead
With three days to go, Utah lawmakers will be working late on the House and Senate floors and plowing through dozens of bills. The huge budget bill was expected to be on legislators’ desks this morning, and fiscal note bills were lined up for action. See the legislative calendar for audio and video of floor debate. See also the Week 7 House and Senate schedules. For other political events see the Utah Policy Daily calendar.
Washington Watch
Matheson Rejects Murtha Iraq Plan
Article: "The plan was bold: By tying President Bush's $100 billion war request to strict standards of troop safety and readiness, Democrats believed they could grab hold of Iraq war policy while forcing Republicans to defend sending troops into battle without the necessary training or equipment. But a botched launch by the plan's author, Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week. 'If this is going to be legislation that's crafted in such a way that holds back resources from our troops, that is a non-starter, an absolute non-starter,' declared Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah), a leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats" (Washington Post); Matheson says of the cancellation of the Divine Strake bomb test: "I have stood in the way of this test from day one. ... I have opposed it based on both its purpose and its potential ill affects. ... [M]y hope is that DTRA would instead spend time and money on developing a conventional weapon that would actually be useful to our military in destroying deeply buried terrorist targets" (see press release).
National Politics
Conservatives Still Looking
Some Christian conservatives are not pleased with any of the leading Republican presidential candidates and they are aren’t sure where to find a candidate they find acceptable (New York Times).
Today in Political History
- Feb. 26, 1951: The 22nd Amendment, which limits a president to two terms of office, is ratified (Source: National Journal 2007 Calendar of American Politics)
- Feb. 26, 1848: Karl Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto (Source: Leon’s Almanac of Political History)
Wise Words
“Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”
—Ambrose Bierce (Source: The Patriot Post)
Blog Watch
Rep. Steve Urquhart says: "[Rep.] Brad Last ran a bill solely to address arguments raised against the voucher bill. The bill (1) requires that teachers at voucher-eligible schools have criminal background checks, (2) doubles the amount of money the State School Board gets to administer the program, and (3) deals with arguments that voucher schools might teach unlawful activities. Only 5 Democrats voted for the bill. Why do you think that is? Is it just that the word 'vouchers' was in the title? I don't believe the vote means that Democrats are in favor of felonious teachers, that Democrats are against providing more administration money, or that Democrats favor Jihad schools. Nor do I believe their negative votes were bought by generous Union contributions. Nor do I believe that Rep. [Ralph] Becker twisted their arms to vote against the bill. And, I surely don't believe the media will ever ask why [Friday's] votes are so seemingly at odds with earlier stated positions that such protections are needed in the law. But it would be very interesting to hear why people think those votes were cast against things many of the 'no' voters said they wanted in the voucher program" (for more Legislature-related posts, see ars technica, Anchor Rising, The Senate Site, Under The Dome, The Business Law Spot, UAC Blog, Part of the Plan, KVNU's For The People, Red Pills, The Utah Amicus, and Anderson Development Blog).... At National Review Online's The Corner, Mark Steyn notes: "The Associated Press finds lots of skeletons in [Mitt Romney's] closet ... What did Mitt know and when did he know it? I can't wait for the AP piece on Senator Obama's great-grandpa" (for more on Romney, see Captain's Quarters Power Line, PastorBlastor, Article VI Blog, COL Takashi, Utah Conservative, Voice of Utah, The World, According To Me, and Davis Didjeridu). |
