Arizona Senate Republicans Pass a Budget for the Dark Ages

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Fellow blogger and mentor Larry Bodine may be right when he said, after learning the depressing details of the budget the Arizona Senate Republicans passed this morning, “we’re doomed.”

We definitely will be if we do not stay engaged and fight back.

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Political polarization and fringe tribalism in Arizona has come to a point where:

  • Democrat’s calls for a provision to help poor pregnant women get state health care (ACHCCS) are rejected so Republicans can fund unsustainable long-term tax cuts for the rich.
  • The voter’s rule to increase funding for public schools and deny the expansion of private school vouchers are circumvented by the proposed flat tax in the budget and last-minute amendments to the K-12 education funding bill.
  • Reactionary senators have the gall to use the budget process to secure big lie electioneering measures (for their vote on the budget) that could have come out of a Cyber Ninjas pamphlet and a controversial provision that mandates teachers give equal weight to the Nazi perspective on conducting the Holocaust or the Southern slave master in the pre Civil War era.

If Republican nut jobs like Kelly Townsend, Wendy Rogers, and Mark Finchem had said they wanted a provision against motherhood in order to secure their vote for the budget, would Ducey and the other former party of Lincoln leaders have acquiesced to their demands? Probably. Nothing is too sacred to stop tax cuts for the rich or suppressing Democracy.

Reaction among Senate Democrats and progressive activists to this budget for the Dark Ages has been universal.

Senator Kirsten Engel, in comments picked up by Arizona Mirror, likened this tax-cutting budget to the failed experiment in Kansas several years ago, stating:

“We will be robbing ourselves of revenues to deal with issues that we have in the state. It destroyed the whole idea of progressive taxation, which is based upon a very solid foundation that the first dollar is the most important dollar to you. As you get more dollars, they don’t mean quite as much. And it completely turns upside down the idea of equity in our tax system.”

She also tweeted:

State Senator Tony Navarrete largely echoed Engel in his comments in the Mirror, relaying:

“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the amount of funds not only that we received from the federal government but from the skinny budget that we passed last year, and the increased revenue that came from this recent pandemic. And we’re going to just give it away and hand it over to the top 1% of earners.”

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman tweeted:

Progress Arizona also released a statement condemning the budget.

According to the 2021 Kids Count Book put out by the Children’s Action Alliance, Arizona ranks:

  • 37th in the nation in Child Poverty.
  • 46th in PreSchool Attendance.
  • 46th in Children without health insurance.

What does the Republican early holiday gift to the rich and the fringe right wrapped in this budget do to help lift up children?

Do not let Republicans tell you that private school voucher accounts where poor families can not afford to make up the financial difference from the scholarship amount are one of the answers. It is not.

Do not let Republicans tell you their supply tax economic prescriptions like this report from the Trickle Down Group the Committee to Unleash Prosperity (and cited by Doug Ducey’s office) recommends is the right answer for Arizona’s economy.

It is not. Just ask the people in Kansas which the above Committee report neglects to mention.

Democrats in Washington D.C. can learn from the tactics of the Arizona Republicans and their political soul mates in other states.

If they can, without any shame, advance measures on party-line votes that stymie democracy and hurt the people in their states, Democrats should reform the filibuster and enact measures that uplift everyone and make the American Republic and Democratic institutions stronger.

Voters also need to take comfort that many citizen ballot initiatives will undoubtedly be filed in about 100 days that will enable the people to vote against and remove the onerous provisions in this budget like the flat tax and the school voucher expansion (if that remains.)

There will also probably be several lawsuits against the proposed voting suppression measures.

People need to stay active and fight at the ballot box and courts to protect Democracy and measures that will help others.

Do not give up. Stay Engaged.

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2 thoughts on “Arizona Senate Republicans Pass a Budget for the Dark Ages”

  1. A virtual orgy of ultra right wing insanity. Every goofy idea, never reviewed in committee hearings, thrown and attached to the budget at the last minute. Voters, go to hell, cities counties and school districts, drop dead, women and the poor, tough doodoo. Teachers, indoctrinate in right wing ideology or we’ll arrest you. Every insane De Santis idea, we’ll do it here, too! Commies under the bed? Rich Paradise Valley pals, we’ll take care of you.

  2. This budget is bad for so many reasons. But let’s just consider one. Everybody wins when we invest in schools. Kids who get a good education are likely to become independent and productive adults. Good schools and a skilled workforce will bring new businesses to Arizona. And good teachers will stay in in education and in Arizona because they, too, can support their families and feel appreciated. A majority of Arizonans know this and worked hard to pass the ballot initiative to increase school funding. What a slap in the face by Republican legislators to erase these hard earned increases by reducing the State’s general education budget. I am hopeful that some Republican legislators are capable of and motivated by shame and a sense of fair play to summon the courage to say no. Lynne Hudson

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