With a new fiscal year budget nowhere near completion and questions remaining on so many outstanding issues like water conservation, Empowerment Scholarship Account reforms and cost controls, funding public schools by extending Proposition 123, and making life in Arizona more affordable, MAGA Republican leadership at the State Capitol thought this was the best time to shut down business in the Arizona State House and recess until May 20 and May 28 for the Senate.
This is not doing the people’s business.
Instead of going on vacation, MAGA Republicans should be in good faith negotiations with Governor Katie Hobbs and the Legislative Democrats on a budget that lifts people up and moves the state forward.
No recess should have been called until after the legislative session was over.
Commenting in a Gubernatorial Press Release, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’s Communication Director, Christian Slater issued a statement that conveyed:
“It’s shameful that Republican lawmakers are going on vacation instead of taking action to fund public education and passing a bipartisan, balanced budget. Everyday Arizonans don’t get to give themselves two weeks off from their job. Their inaction is a dereliction of their duty to serve the public and an affront to the students, parents, and teachers across Arizona who want stability and certainty.”
“Four months have gone by since the Governor proposed a commonsense budget that lowers costs for hardworking Arizonans, strengthens border security, and funds public education. Since then, Republicans have hidden their budget priorities from Arizonans, attempted to gut Medicaid for Arizonans with disabilities and worked on a scheme to sabotage funding for public education with their relentless partisan games. Republicans must show Arizonans their budget plan rather than skip work for a mid-session vacation.”
Arizona House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos expressed his puzzlement with the MAGA Republican move, commenting to Blog for Arizona:
“Republicans called for the recess and it’s not entirely clear why. Our caucus remains ready to work. We will use this time to keep pushing for a common-sense budget that protects public education and vital state services from the chaos Trump is causing with our national economy, and a clean renewal of Prop. 123 with no poison pill that tries to enshrine the runaway billion-dollar ESA voucher scam in the Arizona Constitution.”
On Republicans led by extremist pretending to be moderate Senator J.D. Mesnard taking this recess to solidify support for a Proposition 123 extension that also enshrines Empowerment Scholarship Welfare for the Wealthy Private School Vouchers in the State Constitution, Maricopa County Democratic Party Executive Director Eric Limbs wrote
“Maybe the D in J.D. stands for DOGE. The Senator doesn’t seem to care about providing necessary funding to Arizona. J.D. would rather act the part of a moderate while carrying out extremist policies that hurt Arizona families and our economy. We hope he enjoys his vacation.”
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As one of the legislative negotiators, I can tell you the legislature has been asking the governor to negotiate for over a month. She refuses.
It is the governor who has refused to negotiate with us for over a month. I know it because I am one of the legislative negotiators.
If you need a Constitutional Amendment, we need one to say the legislature MUST finish the budget FIRST before any other business and ALL budget discussions MUST be done in public, open to all and covered by all media. No backroom nonsense, and then trotted out at the last second. This gang of thieves needs a break like Trump needs a bigger ego. How come JK isnt on here deflecting on the break.