Fast-forward to 2011. Being a millionaire in Congress is nothing special — just about half of all members are one. The legislative process works less operatically, but the result is pretty much the same: legislative gridlock punctuated by occasional blatant special-interest legislation. Banks are rescued; the unemployed are left to their own devices. The housing […]

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The Supercommittee is charged with delivering, by November 23, recommendations for $1.5 trillion in cuts from the federal budget over the next 10 years. The recommendations, if they are reported out, will be subject to a legislative plebiscite in the House and Senate. That is, a “yea” or “nay” vote with no amendments and no […]

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From here on out, the Republican primary is a contest between insurgent, extremist Tea Party/Evangelicals and what remains of the party’s pragmatic corporatists. This division was evident in June, when Ralph Reed invited Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to Washington to speak to the Faith & Freedom Coalition convention. In fact, the only “news” to report […]

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Bob Perry, as we and other news outlets reported, had contributed $11.5 million to the RGA, much of which was earmarked to be passed through to Rick Perry. After we went to press with our previous issue, a Bob Perry spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle that Bob Perry had been contributing to the RGA long […]

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The $27 billion equaled 15 percent of the $182 billion biennial budget the Legislature had passed two years earlier. If not Armageddon, an apocalyptic loss of revenue in a low-tax state that provides bare-bones public services. Perry’s statement was even more remarkable because most of the budget shortfall was a consequence of a business-tax bill […]

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