Governor Doug Burgum has decided to finally show there are some areas he disagrees with the Legislature. Today, Burgum sent the Speaker of the House, Rep. Larry Bellew, a letter declaring he has vetoed HB 1153. The bill would have limited the dollar amount of bonuses the Governor is allowed to give his staff or members he […]
At my request, I received the following public document from the North Dakota Tax Department. The column on the far right titled, “Amount reduced if limited to $3.5 million” shows how much every county would be denied each year from Rep. Craig Headland’s amendment to SB 2273. The total state breakdown appears at the bottom. […]
The North Dakota House Finance and Tax Committee has changed a bill so that it will now cut state funding for Meals on Wheels and other services that help senior citizens across the state. The amendment which adds sections to a bill completely unrelated to senior care would cut $439,844.08 per year and capped at $3.5 million in state […]
The Executive Budget proposal released from President Trump demonstrates why Democrats need to refocus on the working class and rural America. Multiple analyses have shown the negative impacts of Trump’s proposal would disproportionately harm rural Americans, low-income workers, and senior citizens. Some of them are the very same individuals who overwhelmingly voted for Trump and have shifted […]
House Majority Leader Al Carlson’s casino measure received a DO NOT PASS recommendation from the House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday on a vote of 13-2. Not only was the measure overwhelmingly rejected, no amendments were adopted. As the saying goes, you can try to put lipstick on a pig I guess. Decency seems to have prevailed […]
Following the awaited nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment of the Republican healthcare plan, Speaker Paul Ryan was eager to show his excitement. Not long after, Rep. Kevin Cramer shared Ryan’s enthusiasm though he has yet to make a statement of his own. Apparently, it was easy for them to get passed the sticker shock […]
The current healthcare replacement plan Congressional Republicans are ramming through will hurt working and older Americans on low incomes. Though we don’t have solid numbers from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office because of the speed at which they’re moving the bill, other assessments show millions of Americans could lose their insurance. Here is the catch, […]
Congressional Republicans have finally introduced their long promised repeal and replacement plan to Obamacare. To say it has been met with less than flattering reviews could be considered an understatement. A lot of questions surround the new proposal. For starters, what do we call it? “TrumpCare”? “RyanCare”? “CramerCare”? Whatever they choose to call it, experts are […]
The saga of Congressman Kevin Cramer’s “white pantsuit” debacle just won’t go away. Friday, Cramer again doubled down on his original comments in a Politico interview. Over the weekend, his apologists and political cheerleaders insisted nobody cared about his remarks. Today, his wife Kris Cramer, who is also a paid staff member (see line 5), made even […]
Lawmakers are anxiously waiting for the revised budget forecast to be presented on Thursday, March 9th. The forecast will be used to justify budgetary decisions the remainder of this session. I don’t know that anyone is anticipating a dramatic uptick which means deeper cuts will likely be pursued. One of the areas that lawmakers are looking […]