Outnumbered Democrats in the Indiana Senate were unsuccessful yesterday in trying to make major changes to a GOP plan designed to fix the state’s bankrupt unemployment fund. The Republican plan would increase taxes on employers, reduce benefits for most jobless people and tighten eligibility standards. Senate Democrats offered amendments that would keep benefit payments the […]
The Indiana House has advanced a proposal that supporters say would accelerate limits on tax bills and provide $200 million in property-tax relief. But don’t count on seeing those savings. The proposal is unlikely to pass the more deliberative Senate, where a Republican leader said caps on property-tax bills must be gradually implemented as originally […]
Efforts to fix Indiana’s bankrupt unemployment insurance system are shaping up as a slugfest in the General Assembly, one likely to last to the end of the session in late April – if not beyond. “This is the one issue that can slip us into a special session, and we had the opportunity to start […]
Efforts to fix Indiana’s bankrupt unemployment insurance system are shaping up as a slugfest in the General Assembly, one likely to last to the end of the session in late April – if not beyond. “This is the one issue that can slip us into a special session, and we had the opportunity to start […]
In the past, lawmakers ignored the need to fix financing for the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, and now they must come
up with solutions that will be difficult for both Democrats and Republicans to accept.
Difficult economic conditions have been faced before and we have both the tools and will to overcome our problems.
The jokesters in the Indiana General Assembly once again have shown their incredible ability to play the fools. True, it only takes a committee to commit laughable acts beyond the dreams of circus clowns. The entire Legislature need not be involved. This time, a selection of our representatives rejected efforts to rid the state of […]
Hamilton County businessman Brose McVey has announced he will challenge incumbent Rep. Dan Burton for the Republican nomination for Indiana’s 5th District Congressional seat in next year’s election. McVey, a former aide to Dan Quayle and Dan Coats when they were senators, was the 7th District GOP nominee in 2002, when he lost to the […]
The mayor of beleaguered Elkhart had a simple message for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels yesterday: Send us stimulus money, and send it fast. Mayor Dick Moore hopes federal economic stimulus cash can revive the northern Indiana city, which has been hit hard by the collapse of the recreational vehicle industry and is struggling with an […]
A plan designed to fix Indiana’s bankrupt unemployment insurance fund drew misgivings from business and labor groups yesterday as it advanced to the Republican-controlled Senate, which is expected to pass some version of the proposal. The Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee endorsed the plan on a 9-3 vote after four hours of public testimony, […]
Seeking to counter a chorus of unhappy Republicans and nervous Wall Street investors, President Barack Obama and his economic team are taking a cheerier tone while making billions in federal loans available to the nation’s struggling small businesses. Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today plan to announce a broad package that includes reduced small-business […]
There’s a saying at the Indiana Statehouse that nothing is dead until lawmakers gavel out and go home. There’s some truth to that, but it would probably take extreme political mastery to revive legislation this year to overhaul the local government system in Indiana. It’s on its death bed, and the buzzards are circling above. […]
This week I’m going to be
your own, personal Pollyanna and try to cheer you up with some good news.
Brace yourself, because things in this legislative session are destined to get messy: the politics, the process, the personalities,
the context, and the issues and their substance, all at once.
All right, class, put a fresh point on those No. 2 Dixon Ticonderogas, because here it comes, the News Quiz.
After some bumbling and rumbling, a Democratic-controlled Indiana House committee dealt a blow yesterday to efforts to reorganize local government – a top legislative priority of Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. The Government and Regulatory Reform Committee voted to combine five local government bills into one, and then one Republican joined six Democrats in defeating the […]
An Indiana House committee has dealt a serious blow to local government reorganization efforts. The Democrat-controlled Government and Regulatory Reform committee voted today to fold several local government provisions proposed by Gov. Mitch Daniels into a single bill. The panel then voted to reject the bill, with one Republican joining six Democrats in voting against […]
U.S. House Republican leader John Boehner said yesterday he doesn’t support handing over more federal money to keep General Motors Corp. afloat unless the automaker develops a viable and long-term business model and can pay back government loans. “Anything short of that is just throwing good money after bad,” Boehner said on CBS’s “Face the […]
Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indiana House Speaker Patrick Bauer have more in common than they might think. Both are headstrong politicians who wield tremendous power. And both have a way with words, especially when they aren’t getting what they want. So it’s no surprise that the Republican governor and the Democratic speaker are once again […]
The key legislative item at this point remains House Bill 1001, the budget bill.
