Jeff Flake

While Arizona's congressional delegation may often split along ideological divides, yesterday marked a rare occasion in which Democrats and Republicans united behind a common cause.

In a letter sent to President George W. Bush, four Republican and two Democratic members of Congress from Arizona urged the federal government to renew Operation Jump Start, the 2006 initiative to place National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico border. The mandate is set to expire in just over two months, which, the legislators argue, would severely compromise anti-illegal immigration efforts.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-6) is considering whether or not to support the Post-9/11 GI Bill, introduced by Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-5) and supported by more than half the U.S. House, including 71 Republicans. If Flake decides to become a cosponsor, he would be the sole member of Arizona's GOP contingent to do so.

Democrats at all levels are pushing for the bill, designed to include reservists and National Guard troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan to be covered under the same educational. News of Flake's deliberation comes on the day the Washington Post published a story entitled "Some Veterans Find GI Bill Falls Short," and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) praised the bill.

Congressmen Jeff Flake and Raul Grijalva, who face no or little opposition this year have filed their FEC reports over the weekend. Flake raised $58,742 during the first quarter of 2008 and finished with $974,536 cash on hand. Grijalva raised $91,312 in the same time perio <

Mitchell-Giffords

The Arizona Republican Party is going after the two freshman Democrats in the delegation, Reps. Gabby Giffords (D-8) and Harry Mitchell (D-5) over the poor marks they received in the annual National Taxpayers Union's report card.

“Being a former school teacher, it shouldn’t be difficult for Congressman Mitchell to understand a 'D' is simply unacceptable,” said Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen. “Representative Giffords’s score of 9 percent is shameful. We have seen these two follow, in lockstep, the lead of Nancy Pelosi by voting to increase government spending, increase taxes on Arizona’s working families and failing to bring meaningful reform to the earmark process."

The National Taxpayers Union have released their Taxpayers Friends in the House for 2007 and Arizona Congressmen Jeff Flake and Trent Franks took the top 2 spots.

As we reported, Arizona is 51st of 51 states (including DC) in pork per capita, a decrease of 31 spots since 2006. Arizona received an average of $14.17 per person with a national average of $33.77.  read more »

CHANDLER - In an era of ever more rancor between the parties, it seems increasingly rare to see Republicans and Democrats doing anything together or even appearing in the same room at the same time, unless that room is the House or Senate chamber and it's to vote against each others' bills.

Harry Mitchell came under heat last week from a few of his CD5 potential general election opponents for missing an ethics vote. I decided to do a little research on attendance records for the 110th Congress to see just how often members from the Grand Canyon State missed session days in DC.  read more »

When the U.S. House voted yesterday on a proposal to create a new Office of Congressional Ethics, Rep. Rick Renzi (R-1), who was indicted in February on 35 federal counts ranging from wire fraud to extortion, wasn't there.

As reported by The Hill:  read more »

Republican leaders on the Hill have been refocusing their efforts on gaining back their economic conservative label they lost while in power.  One thing they have been doing this year is working with the President and letting everyone know that earmarks are not the way they are going to do business anymore.  For now on, you want funding for your pet project, go through the channels like any other piece of legislation.  House leaders have been feeling the heat as grassroots activist and conservative blogs across the country have been turning up the heat letting the leadership know how uns