Bad News: 'Cap and Trade' and challanges in State Budgets

In the 220 years of our republic, there may have been worse pieces of
legislation enacted by Congress than the Waxman-Markey bill, but none readily
comes to mind. The Senate needs to take a stand and stop this disastrous act
from passing into law. - Robert Zubrin

The Costs of the Cap -and-Trade Bill - Roll Call

McKinley and other Republicans note that Culver can pull $50 million from
the state's cash reserves of about $400 million without legislative approval,
and there was a $44 million surplus in the budget approved by the Legislature.
That roughly $94 million appears far short of the expected shortfall. -
Ames Tribune

The Wednesday, July 1, 2009 edition of The Ames Tribune features an article titled, "Iowa sees budget gap as fiscal year ends." For more on this issue, read "Iowa's State Budget: Spending Our Way to a Crisis Again."

“Governor Culver has allowed the budget mess to become far too problematic
for him to handle on his own – we have gone from having a projected deficit to
an actual deficit. He needs to call the Legislature back for a special session
to balance the budget. He then needs to ask the Legislature to reduce the budget
for the coming year by an equal amount.
Everyone in the state has seen this day coming, except for Governor Culver. Taxpayers and local governments cannot afford a ‘wait and see’ approach any longer. Action is needed now.
It is time to quit worrying about the political ramifications of admitting that we have a deficit and get about the business of fixing it. Governor Vilsack put aside
partisan politics and called a special session in 2001 and 2002 to balance the
budget after revenues declined; Culver needs to do the same.” - State Rep.
Christopher Rants

Rants Call for a Special Session to get Iowa’s Fiscal House in Order - The Iowa Republican

The impact of 'Cap and Trade' and our State Budget situation don't provide a lot of confidence for future planning and expansion. We see foreclosures mounting in the USA. We see unemployment concerns and we see both the Federal and State governments living beyond sustainability.

peace