The U.S. House of Representatives spent all week and several late nights debating hundreds of amendments to the omnibus appropriations bill that would continue our federal government funding through Sept. 30.
Tea Party to the rescue for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker!
The governor's Lipton-loving best friends arrived by bus, by car, by taxi from throughout the region Saturday, nearly matching the number of teachers, students and public-service employees protesting Gov. Walker's controversial proposal to trim benefits and curtail collective-bargaining rights for many of Wisconsin's unionized workers.
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If you listen to the National Education Association, Florida teacher pay has fallen to No. 37 among 50 states and the District of Columbia -- and it's falling further.
The average teacher salary in the Sunshine State last year was $46,708; the national average, $55,202. Poor Florida teachers, the union laments.
An NEA report released last week estimates Florida's average 2010-11 teacher salary will drop to 47th on the list, behind every state in the Southeast and ahead of only Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.
But, wait a minute here.
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Voters in Florida's 7th Congressional District should count out their representative, John Mica, when it comes to voting down high-speed rail funding.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers wants to rescind $7.25 billion in unspent HSR-stimulus money as part of an ongoing federal budget reduction.
But Mica, an old-guard Republican who heads the House Transportation Committee, is going in the opposite direction with a plan to circumvent Gov. Rick Scott's rejection of $2.4 billion in HSR-stimulus funds.
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Gov. Rick Scott found out this week that there is this pesky little thing called the Florida Legislature as lawmakers pushed back on a couple of his decisions for the first time.
Whatever leftover warm-and-fuzziness there was with lawmakers from Scotts inauguration came to a screeching halt at least as sudden as the one he put on a proposed Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed rail by rejecting 2.4 billion federal dollars to build it.
After leaving a comment at the end of my Monday column challenging its accuracy, South Florida Water Management District Chairman Eric Buermann invited me always to get "accurate and meaningful" info from him. Directly. From him.
Right there he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
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