8:00 p.m. and still going strong

After closing the board on the attempted income tax increase, the Dems put up a decoy bill. They took a Senate Appropriations bill on General Government (SB229) and substituted what they said was Mike Bishop's version. Not true. It was a only an alternative that was discussed by the Senate Fiscal Agency. Point is, it had huge, unnecessary cuts of over $1 billion on just one budget. The idea was to say, "Hey, Republicans, you want cuts, here they are." It was really a misrepresentation of what Mike Bishop and the Senate had proposed.

Everyone saw through the ruse, the bill was put up for a vote and EVERYONE voted "no". But, now they can say, "Well, you don't want cuts, then you can just sit here until we find 56 votes for that tax increase." As I write this, the Governor is in the back office (literally the old Governor's office) just off the House chamber, trying to make deals with Republicans, one at a time.

Since that one vote on the budget, which is the only recorded vote we have taken in nearly three days, we have done nothing. The House is locked down, we can't leave. We are waiting for our good friends on the other side of the aisle to make a decision. Meanwhile, we are catching up on reading constituent mail, calling constits, writing letters, reading budgets and policy documents, catching a little rest, and eating whenever they decide to feed us.

Yes, there is a bathroom in the Chamber...