Democrats best efforts fail! The board has been cleared.

They tried locking us in the Chamber, they tried keeping us up all night, depriving us of sleep. They tried keeping us away from our families, they even brought in a truckload of YaYa's Flame-broiled Chicken and let only the Democrats eat! They threw everything at us but water-torture, but guess what? They could not break our will. From Day One until today, we had all 52 Republicans holding firm against a tax increase of ANY kind.

All along, the Dems could have passed their bill to steal another $1.5 billion from the taxpayers by simply putting up their Dem votes. They have 58 members, they only need 56 to pass a bill. But the "Yellow Ten" NEVER voted. Imagine going four days in session and never putting up your vote, either way! I wonder, is that what their constituents sent them to Lansing to do? Is that why they are paying them the big bucks? Maybe some wanted them to raise taxes, but either way, I am sure they didn't expect them to be such cowards as to refuse to vote at all.

What happens now? I think it really comes down to reforms and cuts being negotiated through the budget process, as it is supposed to be done. Democrat House leadership has proven they are incapable of leading. The Senate will run the budget bills, put the reforms in place to pare down this budget to size so that we can do what we have done for the last two years, live within our means.

Remember, the difference between this year's spending and next year's revenue is $500 million, not $2 billion as the Governor asserts. That is just a little more than 1% of the entire budget. I think we can handle that.