Legislative Leaders Hail Giffords’ Block of GOP Budget as an Act of “Courage and Conviction”
TUCSON - Legislative and community leaders hailed Gabrielle Giffords for blocking an after-hours budget bill in the Arizona Senate on Monday, May 12, 2003, which would have drastically cut health care and senior care. The action she took is referred to in a recent ad by Giffords’ campaign for Congress. According to an Associated Press article from that date, the introduction of the Republican budget “was thwarted when Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, made a motion that triggered a requirement that a majority of the Senate be in attendance.”
“Gabrielle Giffords stood up to the Republican Leadership in the Senate when they tried to move a very bad budget bill through a nearly empty Senate Chamber after a majority of senators had gone home,” said Sen. Bill Brotherton. “Giffords’ action helped run out the clock on the Republican budget. Come Friday, the Republicans didn’t have the votes that they needed to pass this bill. Her advertisement is accurate.”
Assistant Democratic House Leader Rep. Linda Lopez also praised Giffords’ actions on that night. “The bill that they introduced (SB 1362) never passed,” said Rep. Lopez. “She slowed down a fast-track version of the budget and opened the way for public input and negotiations to eliminate some of the proposed cuts. That’s why the legislature ended up passing a much tamer budget bill. It was an act of courage and conviction to stand up to the Republican majority and thwart their plans.”
Former Sen. Slade Mead echoed Lopez’ comments. “Leadership tried using a parliamentary maneuver to bypass the Senate body as a whole,” Sen. Mead said. “Leadership would have gotten away with it had Gabby not sensed something was wrong. Gabby stayed behind that day when the majority of the Senate thought the day was over and had gone home. She stopped them dead in their tracks. She stood up and made leadership follow the rules. It was an embarrassing situation for Republican leadership.”
Community leader Martha Rothman, founder of Child & Family Resources, praised Giffords’ actions as well. “In the legislature, Gabrielle Giffords did everything she could to prevent cuts to services for children, seniors, and people with disabilities,” Rothman said. “Her action on the 2003 budget is a clear example of her commitment to the people of our state. She stood up to the Republican leadership and helped stop a very bad budget bill that was being rushed through without public input or negotiation with Democrats, who had been left out of the budget process. This created an opening to restore many of the Republican leadership’s proposed cuts. Gabrielle was so savvy and knowledgeable about the legislative process that she was able to block that terrible budget. That’s the kind of know-how we need in Washington.”
Giffords blocked the introduction of the bill, SB 1362, on Monday, May 12, 2003. This delayed an eventual final vote on the bill by one calendar day, because Senate rules require that bills be reviewed three times on three separate calendar days. It also forced the introduction of the budget into the open, when a majority of Senators were present. The next day, the bill was assigned to the Appropriations Committee, which finally voted on the bill on the afternoon of Thursday, May 15. That cleared the bill for a final vote on the floor of the Senate. But there never was a final vote on the bill, as the Republicans could not amass the 16 votes needed to pass the bill.
Giffords’ delay tactic allowed Democrats and other stakeholders more time to influence moderate Republicans against the bill. The bill (SB 1362), which the Republican leadership had attempted to introduce on the night of May 12 after most Senators had gone home, never passed. A new budget, which restored many of the proposed cuts, was negotiated and voted on in public view the next month.
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