by AZ Free News | Jun 3, 2021 | News
Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs and his Republican colleagues on the Oversight and Reform Committee called on National Economic Council Director Brian Deese to provide answers about how the Biden Administration plans to fix its self-made inflation crisis.
In April inflation increased at its fastest pace in more than a decade. Over the past year, food is up 3.5 percent, gas is up 22 percent, lumber is up 250 percent, housing is up 11 percent, and new cars are up 9 percent.
The Republicans claim the Biden Administration’s economic policies have “disproportionately impacted middle class Americans, especially those hit hardest by Democrat lockdowns.”
“The exponential rise in inflation since the Biden Administration took office shows the clear consequences of massive deficit spending and the fallout from installing an extreme left-wing agenda,” wrote the Republicans. “The Biden Administration has pushed trillions of dollars of taxpayer money out the door with little consideration of the adverse consequences … The obvious consequence of reckless government spending is inflation.”
The Republicans claim that since January, Biden and Congressional Democrats have “rushed trillions of dollars out the door and propose to spend trillions more under the guise of infrastructure and COVID-19 relief.”
The Oversight Republican lawmakers concluded, “Inflation is a regressive tax on hard-working Americans. Those families hardest hit by the burdensome Democrat COVID-19 lockdowns are now the ones hardest hit by the Biden Administration’s harmful economic policies.” In their letter, the Republican lawmakers request any and all information from the Biden Administration relating to their plans to combat inflation before the crisis gets further out of hand.
In their letter, and in what they say is an attempt to “to better understand the Biden Administration’s approach to fighting inflation,” the Republicans have requested the following documents and information, for the period between January 20, 2021 and the present:
- All documents and communications related to the Biden Administration’s strategy to reduce inflation and reduce consumer prices.
- All documents and communications between and among the National Economic Council regarding inflation and the rising Consumer Price Index.
- All documents and communications regarding inflation and the rising Consumer Price Index between the National Economic Council and the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Commerce.
- All economic and inflation projections created by the National Economic Council or elsewhere in the Biden Administration.
The Republicans are requesting answers “as soon as possible, but no later than June 16, 2021.”
by AZ Free News | Jun 3, 2021 | News
A leading property information provider, today released its home price forecast for April 2021, and the numbers show that baby boomers are keeping prices high. It turns out that in response to rising home prices, baby boomers — who own 54% of the nation’s homes — may wait to sell their homes, creating further inventory pressures for older millennials seeking move up-purchases.
At the state level, Idaho and Arizona continued to have the strongest price growth at 27.2% and 20.4%, respectively. South Dakota also had a 19.3% year-over-year increase as new home buyers seek out more affordable options, space and low property taxes.
Sparse inventory and high demand continues to place upward pressure on home prices, creating challenges across generations as buyer preferences shift, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index.
Younger millennials continue to enter the market in droves while older millennials look to upgrade and upsize their homes. In a recent CoreLogic consumer survey, the need for more space was noted as the top driver (64%) for demand among these cohorts.
The increased competition among buyers may cause a ripple effect and create affordability challenges for baby boomers interested in downsizing or relocating. Notably, 72% of this cohort list the desire for a new location as the main reason for wanting to purchase a new home.
“As older homeowners become more comfortable with listing their homes, they are faced with the reality that if they sell, they may get a smaller home for the same price as what they already have,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Rather than decreasing their financial burden and cashing out equity to support their retirement, baby boomers may choose to stay put — which could exacerbate inventory challenges.”
What we know:
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- Nationally, home prices increased 13% in April 2021, compared with April 2020. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 2.1% compared to March 2021.
- Appreciation of detached properties (14.7%) was more than double that of attached properties (7.2%) in April as prospective buyers continue to seek out more space.
- Home prices are projected to increase 2.8% by April 2022, as affordability and supply challenges drive potential buyers out of the market, causing a slowdown in home price growth.
- In April, home prices rose sharply in the west with Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, experiencing the highest year-over-year increase at 31.4%. Boise City, Idaho, ranked second with a year-over-year increase of 28.6%.
“Baby boomers are staying in their homes longer, slowing the pace with which existing homes come on the for-sale market,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Owner occupants today have been in their homes for a median of 13 years, about 50% longer than the previous generation.”
by AZ Free News | Jun 3, 2021 | News
Former Fountain Hills Mayor Jerold Miles died over the weekend at the age of 84 from natural causes. Miles served as Mayor from 1996 to 1998.
“There is so much Jerry Miles accomplished that will be spoken about in the coming days and weeks, but what immediately comes to mind is that Jerry embraced Fountain Hills as his hometown and left no doubt about his commitment to our community,” said Town of Fountain Hills Mayor Ginny Dickey. “Jerry and Jackie’s generosity of time and resources in many areas… including his public service as Mayor, the arts and education… benefited many over the years, and we are the better for it.”
Miles and his wife Jackie “retired “to Fountain Hills in 1985 after he retired as an attorney from Southern California. They became full-time residents in 1990.
According to the Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame website, Miles served as a Director of the Golden Eagle Foundation, the River of Time Foundation, the Senior Services Foundation, the Library Association, Civic Association, Historical Society, and Sunridge Foundation. He was the founder and first president of the Neighborhood Property Owners Association, a past president of the Noon Kiwanis Club, and an elder of the Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church. He was the Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year for 2003.
Former mayor Miles provided free legal services to numerous local non-profit associations, helping them become incorporated and acquire tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Service rules.
The Miles were one of the driving forces behind the development of the Town’s public art collection by being the most significant benefactors toward the acquisition of public art in the community. Today, the Town’s art collection features 150 pieces. In 2011 the public art collection was named “Milestones, an Odyssey Through Public Art” as a tribute to Jackie and Jerry Miles.
In 2012 he was instrumental in recommending to the Centennial Committee the naming of the plaza area adjacent to the Community Center and the Library/Museum as the Centennial Circle in celebration and recognition of the 100th Anniversary of Arizona’s statehood. The sculpture garden in this area was dedicated on March 18, 2017, as The Jerry Miles Sculpture Garden in recognition of his many contributions to the visual arts in Fountain Hills.
by AZ Free News | Jun 2, 2021 | Economy, News
On Tuesday, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was joined by Sen. John Cornyn of Texas on a tour of two facilities housing migrants in Tucson. Sinema and Cornyn will be in Texas today.
Sinema and Cornyn received a tour of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “soft-sided facility” in Tucson, which is used to house migrants apprehended by Border Patrol.
Cornyn and Sinema then visited the Casa Alitas shelter. The senators received a briefing from Casa Alitas staff. Casa Alitas is operated by Catholic Community Services.
Cornyn, Sinema and U.S. Representatives Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX-23) in April introduced The Bipartisan Border Solutions Act, their bipartisan, bicameral legislation to respond to the surge in migrants coming across our southern border.
The sponsors say the bill would “improve both the Department of Homeland Security’s and the Department of Justice’s capacity to manage migration influxes and adjudicate asylum claims in a timely manner, protect unaccompanied migrant children, reduce impact on local communities, ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely, and ultimately deter those who do not have realistic asylum claims from placing themselves in danger by making the treacherous journey to our southern border.”
The Bipartisan Border Solutions Act:
- Establishes at least 4 regional processing centers in high-traffic Border Patrol sectors to properly handle the influx of migrants along the southwest border and improve interagency coordination.
- Creates pilot programs to facilitate fairer and more efficient credible fear determinations and asylum decisions, while ensuring fairness in proceedings through provisions to protect access to counsel, language translation services, and legal orientations.
- Establishes prioritized docketing of migrants’ immigration court cases during irregular migration influx events to deliver legal certainty for migrants., and disincentivize would-be migrants with weak asylum claims from making the treacherous journey to the southwest border.
- Expands legal orientation programming and translation services, and protects access to counsel for migrants.
- Implements new protections for unaccompanied migrant children released to sponsors in the United States, including regular follow-up and absolute bars on placement with persons convicted of certain crimes, such as sex offenders and child abusers.
- Increases staffing to better handle irregular migration influx events, including 150 new Immigration Judge teams, 300 asylum officers, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations staff, ICE litigation teams, CBP officers, and Border Patrol processing coordinators.
- Improves DHS coordination with NGOs and local governments to prevent release of migrants into small communities that are poorly equipped to handle the influx of a large number of migrants.
- Improves DHS, DOJ, and HHS reporting to Congress to support future legislative efforts in areas in which bipartisan agreement does not yet exist.
The Bipartisan Border Solutions Act is supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Immigration Forum, National Border Patrol Council, American Business Immigration Coalition, Major Cities Chiefs Association, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Evangelicals, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Niskanen Center, Mayor Luis Sifuentes of Eagle Pass, Texas, Texas Border Coalition, Border Trade Alliance, Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition, Southwestern Border Sheriffs’ Coalition, Texas Association of Business, South Texans’ Property Rights Association, RGV Partnership, New American Economy, Americans for Prosperity and The LIBRE Initiative.
by Terri Jo Neff | Jun 2, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Some lawmakers say Gov. Doug Ducey had a “a temper tantrum” last week when he vetoed 22 Republican-supported bills over his displeasure with the how long it is taking the legislature to pass budget bills.
But with the House and Senate on recess possibly through June 10, other legislators are focusing on what needs to happen to pass a budget when lawmakers come back.
During interviews with KFYI’s James T. Harris on Tuesday, Sen. Warren Petersen (R-LD12) and Rep. Travis Grantham (R-LD12) agreed there have been problems in how the budget process has been handled so far, but both believe a consensus is possible before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
Grantham acknowledged to Harris that “some folks” were at fault for how budget negotiations were handled prior to last week’s unexpected recess, but he thinks more lawmakers are seeing it is time to get a budget passed so the legislature can adjourn.
“You know the old saying that ‘nothing good happens if you stay out after midnight?’” Grantham said. “Basically, the Legislature is out after midnight, in fact it’s about 3 a.m. and we shouldn’t be there anymore, and we all need to go home.”
But Grantham says the biggest problem right now is that “too much money” is in play due to last year’s surplus and this year’s surplus. The surplus is there, he noted, because the state is collecting too much money, money he says needs to go back to the people via “a massive tax cut.”
And therein lies the dilemma, Grantham told Harris.
“The issue we’re having is there is so much money in the pot and there is so many people with so many wants and so many needs we’re having trouble staying focused on the finish line,” he said. “We just need to focus on the budget, we need to focus on cutting taxes, and we need to focus on getting out of there.”
Grantham added that lawmakers need to realize the surplus “is the people’s money, it’s not the government’s money” and then move forward with passing a budget that allows for tax cuts.
In his comments, Petersen acknowledged that some legislative leaders “tried to move the budget without the votes” instead of waiting to ensure there were 31 votes in the House and 16 votes in the Senate for passage. Petersen also told Harris he was “surprised” that the budget bills were being pushed without a consensus in place first.
“You can’t ignore people if people say they have issues,” Petersen said. “We had all heard about issues from different members, and if you just keep going I don’t know what other result you could possibly expect.”
Although some legislators are suggesting Ducey call a special session focused solely on the budget, Petersen is not sure that is the answer. Instead, he sees it as a matter of elbow grease and not leaving anyone out of the discussion.
“What we really just need to do is we need to do the work,” the senator said. “You’ve got to get the whole caucus together and you just keep working on the budget from whoever is on the far left of the caucus to whoever is on the far right. We’ve got to get those two to agree.”
Petersen did note another reason the budget is not garnering the support needed is that it includes non-budget bills which previously failed on the floor.
“That’s another bad policy. You don’t put bills that don’t pass into the budget to try to force a vote,” he said.
Meanwhile, Petersen and Grantham told Harris they are hopeful Ducey will work with legislators to ensure the 22 vetoed bills are reconsidered in some way once a budget is passed.
by AZ Free News | Jun 2, 2021 | News
PHOENIX — Governor Doug Ducey ordered flags at all state buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, to honor Phoenix Police Officer Ginarro New, who died from a car accident while on duty last night.
“Officer Ginarro New of the Phoenix Police Department worked each day to protect Arizonans,” said Governor Ducey. “We are devastated by the loss of Officer New, who served with the Department for just under two years. He made safe communities his top priority, and we are grateful for his bravery and dedication to protecting others. Our prayers are with his wife and loved ones. I’ve ordered flags at all state buildings be lowered to half-staff in honor of Officer New’s life and service.”
Officer New was killed by a red light runner on Monday night. The crash occurred in north Phoenix at around 10:30 p.m. near Cave Creek Road and Greenway Parkway, according to the Arizona Daily Independent.
Officer New was transported to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The driver of the other vehicle was pronounced deceased on the scene.
Officer New, age 27, is survived by his wife Kristen, his mother, Misty, his brother, Marcas, and his grandmother, Susan.
