Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani (CD-06) was named the most effective lawmaker from Arizona in the 118th Congress by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) on Thursday. This ranking places Ciscomani among the top-performing lawmakers in the nation. The Tucson Republican stands with the accolades of the 15th most effective legislator overall in the House of Representatives, the third most effective among freshmen Congressmen, and the highest ranking in the Arizona Caucus, followed by Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), rounding out the top three.
“It’s about getting the job done,” said Ciscomani in a statement. “I was sent to Congress by my constituents to deliver common sense, lasting results for the people of Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, and that is exactly what I’m doing. Being recognized as one of the most effective lawmakers in the House during my freshman term is an honor and a reflection of that mission.”
Ciscomani serves on the House Appropriations and House Veterans’ Affairs committees. He was ranked by the joint partnership between the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy in the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, with Vanderbilt announcing with the report that Ciscomani and the other leading members “were able to find ways to get their initiatives passed into law despite deep political disruptions in 2023 and 2024, and despite widespread public perception of gridlock in the nation’s Capitol.”
“Whether it’s pushing legislation to secure the border, support our veterans, safeguard Arizona’s water, or protecting our seniors, I don’t take no for an answer,” the Congressman added. “I am proud of what my office and I were able to accomplish for our constituents in my first term, and I am keeping my foot on the pedal to do even more for our district in my second term.”
The CEL cited Ciscomani’s record during the 118th Congress stating that he introduced 24 pieces of substantive legislation with six of these passing and two getting signed into law.
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers is enthusiastically supporting two upcoming ballot propositions for the city, which are set to be voted on in the May 20th special election.
The two propositions, Props 401 and 402, would reportedly affirm the Glendale City Council’s approval of a phase in the development of the VAI Resort near State Farm Stadium off the Loop 101.
Weiers, who with the unanimous support of the council has long been a proponent of the resort, said in a statement, “The VAI Resort project represents our city’s next step forward. This development will strengthen our economy, provide thousands of jobs, and increase city revenues to improve police, fire, infrastructure, and more.” He added, “The zoning amendments are necessary for the project’s success, and I encourage you to vote yes on Propositions 401 and 402. It is inappropriate to have an out-of-state union parachuting into our city to try to determine our future and attempt to cap our productivity.”
As previously reported by AZ Free News, the VAI Resort, along with other high profile developments in Glendale’s hospitality industry, have been challenged by a California special interest group that suffered a severe setback in the November election with the defeat of Proposition 499. The proposed ballot measure would have mandated “hotel and event center workers receive a $20.00 per hour minimum wage (increases annually), service charge payments and premium pay to be enforced by a newly created city department of labor responsible for investigating employer violations involving payment of wages, reporting, recordkeeping, and overtime requirements.”
According to Weiers, the same organization that brought Prop 499, the California-based group Worker Power, known to be affiliated with the labor union UniteHere, has unleashed activists to oppose the new propositions.
Worker Power has also led opposition to pro-immigration enforcement legislation in Arizona as recently as February. During the 2024 Presidential election, the group canvassed in Glendale to support Democrats Kamala Harris and Senator Ruben Gallego.
Yesterday we were out at the Capitol with other progressive groups to oppose SB1164! As long as lawmakers are targeting immigrants, we’ll keep coming back and reminding lawmakers that these terrible bills aren’t gonna work for us📢✊🪧 pic.twitter.com/cV5nrY2WC7
Proposition 401 and 402 Campaign Chairman Grant Fisher lauded the support from Weiers and the City Council saying, “Throughout the process to make the dream of VAI Resort a reality, there has been no greater champion for Glendale’s economic health than Mayor Weiers. We are proud to have Mayor Weiers as part of our coalition to bring thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in new economic activity to Glendale, and we look forward to celebrating a win with him in May.”
The two propositions are largely administrative in nature, with 401 approving the unanimous City Council approval of a general plan amendment to allow the development of the VAI Resort and 402 confirming the unanimous zoning approval.
“Supporting this initiative means supporting a brighter, more prosperous future for Glendale. Let’s make the right choice. Please join me in voting YES on Propositions 401 and 402 on your mail-in ballot and send it in by May 13. Together, let’s say YES for Glendale!” Weiers told voters.
On Monday, Arizona lawmakers joined activists in hosting an anti-deportation discussion panel at South Mountain Community College.
The event, “Resisting Mass Deportation,” featured State Senator Catherine Miranda (D-LD11) and State Representative Brian Garcia (D-LD08) along with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona executive director Victoria Lopez, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) Arizona members, and Arizona Luminaria staff writer John Washington (also the author of the books “The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum at the US-Mexico Border and Beyond” and “The Case for Open Borders”).
The ACLU of Arizona and LUCHA Arizona arranged the panel.
“Trump’s mass deportation agenda has oversaturated the news. His administration is pushing the moral and legal bounds of our country to expedite deportations, disregarding people’s rights and humanity in the process,” read the ACLU event page. “At the same time, the Arizona state legislature is advancing several bills that would force our state to do the anti-immigrant bidding of the federal government, use state resources to fuel the mass deportation machine, incentivize police to prioritize immigration enforcement over public safety, and more.”
A press release from the ACLU described the panel as a means of organizing “to take direct action to stop anti-immigrant legislation advancing in the state legislature.”
One such bill of concern for the anti-deportation faction is SB1164, the “Arizona ICE Act.”
The Arizona ICE Act would enable officials or agencies of Arizona or a county, city, town, or other political subdivision to enter into agreements with any federal agency for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws. The legislation would also prohibit officials or agencies of Arizona as well as counties, cities, towns, or other political subdivisions from establishing, adopting, or enforcing “any policy, pattern, or practice” that hinders cooperation with federal immigration authorities in immigration enforcement. SB1164 also allowed local governments to access federal resources and state agencies to issue grants for purposes of immigration enforcement.
The House Government Committee passed the Arizona ICE Act last week.
Miranda, who co-chairs the Latino Legislative Caucus, spoke out against the bill recently. She claimed the bill would only “worsen public safety.” Miranda expressed confidence in Governor Katie Hobbs’ intent to veto the bill.
“Arizona knows from experience that encouraging local agencies to engage in federal immigration enforcement will lead to racial profiling and discrimination, particularly against Hispanic, Latino, and other immigrant communities,” said Miranda.
🚨 Bad bill alert: watch State Senator and Latino Caucus Co-Chair Catherine Miranda (LD11) talk about SB1164 or the Arizona ICE Act and how it will harm Arizona’s communities. pic.twitter.com/y7spIFaC1O
— AZ Latino Legislative Caucus (@AZLatinoLC) March 27, 2025
Hobbs’ lack of support for the bill would conflict with her recent pledge last month to secure the border and reduce illegal immigration. Hobbs issued an executive order reminiscent of her predecessor, Doug Ducey, which directed the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Arizona Department of Homeland Security to create a joint task force, Operation Desert Guardian, to expand border security. The task force partners with the federal government and local law enforcement to stop transnational crime organizations within the border counties.
Under the Trump administration, border encounters dropped by over 90 percent and drug smuggling has slowed tremendously. Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels confirmed as such in a recent interview with KTAR News.
“Whether you like Trump or not, it’s irrelevant. It’s working,” said Dannels.
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Arizona Senate Majority Leader Janae Shamp, who has spearheaded a raft of medically-related legislation, hailed the confirmation of the new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.
Along with expressing her approval of Makary, Shamp emphasized her commitment to her “Make Arizona Healthy Again” Agenda, complementing the national policy of “Make America Healthy Again” undertaken by the Trump administration.
In a press release, the Arizona Senate GOP explained that as a perioperative nurse, Shamp “witnessed firsthand instances of corruption within the healthcare system, big companies using influence to impact state agency operations, as well as negligent government actions and overreach leading to negative health consequences for Arizonans.”
Shamp said in a statement:
“It’s time to clean up public health in our country, and Dr. Makary is the right man for the job. I am so excited to see him as our new FDA Commissioner. As an experienced surgeon, Dr. Makary has a lifetime of exceptional service in the field of health and wellness. He will undoubtedly help President Donald J. Trump and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. carry out their goals to make America healthy again.”
She continued, “Our food supply is full of toxins and carcinogens. Americans are incredibly overmedicated. I look forward to seeing his great work at the FDA to address these critical issues, and I am proud to support the MAHA movement with state legislation that is in lockstep with the goals of the Trump Administration to create a healthier society.”
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Shamp’s bill, SB 1586, is designed to create legal protections for children and teens who have been subjected to so-called ‘gender transition procedures,’ setting the ground work for potential medical malpractice litigation. Shamp also co-sponsored HB 2164, introduced by her Rep. Leo Biasiucci, to “ban ultra-processed foods containing harmful additives from being served in public school meals.”
In addition, Shamp has also introduced or co-sponsored several healthcare reform measures including: SB 1102, to prevent insurance companies from acting as the “middleman” from “unwarranted interference in the doctor-patient relationship,” which was signed into law last week; SB 1235, protecting the State of Arizona from potential anti-trust lawsuits by restructuring health regulatory boards; and HB 2165, which would prohibit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollees from purchasing soda with taxpayer funded SNAP benefits.
Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ-01) raised an alarm about what he believes is the oncoming fiscal demise of the U.S. in a speech from the House floor.
Schweikert explained that a simple series of calculations “point to a shrinking labor force, and lack of young people in our society, and the reality that in 8 years, the United States will have MORE deaths than births,” citing the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
"The fact of the matter is, and @RayDalio said it himself, there's a shortage of borrowable money in the world. We've run out of global savings. Our goal is stability, not collapse." – Chairman @RepDavidhttps://t.co/2dkQCJcYIG
— Joint Economic Committee Republicans (@JECRepublicans) March 26, 2025
The congressman’s speech coincided with the release of a devastating report from the CBO, which warned that the federal government’s capacity to borrow through “extraordinary measures” will be exhausted by the end of August or September.
Speaking to the House, Schweikert laid out the dire projections of the CBO report, as well as the remarkable insufficiency of the metrics the government is using, in the face of three unassailable facts: “debt, deficits and demographics:“
“I’m going to walk you through just how dangerous the game we are playing right now, because when you look at these charts — and this is online. Go on C.B.O. from last Friday. It’s not a hard read. Why are my brothers and sisters so terrified to tell the truth to the public? You have a country that — and I’m going to show the charts, that in 7 1/2 years we have more deaths than births. You have a country that, when we get out of the extraordinary measures…remember right now we are borrowing from different funds because we are up against the debt ceiling, we may be borrowing almost $70,000 every second of every day. For those of you who turn to me and say, ‘David, I demand you balance the budget.’ I could do it tomorrow. Lets’ see…if I use the 2024 numbers for every dollar we took in tax collections, we spend $1.39.
“Tell me the 39 cents you want me to cut. And the problem with that math is that when you look at the charts, you see what’s in blue. That’s everything a member of Congress gets to vote on, defense and nondefense. The only problem is. it’s 26% of the spending. So, if you ask a member of Congress right now to balance the budget, we can do it, we can do it. Gotta get rid of all defense, all non-defense, discretionary. That’s basically the park service, the EPA, all the agencies. And then tell me what portion…because you have to pay your interest or you blow up the world economy.
“Tell me what portion of social security, medicare, medicaid, other things you want to hack away at. The reality of it is, in this fiscal year, our projection is…for every dollar we take in tax collections, we are going to spend functionally $1.36.
“Do you understand how screwed—excuse me, yeah that’s the technical economic term— how SCREWED WE ARE when we don’t tell the truth about the math?
“And it is not fixable, but it is possible to stabilize. We can stabilize this. We just have to think and do things that are hard. So often around here, the thinking part is complex and it’s hard and we have to go home and tell our constituents the truth about math.
But remember, the math will win. How many have you heard about how people are protesting and terrified there are going to be cuts? Ok, let’s actually have a moment of truth about math. This was baseline. Over the next 10 years, we are going to spend $86 trillion. Next 10 years, CBO baseline, we are going to spend $86 trillion. The reconciliation budget had $1.3 trillion in cuts, and if we get lucky, we’ll get to $2 trillion over 10 years on $86 trillion of spending.
That’s what the left over here is losing their minds over because they need something. They have lost the working middle class. They’ve lost so much, and American voters no longer trust them because the spent decades not telling them the truth about the math. And it’s not hard, except the problem is 30% of that is borrowed. 30% of that is borrowed. And people are losing their mind that we are trying to cut $2 trillion on $86 trillion of spending. That’s what this place has become. This place has become a clown show of math.
“Think about this. We are functioning and going to spend about $7 trillion this fiscal year. We’re going to take in about $5 trillion. And this is in a time when the economy is good. We’re not in a pandemic. We’re not in a war. We’re not in a recession. And understand when you take some of these charts of interest exposure into the future, one of my charts, it shows in nine budget years interest, just interest is over $2 trillion a year. Just interest. Why aren’t we running around terrified here? If you care about your retirement or someone that’s crazy like my wife and I, we are older parents. I have a 2 1/2-year-old and a 9-year-old. You do realize for my 2 1/2-year-old, when he turns like 24 or 23, 25, every tax in the United States has to have been doubled just to maintain baseline services. This is the morality of this place.
“The United States and other countries are binging on debt. The United States borrows about 40% of all the world capital that goes into sovereign loans. His argument is, your problem is, there’s not enough savings in the world. We are consuming more money. China, Europe, now Germany’s going into the debt markets as they’re raising their spending caps. What happens in a world when there’s a shortage of borrowable money? Remember, every day when we borrow, what, $6 billion a day, functionally that debt has to be sold. Most of it’s actually financed domestically. You know, it’s in this pension, it’s in this bank…And then foreigners, except the foreigners have been lowering their U.S. Debt because they’re having to finance their own governments. And you start to look at our interest payments, and there’s this concept called a term premium. When we make the bond markets nervous, we pay a higher interest rate.”
Congressman Schweikert summarized the fiscal nightmare scenario saying, “And you look at the next 10 years, it’s the point I’m trying to make. Is, ok, here’s the growth. 24% of the growth in spending over the next 10 years is interest. 31% of the growth of spending over the next 10 years is Social Security and disability. 28% of the growth of spending over the next 10 years is Medicare. Other mandatory and discretionary growth, about 13%. But a portion of that is actually you think defense and other things in that. The fact of the matter is your government is an insurance company with an army.”
The Arizona Freedom Caucus (AFC) says it intends to replace Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Tom Horne in 2026.
AFC’s chairman, State Senator Jake Hoffman, claimed to a press gaggle on Monday that Horne hasn’t put sufficient work into protecting the Empowerment Scholarship Account Program (ESA Program). Hoffman accused Horne of leaving the state legislature to do all the work to protect the state’s school choice program.
Hoffman called Horne “the single greatest threat” to the ESA Program.
“Thanks to the legislature and the conservative leadership that we have, Katie Hobbs is unable to make serious, negative, adverse reforms to school choice in this state. However, Tom Horne is the single greatest threat to school choice. Tom Horne is the single greatest threat to the ESA Program. Tom Horne is the single greatest threat to nearly 100,000 students and their families that are utilizing those programs right now. And so I will certainly be looking for a Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate to challenge Tom Horne.”
Horne denied the accusations from Hoffman in a direct response to the senator.
“I brought charter schools to Arizona when I served in the legislature in the 90s,” said Horne. “I’ve fought to keep ESAs and school choice from an Attorney General and Governor who want it gone. I’m happy to debate you anytime on these issues.”
I brought charter schools to Arizona when I served in the legislature in the 90s. I've fought to keep ESAs and school choice from an Attorney General and Governor who want it gone. I'm happy to debate you anytime on these issues @JakeHoffmanAZ. https://t.co/pPYFjkV5l9
Hoffman took issue with the proposed 2024-2025 ESA Handbook last month. Hoffman and fellow Republicans submitted a letter to the Arizona State Board of Education (ASBE) urging the draft’s rejection.
🚨 ESA ALERT 🚨
The 2024-2025 ESA Handbook was just published & has MAJOR problems!
ESA Parents are NOT happy.
The State Board of Ed is set to approve the flawed handbook THIS MONDAY.
ASBE declined to approve the new handbook during its meeting last week. The board delayed a decision on the proposed handbook for its next meeting toward the end of this month. Horne was the sole board member to motion for a board vote on the proposed handbook during their last meeting.
Horne has consistently presented himself as “the main defender” of the ESA Program. Horne explained the perceived limitations on ESA Program expenditures were necessary written safeguards against abuse of the program.
Per Horne, parents have attempted to take advantage of current unwritten limitations on reimbursements, such as requesting coverage for a $5,000 Rolex watch and a $24,000 golf simulator.
“[These are] abuse of things that are not really for the educational benefit of the child. It’s obvious there has to be some limitations,” said Horne.
The SPI has also pushed back against attempts by Attorney General Kris Mayes and Governor Katie Hobbs — both staunch opponents of the ESA Program and the concept of school choice in general — to undermine and cripple the ESA Program with allegations of poor oversight and management.
Horne says he has consistently referred cases of fraud to Mayes for investigation, as well as increased staffing for auditing and investigative purposes.
“Under my leadership, the department has done a full-court press against waste and fraud. I hired both a program auditor and an investigator, which had not been done before,” said Horne in a January response to Hobbs’ State of the State. “I require that every expenditure be for a valid educational purpose and have been attacked for doing that.”
Nearly 87,800 students participate in the ESA Program as of Monday’s count.
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