A bill introduced to the House of Representatives would uplift families during the first year of their newborn’s life.
U.S. Representative David Schweikert, a Republican, introduced the Family Growth and Investment Act on Feb. 20. The bill provides families with a one-time tax deduction for non-medical expenses like car seats, strollers, and cribs which are otherwise costly and can deter Americans from raising children.
“I am proud to introduce the Family Growth and Investment Act to support one of the most important decisions that hard working Americans can make — to start and grow a family,” Schweikert said.
Families spend approximately $13,000 per child annually and will spend over $233,000 for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise a child through the age of 18, according to the news release.
Schweikert said he hopes the bill eases that burden on parents during a stressful and financially challenging time of life.
“For many parents, the annual costs of the first years of a child’s life can be daunting regardless of how they raise their family,” Schweikert said. “Already, CBO [the Congressional Budget Office] is projecting that by 2042, there will be more deaths than births in the United States. This pro-family legislation will make it easier for Arizonans and Americans everywhere to enjoy one of life’s greatest gifts.”
The legislation allows for a one-time, above-the-line tax deduction of up to $5,000 for non-medical essential expenses, like bottles, diapers, baby formula, cribs, strollers, and car seats.
The income limit is $100,000 for single filers and $200,000 for joint filers.
The bill is headed for the House Committee on Ways and Means, which Schweikert sits on.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues to help advance this bill and make the American dream more attainable than ever,” the 61-year-old state representative said.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., urged Congress to “take our nation’s fiscal health seriously” in response to the growing national debt.
Schweikert’s Daily Debt Monitor shows the federal government’s gross national debt increasing by $839 billion already this fiscal year, which began in October.
So far this fiscal year (3 months in), the total national debt has increased by $839 billion. That's ~$8.65 billion per day, and just over $100,000 per second.
I implore my brothers and sisters in Congress to take our nation's fiscal health seriously. pic.twitter.com/7XACzQ0mjM
“That’s ~$8.65 billion per day, and just over $100,000 per second,” Schweikert tweeted.
“I implore my brothers and sisters in Congress to take our nation’s fiscal health seriously,” the congressman continued.
The national debt has increased by more than $360 million per hour, $6 million per minute, and $100,00 per second this fiscal year.
The total national debt as of Jan. 4 was more than $34 trillion, compared to around $31 trillion on Jan. 4, 2023. This includes both intragovernmental and publicly held debt. Between 2023 and 2024, there was an increase in debt of more than $7 billion per day and $300 million per hour.
The national debt hit the $34 trillion record this month. The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2020 projections didn’t expect gross federal debt to surpass $34 trillion until fiscal year 2029.
The Congressional Budget Office expects the debt to only get worse in coming years. An estimate shows America’s entitlement spending, mandatory spending, and net interest payments on the debt will exceed the government’s total revenue by the early 2030s.
In June, Republican lawmakers and the White House agreed to temporarily lift the nation’s debt limit, making an agreement that lasts until January 2025.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in its 30-year outlook last June that publicly held debt will be equal to a record 181% of American economic activity by 2053.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Congressman David Schweikert took to the U.S. House of Representatives floor this week in another attempt to reason with his colleagues over the current fiscal state of our nation.
Schweikert, a seven-term lawmaker in the U.S. House, serving on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, spoke on the House floor – as he often does – to highlight the latest numbers and analysis from the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) baseline projections of the federal budget over the next ten years.
In his speech, Schweikert addressed his Democrat colleagues’ “avoidance of the math,” saying that, at the rate the government is spending money, Americans 25 years from now will, according to the CBO, see their taxes doubled, their corporate taxes doubled, and tariffs doubled – “just to maintain baseline services.”
Schweikert also took President Joe Biden to task for using “Social Security and Medicare as props for his re-election campaign.” Congressman Schweikert questioned if his Democrat colleagues actually have a plan to help fix the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds, which he alleged will be gone in a decade, “doubling senior poverty in this country.”
Schweikert also exposed the numbers behind a shrinking American workforce, stating, “So you have a world now where my brothers and sisters on the Left run around saying, ‘Well, we have this low unemployment.’ And then you look at the available populations that should be in the labor force, but they don’t show up in the data because they’re not looking.” He concluded his point by reminding his listeners that “we have fewer people today in the labor force than we did before the pandemic – by millions.”
The congressman attempted to appeal to the common sense of his legislative colleagues, challenging Representatives to think about the long-term effects of the fiscal policies that they pass for the country, saying, “The reason I walk through all these slides is the first part of understanding how devastating the debt is. And it’s not pretend. You can’t just say, ‘We’ll just pretend. We’ll print a $1 trillion coin and walk away from it.’ You’ve got to stop the clown show…..The second half of this presentation was hope…Stop being afraid of it, Congress. Stop acting like a protection racket where you protect incumbency. Not incumbent-elected, but incumbent bureaucracies, incumbent business models. Design the tax code. Design the regulatory code. If the Democrats continue insisting to subsidize everything, fine, design it so there’s competition. Not the chosen favorites that they want to hand a grant out to. And in that competition, I think actually becomes the disruption that saves us.”
Congressman Schweikert was speaking before a near-empty chamber, and it remains to be seen if any of his colleagues on the Left will heed his pleas for more fiscal responsibility, sanity, and foresight into the consequences of the future. The U.S. Congress is expected to have fierce debates this year over legislative spending and borrowing with key deadlines approaching for the federal government.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The most highly-contested races tightened overnight after Election Day votes were counted, leaving a substantial number of early ballots left to process.
In eight of these 13 races, Democrats lead Republicans. Total ballots processed numbered over 1.8 million, or 44 percent of total registered voters (over 4.1 million). Voter turnout in the 2018 midterms was over 2.4 million ballots cast (nearly 65 percent of the 3.7 million total registered voters).
In the Senate race, incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly leads Republican Blake Masters by nearly 90,000 votes, 51 to 46 percent.
In the gubernatorial race, Democrat Katie Hobbs leads Republican Kari Lake by over 11,700 votes, 50 to 49 percent.
In the secretary of state race, Democrat Adrian Fontes leads Republican Mark Finchem by over 84,500 votes, 52 to 47 percent.
In the attorney general race, Democrat Kris Mayes leads Republican Abraham Hamadeh by 4,000 votes, both sharing about 50 percent.
In the state treasurer race, incumbent Republican Kimberly Yee leads Democrat Martín Quezada by 201,200 votes, 55 to 44 percent.
In the superintendent race, Republican Tom Horne leads incumbent Democrat Kathy Hoffman by nearly 7,700 votes, both sharing about 50 percent.
In the first congressional district, Democrat Jevin Hodge leads incumbent Republican David Schweikert by 4,400 votes, 51 to 49 percent.
In the second congressional district, Republican Eli Crane leads incumbent Democrat Tom O’Halleran by 18,700 votes, 53 percent to 46 percent.
In the third congressional district, incumbent Democrat Ruben Gallego leads Republican Jeff Nelson Zink by 47,300 votes, 76 to 24 percent.
In the fourth congressional district, incumbent Democrat Greg Stanton leads Republican Kelly Kooper by 24,400 votes, 57 percent to 43 percent.
In the fifth congressional district, incumbent Republican Andy Biggs leads by 38,200 votes, 56 to 38 percent.
In the sixth congressional district, Republican Juan Ciscomani leads Democrat Kirsten Engel by 2,400 votes, 50 to 49 percent.
In the seventh congressional district, incumbent Democrat Raúl Grijalva leads Republican Luis Pozzolo by nearly 34,000 votes, 64 to 36 percent.
Incumbents Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) were unchallenged.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
All 11 members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation have come together to ask President Joe Biden to approve a non-presidential state funeral when the last surviving Congressional Medal of Honor recipient from World War II passes away.
Hershel “Woody” Williams, who is 98, became the last living Medal of Honor recipient from World War II in April 2021. A state funeral would serve as a tribute to Williams’ heroic actions in battle as well as “each soldier that bravely fought for our country,” according to Rep. David Schweikert (AZ-06).
“The heroes from World War II deserve every honor our country can give them, and that includes paying our respects to the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from this war when he dies,” Schweikert said Wednesday. “By doing this, our nation can offer a final honor and salute to Mr. Williams and the millions of American heroes from World War II.”
According to his biography, Williams served in the U.S. Marine Corps and took part in the Battle of Guam in 1944 and the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. It was for his heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima that President Harry S. Truman would later present Williams with the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration of valor, from for actions “above and beyond the call of duty.”
After the war, Williams went to work for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a counselor. He continued in the Marine Corps Reserve until 1969 and stayed with his VA job for more than three decades. The Navy warship USS Hershel “Woody” Williams was commissioned in March 2020.
Four Arizonans received the Medal of Honor for their actions during World War II: Captain Joseph Foss, U.S. Marine Corps; Private First Class Silveste Herrera, U.S. Army; Sergeant Manuel V. Mendoza, U.S. Army; and Sergeant Max Thompson, U.S. Army. https://avhof.org/inductees/medal-of-honor-recipients/
Also signing the letter to President Biden were Rep. Rep. Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01), Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-02), Rep. Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03), Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-04), Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), Rep. Debbie Lesko (AZ-08), and Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ-09). Arizona’s two U.S. Senators signed too.
