Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has set a new record for vetoes in a single legislative session, rejecting 178 bills passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, surpassing her previous record of 143 in 2023. While Hobbs wielded her veto pen often, she also signed 264 bills into law.
The legislative session, which ended in June, underscored the deep ideological divide between the Democratic governor and Republican lawmakers, with repeated clashes over immigration, election integrity, and social policy. Still, some bipartisan efforts did make it to the governor’s desk and gained her approval.
National Security and Border Policy
Hobbs approved Senate Bill 1082, a measure barring foreign adversaries—including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—from purchasing land in Arizona. The governor said the law would help protect military bases and infrastructure amid rising global tensions.
Yet, she vetoed a similar proposal, SB 1109, that targeted only China, along with a string of more aggressive border enforcement bills. Notably, SB 1164, known as the Arizona ICE Act, and HB 2099, both aimed to expand cooperation between state and federal authorities on immigration. Hobbs argued that decisions about immigration policy should remain in the hands of Arizonans, not Washington politicians.
Election Integrity Measures
Election security was another flashpoint. Hobbs rejected several Republican-sponsored bills she claimed would restrict voting access. Among them were:
HB 2017, which would have capped voting precincts and eliminated on-site voting centers.
HB 2046, a proposed change to audit procedures that Hobbs called inefficient.
HB 2050, requiring daily updates on signature mismatches and enabling political party access to provisional ballots.
She also vetoed HB 2703, which sought to speed up election result reporting by cutting off ballot drop-offs on Election Day, calling it a form of voter suppression.
Education Policy
On education, Hobbs opposed efforts she viewed as punitive or politically motivated. She rejected:
SB 1694, which would have barred state funding for higher ed institutions offering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) courses.
HB 2610, which would have allowed for the removal of school boards in financially mismanaged districts.
Conversely, she signed HB 2880, prohibiting unauthorized encampments on college campuses, and HB 2164, banning public schools from offering foods with synthetic chemicals like red dye 3 and potassium bromate.
Economic Legislation
Hobbs approved a slate of bills aimed at bolstering the state’s economy:
HB 2704 greenlights renovations to Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, without raising taxes.
SB 1182 ensures that construction crews can work early morning hours during Arizona’s scorching summers.
HB 2119 increases transparency by requiring municipalities to give the public at least 60 days’ notice before voting on tax hikes.
This year’s record-setting number of vetoes highlights the persistent friction between Hobbs and the Legislature. While Republicans argue their legislation reflects the will of Arizona voters, Hobbs maintains that many of the bills would have restricted personal freedoms, hurt vulnerable communities, or created unnecessary bureaucracy.
With more sessions ahead and no signs of a political truce, Arizona’s divided government is likely to remain locked in debate.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), stopped in Arizona as part of her nationwide tour for National Small Business Week.
During an interview with Arizona’s James T. Harris on KFYI, Loeffler described the disastrous state of the SBA as she took office following her confirmation, and her efforts alongside President Donald Trump to get both the SBA and the small businesses it supports back to work.
Asked by Harris what happened when the SBA building went from a “ghost town,” to “workers actually show up and do the job,” she said, “It’s incredible. And it’s great to be part of President Trump’s restoration of main street across every corner of this great nation. He believes in the American worker. He believes in American industry. And he believes in getting the government back to work. And that’s what I did on my first day when 90% of the office was empty. We got people back to work real quick, and that’s thanks to President Trump’s leadership. And also, thanks to the fact that we have a lot of work to do getting back to working for the American people on main street not the globalists. Working for our job creators and not bureaucrats.”
Posting to X, Loeffler wrote, “Our job creators have endured endless challenges over the last four years. It’s great to see the optimism returning to Main Streets across America – including here in Arizona.”
Another great day celebrating National Small Business Week!
Our job creators have endured endless challenges over the last four years. It’s great to see the optimism returning to Main Streets across America – including here in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/Fcdhxt2rul
Asked how American small businesses are driving the revival of the U.S. economy, Loeffler was fulsome in her praise:
“Well, it’s been incredible. I’ve been out across the country visiting our manufacturers of which there are thousands in this country, and they all tell me we have been fighting for two decades to make sure that people understand we can make it in America. And they’ve been hiring, they’ve been building. And now that President Trump is back in, they’re investing because reassuring and onshoring our supply chains is absolutely critical. It creates tremendous economic opportunity. If you think about the towns, the small towns, the urban areas that were just left behind. And I’ve seen it from Gary, Indiana, to you know out west everywhere. We had 70,000 factories closed in the last 30 years that cost us 5 million jobs that were exported out of Detroit to Beijing. And we have to make sure that we’re restoring American strength and job creators.”
“You know small businesses, let’s just level set here what are small businesses? Well, they represent 99% of all businesses in this great nation, and also of the manufacturers most of them, 99% of them, also are small businesses,” continued Loeffler. “And so, what they’re seeing is a president who wants to cut regulation. He wants to cut taxes, and he’s doing it. And he wants to make sure that we stand up to our allies and adversaries alike and say, ‘We’re not gonna be taken advantage of any longer. We’re gonna have fair trade.'”
Arizona is full of incredible patriots – including the good folks at Dillon Precision, another great American manufacturer.
National Small Business Week is about celebrating the contributions of job creators like this – who keep our economy and communities strong! pic.twitter.com/EGbNB0CthL
Loeffler detailed the “Made in America” Manufacturing Initiative as well, telling Harris that the administration is working to make lending capital more available for American small businesses.
“What we are doing is focusing on, first of all, delivering access to capital is what I’m hearing from manufacturers across this country. That if they can just get a little bit larger loan size, then they can invest in that new CMC machine. They can hire more people. They can build out parts for their factory. What’s happening in these factories is incredible. It’s next generation smart manufacturing, and the investment in the equipment is, you know, you need computers you need people to run them. So we’re going to make sure the capital access is there, so our loans are doubling up from 5 million to 10 million.”
Loeffler also laid the blame firmly on the Biden administration for dropping stifling regulations on American businesses.
She said, “We’re working on deregulating because unfortunately under Joe Biden, he imposed about $1.7 trillion of excessive regulation. Most of that fell on the backs of our small businesses and our manufacturers. So, we’re working hard to deregulate. And then we’re also just advocating for developing a skilled workforce that doesn’t necessarily need a four-year degree. This is just helping have those on ramps into the modern economyfor these great blue collar or new-collar jobs and made in America.
Loeffler concluded, “That’s a tremendous opportunity. Only 9% of our country is involved in manufacturing of today. I used to be 35% in the 1950s. So somewhere in the middle is probably where we need to get back to. Because we don’t even make our fasteners anymore, nuts and bolts and screws. We’re dependent on China for that. We’ve… that can’t persist. We can’t become dependent on China for anything ever again. We saw that during COVID, so we’re helping turn that around, and President Trump understands that. It’s his job to fight for the American people. He’s the only one with the backbone to do it.”
Members of the Arizona GOP Caucus, Reps. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ08) and Eli Crane (R-AZ02), marked the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s second administration with statements and social media posts praising the accomplishments of the 47th President and the Republican-led Congress.
President Trump has worked tirelessly over the last 100 days to Make America Great Again, and the best is yet to come! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/XG9hAxvcar
Congressman Crane offered a series of posts to X pointing to the President’s achievements in border security, the economy, energy, forest health, and draining the swamp.
Thank you, President Trump, for ending the premeditated border invasion.
In full he wrote, “Thank you, President Trump, for ending the premeditated border invasion. We didn’t need new legislation. We just needed a new President.”
The Democrats left President Trump a broken economy with record inflation and skyrocketing costs.
Thankfully, we now have a President who prioritizes Americans, not globalists. pic.twitter.com/tPeBNG1ZKE
“The Democrats left President Trump a broken economy with record inflation and skyrocketing costs. Thankfully, we now have a President who prioritizes Americans, not globalists.”
Under President Trump's leadership, American Energy Dominance will prevail.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, American Energy Dominance will prevail. The days of sidelining our vast resources are over.”
Thank you, President Trump, for revamping our approach to forest health.#AZ02 welcomes these proactive wins that provide long-term stability. pic.twitter.com/Hzrt8JPZ5G
“Despite formidable opposition, President Trump continues to take on the administrative state and entrenched establishment. We appreciate the President’s commitment to tackling waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Congressman Hamadeh offered his own congratulatory post with a note: “Promises Made. Promises Kept. Congratulations to @POTUS on an incredibly successful First 100 Days!”
Hamadeh cited as accomplishments: 70+ Terrorists killed, $5 Trillion in secured domestic investment, $57 Billion in canceled foreign aid, $935 Billion in saved tax dollars, along with 139,000 illegal immigrants deported to date.
The White House posted on X, “Under President Trump’s leadership, we have the most secure border in the history of this nation. President Trump was able to do in 100 days what the Biden administration couldn’t — or wouldn’t — do in four years.” In a subsequent post the White House added, “100 days of President Trump—and we’re nowhere near tired of winning. To the haters: we’re just getting started. AMERICA FIRST FOREVER!”
Just 100 days in, President Trump’s economic policy is driving down inflation, gas, and grocery costs, while jobs boom, investments pour in, and America First proves it’s not just a slogan — it’s a winning formula.
In a statement, President Trump said, “Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America.”
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.”
President Trump, by his own declaration, loves tariffs. In fact, tariff is his “favorite word.” Tariffs purportedly produce funds, “billions and billions, more than anybody has ever seen before,” which can be used for essential spending or to reduce taxes and meanwhile will “bring back jobs.”
The president is all in on his enthusiasms. As matters now stand, he is imposing both universal baseline as well as country-specific tariffs, affecting more than $1 trillion of imports. This compares to the mere $380 billion in tariffs passed in 2018 and 2019 by the first Trump administration but will rise to $1.4 trillion when/if the temporary exemptions for Mexico and Canada expire in April.
There is a logic to tariffs which appeals to those with a protectionist bent. If foreign producers are selling in your country and taking profits which could otherwise be earned by domestic enterprises, why not make the cost of doing business higher for them and keep the profits at home?
Yet the history of tariffs is, to put it kindly, dismal. The 1930 Smoot-Harley tariff is America’s best known and most instructive experience with protectionism. In 1929, the League of Nations passed a resolution declaring that tariffs were destructive and should be ended by all. When Smoot-Hawley was introduced, Franklin Roosevelt campaigned against it. After the bill passed, 1,028 economists and even some business leaders like Henry Ford urged a veto.
President Hoover termed the measure “vicious, extortionate and obnoxious.” He signed it anyway at the urging of his advisors. Americans, especially the agricultural sector, were facing a perceived problem with overproduction, mainly due to electrification and other laborsaving innovations. Republicans generally agreed that prices were too low, and it would help pull us out of our economic slump if American producers were shielded from foreign competition.
Big mistake. Trading partners had warned of retaliation and indeed boycotts and reciprocal trading restrictions soon broke out. Canada, our most loyal trading partner, imposed tariffs on 30% of our products and formed closer economic ties to the British empire. France, Britain, and Germany all formed new trading alliances.
Yet initially, the medicine seemed to be working. Factory payrolls, construction contracts, and industrial production all profited from the reduced market competition.
But the loss of the inherent advantages of trading soon became clear. From 1929 to 1933, U.S. imports fell 66% and exports decreased 61%. World trade nearly ground to a halt, falling by two-thirds from 1929 to 1934.
Unemployment was about 8% when Smoot-Harley was enacted, but the promises to lower it further never panned out. The rate jumped to 16% in 1931 and 25% in 1932-33, falling back to pre-depression levels only during World War II.
Tariffs didn’t cause the Great Depression, but they clearly deepened and prolonged it. Without Smoot-Hawley, it might have just been another temporary recession, not much worse than many other economic downturns in our history.
The take-home message is that free trade is a voluntary interaction that reliably promotes prosperity, both in theory and in practice. It is a classic win-win for participants, in contrast to protectionism which is based on the principle that the stronger party wins by defeating the weaker one.
The 2018-19 tariffs imposed by Trump and expanded by the Biden administration proved the point once again, by reducing long-term GDP by 0.2% and resulting in the loss of 142,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
Still, Trump favors strength and domination, based on negotiations where he “holds the cards.” The lack of success last time has not dissuaded him from unleashing a barrage of tariffs with impositions, pauses, increases, suspensions, and escalations that have left producers around the world desperately scrambling to protect their businesses by anticipating his next move.
Trump is playing with fire here. If he does ignite a trade war that results in another downturn, he may find that the American economy is not as resilient as it once was. Decades of uncontrolled deficit spending have left us deeply in debt and without the reserves necessary to withstand much more fiscal abuse.
The lessons of history and the laws of economics are clear. Tariffs don’t work. Proceed with caution.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
