Del. Kathy Szeliga:
And We’re Off!!
We are back in session … let the fun begin!
The Maryland General Assembly has been a part time legislature for more than 350 years. In 1776, when the Province of Maryland declared its independence from Great Britain, Maryland’s legislature was already 141 years old.
The very first session of the Maryland General Assembly was held in St. Mary’s City in 1635, about a year after the Ark and the Dove arrived with the first settlers of our fine state.
Today, we have 188 members representing all areas of our state. There are 47 senators and 141 delegates. As a part time legislature, our members are engaged in a wide variety of occupations outside of Annapolis, such as teachers, farmers, insurance agents, physicians, homemakers, retirees, lawyers, tradesman and more.
What’s Hot This Week?
Hogan Introduces the Budget
Governor Hogan kicked off his term as governor last week delivering on promises to fix Maryland’s budget crisis. On his first day, Hogan eliminated the structural deficit that has been looming over lawmakers’ heads for more than eight years. I’m proud to support Hogan’s very thoughtful and reasonable approach to spending that will put Maryland on a path to prosperity. Families and businesses cannot spend more than they make and neither should government. Businessman Larry Hogan knows that and his budget reflects those values.
Gov. Hogan’s economic principles are simple. The state cannot spend more than it takes in in, must stop maxing out the credit card, stop raiding the kid’s piggy bank, and stop using retirement funds for current expenses. Hogan has delivered a balanced budget that puts an end to the cycle of structural deficits while still fully funding K-12 education at the highest level in Maryland’s history. While there are some complaints about education funding, but that is generally because some jurisdictions did not get as big of an increase in funding as they had wanted. (Don’t forget in government speak – a decrease in an increase is often called a cut – you would still call it an increase.)
I am very optimistic about Maryland’s future. Under President Ronald Reagan we learned that controlling government spending and lowering taxes helps middle class families and small businesses and actually increases state revenues. It’s exciting to see Larry Hogan employ those same economic principles as we work to put Maryland’s economy on a better path.
If you would like to read the 2016 Maryland State Budget, please visit the MGA website. In the center of the website is a whole section on the budget.
As we comb through Hogan’s budget, I will provide you more details.
THANK YOU for your support and encouragement!
Kathy
Delegate Kathy Szeliga (sha-leg-a)
Maryland House of Delegates
Minority Whip
o- 410-841-3698
c- 443-570-1555
kathy.szeliga@gmail.com or Kathy.szeliga@house.state.md.us
So, can I assume Common Core will be replaced with logical, intellectually challenging, meaningful, and local school district sanctioned curricula, especially for math and science? Or is all this great education funding just a continuation of the mass exploitation of k-12 students under Common Core? How much of our tax money, which is used for the Governor’s budget, slated for the PARCC Assessment?
Not factual:
“Under President Ronald Reagan we learned that controlling government spending and lowering taxes helps middle class families and small businesses and actually increases state revenues.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-ronald-reagans-legacy/2011/02/04/ABs1qxQ_story.html
ASK,
“Will Bunch is the author of “Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy.” He is a senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News and a senior fellow with Media Matters for America.”
– The lies and distortions in this hit piece are from an ultra-leftest hack group and are too numerous to bother dissecting one by one. Probably the worst is the deal to solidify Social Security that Reagan worked out with Tip O’Neill. This was a grand move that put SS on a path to be secure until 2075. Of course, the government later stole all the money. But Reagan loved his country and never considered the political opposition to be enemies of the state. He also never took any moves that antagonized people who lived on the fringe (pretty much a statement made in his own words). Literally everything Reagan believed in and governed by are diametrically opposite the way things are now.
Maybe you could quote a better left wing news source like The New York Time, CNN, MSNBC, Baltimore Sun. Of course your left wing news source is going to go against any thing about the greatest President ever.
Interesting that you claim that Del. Szeliga’s claims about Ronald Reagan are not factual and you use an opinion piecen that “cherry picks” facts to make your case. Opinion is not fact, nor is a misleading editorial from a notoriously liberal mainstream media outlet like the Washington Post. Any and all of us of the opposing viewpoint could site countless conservative opinion pieces to counter yours. It does nothing but cloud the waters so that the truth cannot be seen. Fact: Cutting taxes puts money in people’s pockets and gives them discretionary income to kickstart an economy. Fact: cutting taxes on businesses spurs economic growth because businesses will reinvest this new revenue stream to grow businesses which in turn creates jobs which in turn creates more tax payers and less tax takers which in turn creates more tax revenue. The other unfortunate fact for liberals and those that think big government can solve our problems is that a job gives people control of their lives and independence from an ever-growing government that grows because of the constituents needs for government services. When you give folks jobs their need for government is reduced. We can then shrink government, its bills, its debt and deficits and again have a sound vibrant economy that leads the world. As our government has grown and infringed on the private sector making it next to impossible to compete in the world, so has it’s insatiable desire for more revenue and more control. Our power and prestige as the leader of the world has decreased as government has expanded. So please tell me how this is good for us today and for the next generations that will inherit this great nation? But don’t let me talk about the need for tax cuts in a struggling economy…lets allow John kennedy, Democrat and the most popular President int he last 50 years tell it in his own words. Follow the link and watch his 2 minute speech on the virtues of cutting taxes.
Opinion: It’s not really helpful or convincing to invoke Reagan, or any other leader long past to justify current policy
“Clearly, anyone seeking to lead today’s Republican Party—in whatever direction, and on almost any topic—feels compelled to invoke a posthumous seal of approval from the man Rush Limbaugh calls “Ronaldo Maximus.” Now, a decade after his death and 34 years after he was first elected president, Ronald Reagan remains, if not the emperor, then the patron saint of the Grand Old Party and of American conservatism. ”
“Being claimed by everyone is certainly preferable to being claimed by no one, but the constant invocation of Reagan’s name to bolster arguments for present-day policies (and present-day politicians) actually hinders our understanding of the substance of Reagan’s legacy—and undermines the Republican Party’s ability to make a case for itself in the here-and-now.”
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/if-ronald-reagan-were-alive-today-he-would-be-103-years-old/
ASK,
“some of his epigones today appear caught in a time warp, acting as if every year is 1980” – History is more easily rewritten when referencing events of a generation or so past, but for those of us who lived in a certain period, had our earning power during that period, those events are forever honest and cannot be rewritten. Current opinions by the self appointed literati would be better served by exposing the air of mendacity that shrouds today’s media and governance while hiding the stark similarities between now and 1980.