Arizona House failed to pass a budget after forcing vote

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The Arizona house failed to pass a budget Monday after one republican joined the democrats in opposing it. Representative David Cook was forced to come to the capitol for the vote while his family was being evacuated due to a massive fire in Globe and he voted against the budget, saying he didn’t have time to read the proposal and had to come in even though the votes were not there. Representative Cook joined us to talk about his vote.

We started by asking Rep. Cook about the telegraph fires that could be seen behind him, near his home.

He explained that not even 60 yards away there were boots on the ground working to help stop these fires.

When Cook was called into the Capital for the vote, he explained that he walked in and immediately told the appropriations committee that he would vote no on this bill.

“The way the capital works is that they try to put pressure, there’s always rumors, about well are they gonna vote for the bill or not on the bill,” Cook said.

We proceeded to ask Cook about his concerns over the bill.

“The budget is not supposed to have policy in it, I mean you’re voting on the budget,” Cook said. “It’s a money bill.”

Cook explains that he has learned that when they want bad policy to be pushed through, then they will add it to the budget.

One of Cook’s biggest concerns about the bill is the size of the tax cut.

“I can give you simple questions that I have asked for over months, and never having a meeting with anybody to explain them to me,” Cook said.

We asked Cook what it would take to get his vote.

“I’m not ever going to vote for that bill,” Cook said. “I would like to have a grownup conversation… and say here are the numbers.”

Rep. David Cook

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