Kolbe voted today to pass the House's Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006, a vote that his side lost by a good margin.

The draconian spending bill would have cut food stamps, student loans, health services and education funding to states, among many other threads in the social safety net that many in AZ-08 depend on.

Fortunately for his constituents, 22 of Representative Kolbe's fellow Republicans were principled enough to realize how horrific the consequences of passage would have been. Siding with the entire Democratic caucus, they were able to beat back a truly terrible spending package that would disproportionately negatively impact those among us with the very least.

It's a shame District 8 doesn't have that same kind of principled leadership. Out of touch and out of time in Congress - let's send Jim Kolbe back to his fancy ranch next November.