House Democrats on a spending spree…less than a week after the $787 billion stimulus package passes,

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats unveiled a $410 billion spending bill on Monday to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year, setting up the second political struggle over federal funds in less than a month with Republicans.

Meanwhile, climate change legislation may be delayed by the current state of the economy,

Cap-and-trade would require businesses to buy permits to release carbon emission as a way of reducing CO2 emissions overall. For states that use a lot of coal-fired electricity, that could mean new expenses for business and new costs for consumers.

…

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, says it won’t be easy.

“It is difficult to see the logic in moving legislation that impacts manufacturing that way during a recession,” Steel said.

And California, leading the way again, in an effort to find new revenue, proposes taking steps towards the legalization of recreational marijuana,

Reporting from Sacramento — Could Cannabis sativa be a salvation for California’s fiscal misfortunes? Can the state get a better budget grip by taxing what some folks toke?

An assemblyman from San Francisco announced legislation Monday to do just that: make California the first state in the nation to tax and regulate recreational marijuana in the same manner as alcohol.

Cheers!

-TF-