Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Lawmakers hope to make it harder for “pension poachers” to hide the assets of elderly veterans, but at least some advocates worry that the proposed fix may end up hurting the vets it is designed to protect.

Several Arizona lawmakers have weighed in on the Obama administration’s weekend announcement of an agreement intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program – and most are not pleased.

WASHINGTON – Only 739 Arizona residents signed up for health insurance in the first month after the troubled health insurance marketplace went online, according to numbers released this week on the centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act.

Reforming the Border Patrol pay system could save taxpayers $1 billion over the next decade, while giving peace of mind to agents whose pay has been threatened by sequestration, said supporters of a bill introduced Wednesday.

Former Phoenix residents Tyler O’Connor and Enrique Garcia took different paths to the Army.

O’Connor knew at age 7 that he wanted to be a soldier and spent four years in Army ROTC at Arizona State University to earn a commission in the infantry. Garcia decided much later to enlist, about a year after high school. O’Connor wound up serving in Afghanistan, Garcia was deployed twice to Iraq.

Despite the troubled rollout of the Affordable Care Act, Arizona Democrats touted the law’s “many, many positive aspects” and showcased one woman Monday who successfully got health insurance through healthcare.gov.

Stricter U.S. gun measures are needed to stem the flow of guns to Mexico, where the weapons are fueling violence and leaving people “under siege” with little hope of help from their government, activists said Thursday.

The House voted Thursday to fund Department of Homeland Security operations for fiscal 2014, the latest in a string of votes to reopen specific agencies in a strategy that Democrats deride as “cherry-picking” areas of the government.

If you think the federal government shutdown only affects federal employees, talk to Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan.

The government shutdown is no shutdown for border patrol agents, whose law enforcement and life-saving duties do not take a hiatus – even though their pay might.