Arizona bill would require hospitals to verify the citizenship status of patients and report illegal aliens to the feds.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is a colorful figure on Capitol Hill and now he’s the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. He’s he’s already drawn a lot of controversy with his hearings into radicalism among American Muslims. And if he wanted people to believe his hearings were on the level, he showed pretty bad judgment in sitting for an interview with an avowed anti-Muslim activist. But his new pick for senior investigator for the committee’s investigations isn’t necessarily what you’d expect. He’s hired James Gordon Meek, a respected, veteran reporter from The New York Daily News.

Rick Santorum opens up to discuss his messy Google problem.

TPM’s Susan Crabtree talks to newly announced Senate candidate Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) about his Senate run and the possibility of facing Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in the general election.

Over the last few days we’ve had a growing number of emails from readers saying what’s happening now in Wisconsin is important and we should be on it. As you can see from our current feature, we agree. And we are on it. So I wanted to take a moment to explain just why I think this is so important. Read More

Gov. Walker (R-WI) now says he and Republican state legislators are willing to make some changes to their legislation rolling back labor rights in the state — but so far not major ones or ones that “fundamentally undermine the principle of the proposal.”

It was only days ago that we brought you word that South Carolina state legislator Lee Bright (R-Roebuck) wants his state to set up its own currency — let’s call them Palmetto Dollars — to protect South Carolinians and their savings from the catastrophe that will befall America when the Federal Reserve system collapses from Obamacare and too much fiscal Stimulus. Holding your savings in Palmetto Dollars backed by the full faith and credit of a smallish state in the Southeast should keep you covered during the coming global financial collapse.

But maybe there’s another reason why Bright is so keen on cooking up a new currency.

TPM Reader TK passes on word that it turns out that Bright owes the S.C. Department of Revenue a cool $67,261.02. In fact, they got a lien on his company On Time Trucking. Read More

Va Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) says that House Republicans need to take the lead on cutting entitlements and bringing the “tough message to the American people.”

The funny thing is that I think President Obama, everyone in the White House and all the Democrats on Capitol Hill are agreeing that House Republicans really should be taking the lead in bringing this message to the American people. And probably alone. If the going gets rough, so be it.

Republicans ready a plan that could either rein in or simply defund the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The House GOP’s top investigations guy, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), has just issued his first investigative subpoenas. And the winner is Countrywide Financial Corp., now owned by BofA.