Terrible news, everyone: The economy is improving.

I suppose I should clarify that statement. For most of us, it’s very good news. It’s only terrible news if you’re a Republican who anticipated riding a continuing recession to victory in November. Now Republicans in Congress are working desperately to reverse what they see as a devastating trend.

Unfortunately for us, there are a few tools at the Republicans’ disposal. I’ve written before about how Republicans may once again try to block an extension of the payroll tax cut. Now they’re also threatening to block an extension of unemployment benefits.

A Democratic bid for a breakthrough on payroll-tax negotiations fell flat on Thursday, as Congress closes in on a Feb. 29 deadline with few signs of progress.

If Congress fails to act: the Social Security payroll tax that comes out of every paycheck will revert back to 6.2 percent from the current 4.2 percent tax “holiday,” doctors treating Medicare patients will see their reimbursements drop 27 percent as the “doc fix” expires, and millions of long-term unemployed workers will lose benefits.

On Thursday, Republicans on the panel rejected a new Democratic proposal to cut federal unemployment insurance from its current 99 weeks to 93 weeks. Republicans propose cutting back insurance to a maximum of 59 weeks.

While the economy is getting better, and hopefully seems to be picking up steam, the fact remains that it has a long way to go. If we start pulling the rug out from under the unemployed, many of whom have been searching for jobs for years at this point, we’re just going to prolong the recession.

Of course, maybe the Republican understand that. To them, maybe that’s a feature, not a bug.

Senate Majority Leader David Senjem thinks things are getting too tense in Saint Paul:

“It’s time to put the spears down,” said Senjem.

Err… Senator Senjem? Aren’t you the one who started the legislative session with an unprecedented attack on the minority party? Aren’t you the one who just led your party in rejecting one of the Governor’s nominees? And that was in the first two weeks of the session.

So those actions were okay, but the Governor vetoing your effort to strip consumer protections is unacceptable? If that’s what you mean, you really should have clarified your statement: 

“It’s time [for the DFL] to put the spears down,” said Senjem.

I suspect that’s what you really meant — it’s fine for the GOP to play rough, but the DFL should absolutely not reciprocate in any way. That sounds perfectly reasonable.

It’s funny: Republicans have been in control of the legislature for a year now, and we seem to be hiring a lot of layers to clean up after their messes. First, the Senate had to retain outside counsel in the wake of their firing of Michael Brodkorb. Now, the University of Minnesota is consulting a lawyer about the GOP’s hiring of Regent Steve Sviggum:

Linda Cohen, chairwoman of the University of Minnesota’s governing board, said Friday she has sought outside legal advice about Regent Steve Sviggum’s potential conflict of interest with his position in the Minnesota Senate….

She announced at Friday’s Regents meeting that attorney John Stout of Fredrikson & Byron would review the issue as an “additional step” to preserve objectivity. Stout “has advised the boards of large publicly-held corporations, educational institutions and well-recognized nonprofits” in the past, according to a memo Cohen provided to the board.

I wonder what his hourly rate is?

The GOP seems to be wasting quite a lot of taxpayer money because of their questionable ethics. I don’t know about you, but I can think of a lot of better ways to spend that money than on cleaning up after their messes. If the GOP can’t prove that they can be responsible, they shouldn’t be governing.

Earlier today, Mark Dayton vetoed a number of Republican bills that would have reduced consumer protections under the law. The GOP calls these “tort reform,” and claims they’re about reducing frivolous lawsuits. In reality, they provide new windfalls for corporations by taking away our rights to address their wrongdoings.

In one of his veto letters [PDF], Governor Dayton got to the crux of the issue:

I am deeply concerned that this legislation would make it more difficult for average citizens to defend themselves against powerful interests. The suggestion that passage of this measure will somehow create jobs in Minnesota lacks merit and substantiation. Not a single job would be created — but important protections would be greatly impaired.

In this legislative session, we’ve already seen time and time again that the GOP isn’t working to create jobs. Just like last year, all of their energy is focused on giving gifts to the already rich and powerful. I’m glad we have Governor Dayton watching our backs.

“She’s never had a copy of her birth certificate,” said [Rev. Celester] Webb, who has been trying to get a copy for his mother for years. But she was born at home, in rural Mississippi. He’s been told that the courthouse in Grenada, Miss., burned down, possibly destroying her birth records.

For a woman who grew up poor and black in the pre-Civil Rights deep south, and who’s never missed an election, the idea that a constitutional amendment could take away that right is horrifying, Webb said. [Star Tribune]

So this 84-year-old woman is horrified that she might lose the right to vote, huh? I guess she should have thought of that before her hometown courthouse burned down.

In all seriousness, though, there are going to be thousands of stories like this, and thus thousands of Minnesotans who will lose their most fundamental right. And all for a policy that won’t solve a single problem.

Nobody — and I mean nobody — thinks the Republican-controlled legislature is doing a good job, according to a recent SurveyUSA poll.

Mark Dayton has a solid 50 percent approval rating. With 33 percent disapproving, that gives him an excellent +17 net favorability rating. The legislature, on the other hand, has a 17 percent approval rating, and 65 percent disapproval, for a whopping -48 net favorability.

Sure, the usual caveats apply — an executive nearly always does better than a legislative body, people often feel better about their own representative than they do about the entire body, etc. No matter how much you try to stretch it, though, the numbers are ugly. It looks like Republican legislators are going to be getting what they deserve this November.

It’s apparently not enough that the richest 1 percent already have a massive, disproportionate share of the money and power in Minnesota. They’ve used their money to buy power, and used that power to accrue more money, in a vicious circle that has no end in sight. Now, they’re making their most brazen play yet — they actually want to stop the poor from voting.

A new report from TakeAction Minnesota details how wealthy Minnesotans and big banks are behind the effort to suppress the votes of thousands of eligible Minnesota voters. TakeAction Executive Director Dan McGrath explained the impetus for the report:

…over the past week, we’ve learned a lot about who would lose if photo ID becomes law — over 700,000 eligible Minnesota voters, including seniors, low-income persons, students, people of color, disabled and rural Minnesotans. What hasn’t been discussed is who WINS when people can’t vote. That’s what this report outlines.

I find it very disturbing to think about the bill from this perspective, but it’s true. Big banks and the super-rich are funding an effort to take away votes from eligible Minnesotans so they can increase their own power. When you can’t vote, the super-rich win.

You can view the full report here. It’s sobering stuff.

After a decade in which dozens of states passed anti-marriage laws and constitutional amendments, the momentum has reversed. The number of states that accept equal marriage is growing, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the pace of acceptance accelerate in the years to come.

The latest state to allow equal marriage is Washington, where a bill just passed the legislature and is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

Meanwhile, here in Minnesota, we’re still fighting a decade-old culture war over a constitutional amendment banning equal marriage, which is already banned by law. While other states are extending rights to more of their citizens, we’re going to poke the gay and lesbian community in the eye by denying them equal rights a second time. Minnesota conservatives want us to loudly reaffirm to all gay Minnesotans that they are second-class citizens.

Is anyone else ashamed to see Minnesota moving backwards like this? We were once leaders when it came to equality and civil rights. Now, while states around the country are extending equal rights to their citizens, conservatives want us to do just the opposite. That’s just not right. We should be among those states embracing families of all types and honoring their commitments. 

Over the last few months, it seems that all the economic indicators are improving. Here’s yet another encouraging one:

Job openings in the U.S. increased in December by the most in almost a year, showing employers are gaining confidence the economy will keep growing in 2012.

The number of positions waiting to be filled climbed by 258,000, the biggest gain since February 2011, to 3.38 million, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Excluding government agencies, openings at private employers climbed to the highest level since August 2008.

More openings mean companies may be looking beyond the European financial crisis and are making plans to expand this year as sales grow.

More and more, it’s looking like we may finally be headed towards a real recovery. That’s going to be wonderful after four years of economic pain. That said, we can’t afford to just sit back and count on the growing momentum to restore the economy. We need some serious structural changes to build a strong economy for the future.

We should get money back in the hands of middle-class consumers. When the richest 1 percent get all the gains from an improving economy, it hurts our economy. And while we’re at it, let’s invest in high technology to open up new industries for American business. If we don’t learn from our mistakes and make some major changes, we’re going to end up right back where we started.