Debate in the House Appropriations Committee has been derailed for a while by a sudden clash of values related to single parents. The original issue actually dealt a budget proposal to allow the state Department of Health Services to raise licensing fees for daycare centers. But Rep. Rick Murphy, R-Glendale, raised a question related to a separate proposal to limit how often parents can receive state child-care subsidies. Murphy said he’s happy to help a young, single woman who “made a mistake” and needs help to get her life on the right track. But Murphy wants to stop supporting parents who use state subsidies on and off for years.
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, immediately challenged Murphy’s description, saying she knows many people who either choose to be single parents or once were married and then become single parents through divorce.
After some back and forth, Murphy said Sinema had unreasonably seized on his single example. But he added that people who “choose” to be single parents should do so only if they have the right resources, and not rely on state aid.
Committee chairman John Kavanagh finally managed to get his colleagues to focus back on the bill at hand.

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