What word is on Cowtown's mind? 'Sequestration,' of course

By Maria Recio, Anna M. Tinsley and Scott Nishimura

Star-Telegram staff writers

Turns out that a lot of people want to know about key issues in Congress, including the "fiscal cliff" that lawmakers are trying to avoid.

This year, the number of Americans using Google to search for the term sequestration -- which refers to the $1.2 trillion in budget cuts that are scheduled to take effect next year because a congressional supercommittee didn't create a plan to reduce the deficit -- dramatically increased.

And Cowtown residents were the biggest Googlers of all on this topic. Fort Worth led all U.S. cities in searches for sequestration during the past year.

U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, recently noted her constituents' interest in the issue as she talked about what Congress is doing to avoid sequestration.

Freshmen in the House

Several newly elected state lawmakers from North Texas spent the past week in Austin, attending freshman orientation.

The group of incoming legislators was given a tour of the Texas Capitol and briefed on everything from parliamentary procedures to legislative maneuvers.

North Texas has its fair share of new legislators, including Republicans Stephanie Klick of Fort Worth, Jonathan Stickland of Hurst, Matt Krause of Fort Worth, Craig Goldman of Fort Worth and Giovanni Capriglione of Southlake, as well as Democrat Nicole Collier of Fort Worth. Republican state Rep. Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills will be a freshman in the Senate.

Oldest ever

U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall, 89, was celebrated last week as the oldest U.S. House member in history.

While some U.S. senators have served into their 90s -- and Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., made it to 100 -- Hall is the only member of the U.S. House, "the people's house," to be in office at his age.

In floor speeches, most members of the Texas delegation, Democrat and Republican, vied for time to salute the popular Hall.

"As the oldest member of Congress to cast a recorded floor vote, the dean of the Texas congressional delegation and the oldest member of this House, congressman Hall has a long, distinguished career behind him," Granger said.

U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, recalled the time that he and Granger were sitting with Hall waiting for a flight to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport but were laughing so hard at Hall's stories that they missed the flight.

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, said, "I don't want to say that Ralph Hall has been here for a long time, but he was here when the Earth cooled the first time."

The best anecdote came from Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, who said that as a young man, Hall was pumping gas and waited on a well-dressed couple. The man gave him a quarter tip -- a lot in those days. Hall went into the office and got a shock from a picture in the newspaper: He had just waited on Bonnie and Clyde.

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