20 Weeks in Texas in Which the Budget Held Sway
The 82nd Texas Legislature’s regular session ends as it started, with lawmakers arguing about a shrunken state budget and redistricting. With Republicans operating with a supermajority in the House and a commanding majority in the Senate, there was little doubt that the GOP would be able to impose its will.
What was new was the power exerted by the Tea Party movement, which helped propel dozens of new lawmakers into the Capitol to hold the line on solving the budget mess without raising significant new revenue or tapping the state’s sizable Rainy Day Fund. As a result, legislators ...
Comments (11)
Gritsforbreakfast
I think it's disingenuous for legislators to claim they didn't use the Rainy Day Fund in the next budget. They set the precedent to spend the RDF to cover the current budget shortfall, then budgeted another shortfall that will make them tap the RDF in two years to cover the deficit. They didn't put the RDF money in on the front end but made it inevitable - particularly with Medicaid cuts, which aren't going to fly with the feds - that they'll have to do so on the back end. (Even George W. Bush as President failed to enact a Texas "waiver" his own administration submitted while he was Governor.) Practically, there's not much difference between the two approaches, except they've allowed themselves to promote a useful fiction on the campaign stump in 2012. But make no mistake: When Medicaid funding runs out early and they face the prospect of dumping Granny from the nursing home, failing to pay for half of live births, etc., there will be no choice but to tap the RDF to pay for it. That decision has de facto already been made, just not yet acknowledged.
Roger Amerikan
The Texas Lege is playing the same game the US government is playing. That game is called "extend and pretend." The rules are simple. Cut as little as possible, push off as many cuts as possible and hope and pray that things are going to get better.
They aren't going to get better. It is mathematically impossible at this point. Our Federal debt is $15 trillion. Our collections this year will be $2 trillion. We will spend $4 trillion. We are screwed, and our esteemed leaders do not have the courage to tell us the truth. At the same time, far too many of us just want ours. We don't care. We don't think. How can this possibly end well?
The federal government has embarked on a plan that will end with the destruction of the US dollar. It will destroy our way of life. It will destroy all we have worked for. This week, Texas legislators have laid bare the lie that Texas is different. Secede? Not a chance. They don't have the guts. See you at the bottom, Texas, because that's where people without a modicum of courage usually end up.
Debby Swick
Where has the concern for quality Texas education gone?
Jim Dang via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Tonight, Sylvester Turner is my hero.
Leesa Monroe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We will soon find out how smart or dumb they are.
Robi Polgar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The Klingons rule the roost.
Jose B. Gonzalez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not much to be proud of in this budget...
Karen Hawkins via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Dumber than door knobs! I freaking hate our Republican Legislators. The assault on women is atrocious, and cutting contraception and women's services will ultimately increase both the abortion rate and the burden on medicaid. In the long run it will hurt both their moral cause and the state budget. Bunch of freaking morons! Sometimes I am so disgusted to call myself a Texan. When my kids are done with the lousy ass education here, we are packing up and moving to a blue state.
Mac Mcclure via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Karen, If you really cared about your kids you would move now so they can benefit from a blue state education. Bad Mommy.
Karen Hawkins via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Mac, good point. At least she's in the GT program, which I'm hoping puts her on at least equal footing with the average students in blue states. c/b wishful thinking though, but I know she's smart, after all she is a democrat and knows enough to debate policy with her moronic right wing teachers.
Veronica Escobar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Um, they did NOT "solve the budget mess." They never addressed the structural deficit, so that means we'll be back in two years with another multi-billion dollar deficit, and they agreed to short-change schools and healthcare, effectively pushing the responsibility onto local property taxpayers. How is that "solving" anything?