Agencies Ordered to Propose 10 Percent Budget Cuts
State agencies looking for money in next year's budget won't find any — at least not at first. State legislative leaders ordered them to cut 10 percent from their current budgets when writing their spending proposals for the next two-year budget.
No programs or services are being cut right now. Instead, agencies preparing their budget requests in anticipation of the legislative session that begins in January are being asked to show what they would do with less money. Lawmakers cut the state budget during their 2011 session and some program advocates and agencies were hoping that, with increases in ...
Comments (12)
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
At what point does an anorexic look into the mirror and realize that the concentration camp survivor looking back at them is not only not fat, they are precariously near collapse. Drive east on I-10 between Columbus and Sealy and be parked in the middle of nowhere on the interstate in bumper to bumper traffic on any random evening and tell me our transportation infrastructure is adequate. Our elected leadership from the Governor down to the last hypocritical legislator are morons, but I guess that is what we want in state government.
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
Oh, and in anticipation of the perennially posting ranting idiot Gypsy, I'll save him the keystrokes. I believe the only phrase known to that moron is "Anybody but RINO ________(fill in the blank). Secure our borders and kick all the illegal aliens out of our schools. A vote for Obama is a vote for socialism...blah, blah, blah."
T D
@hans
Your parody post was off: everything was spelled correctly and in complete sentences.
You, sir, are no Gypsy.
Alana Carpenter via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This is all thanks to the Tea Party voters and low voter turnout by people who believe it doesn't matter. Government matters, if you care about infrastructure, children, or our future (education, elders, or natural resources)
Julie Havens Wright via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Let me tell you than my 30% personal budget reduction from the state is making a difference in my family's life!! Thanks again Republicans!
Samdavis
gypsy is probably not as smart as his posts indicate. Thanks Hans and TD. It gets old watching the moronic-TEA Partier (redundant?) throw a grenade and leave.
Once again the 'leadership' in this state is showing confidence that the bitter birthers will show up at the polls while Democrats will stay home. Until we change that pattern our state will continue in its downward spiral.
Iris Murphy Crow via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What are you ladies talking about? This is being fiscally responsible. If Texas starts doing what our US Gov is doing, we'd be falling apart too. We want to keep Texas in good shape not drag it down. Just because a department is using common sense to use money more fiscally sound doesn't mean anything essential is being cut. Nothing may be cut, it may be that something won't be added because of budget requirements.
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
Iris,
Perhaps I can put this in terms even you, as you attend your Klan/Tea Party rally can understand. Our highway system was designed in the 1950's for a state that had about 1/3 of the population it has now. Our tax system to maintain those highways and build new ones was designed at the same time. The fuels tax was last adjusted in 1991. It is not indexed for inflation. It is like a family with one child, living in a 2 bedroom one bath house. Over the years, the family expands to 4 children and two adults. They need more space, but their income stays the same. Your kids need shoes, but your income is based upon a budget for two pairs of shoes a year. You could send them to school without shoes, but the school will send them home.
The problem with you and the rest of the moron tea partiers is that you do not pretend to understand economics. You haven't the slightest idea what the constitution says and means and want to go back to doctrines adopted by states to support slavery prior to the civil war. You do not grasp the concept of public investments in transportation infrastructure, water infrastructure and education as providing the foundation for economic development. Because most of you appear to be home schooled, you do not understand the role of government and think an acceptable substitute for prudent public policy choices is to lock your doors, buy guns and pray for lots of rain in a very dry state.
John Holladay
At the end of the 82nd sessioin one of these two fakes clearly said "there was nowhere else the Texas budget could be cut". So what has changed?
Neither can be trusted - look deeper into their motives.
.
joesummy
I am a conservative...but continuing cuts in services will eventually lead to more social problems, plus those that are hurt the most are the poor. ( There are other conservatives like me, but our voices are never heard.) There is a "high water mark" for austerity, but once you go over that mark economic collapse is possible...and economic recovery becomes more difficult.
Therefore, I would rather pay for education...than prisons. This is being fiscally prudent.
Austerity is the vogue right now....but we only have to look at the European Union to see what radical austerity has gone. The EU has 3% to 4% higher unemployment rate than the United States. How do you stimulate the economy with a 12% unemployment rate? The EU is at the tipping point, and what they do in the next few months could lead to the further decline of western civilization. The United States will be dangerously affect by the fall of the EU.
Like all the other historically great civilization we beat ourselves by shooting ourselves in the foot...or is that "in the butt"?
My conservative friends are oblivious or in denial about the synergy between continually cutting the budget ...and the cost of social ills. Someone is going to pay. The state politicians like to say no new taxes...sounds great doesn't it.? But all they have done is "kick the can" to the local communities.
I also believe that this radical budget cutting is being used to get people elected. The "I am more conservative than you" platform is dangerous to all, because it shuts down dialogue...and thus things just don't get done! Our great interstate highway system came about because different folks with different dogmas and different agendas came together for the greater good of all (Democrats & Republicans).
To me it is fiscally prudent and conservative to be socially responsible.
Joe Summy
Newsletter: "Papa Joe...Tell Me If It Is So!
GS Crispus
GDP = Consumption+Investment+Government Spending
Consumer debt has forced consumption to fall, and that fall in demand by consumers has caused businesses to stop investing. Government Spending, now at all levels of government, has sharply fell.
Incidentally, this all means people lose their jobs because businesses have noone to sell to (lack of demand). Local and state governments, dependent on the tax base to fund their businesses then have noone to tax and cut back services, and further hurt demand. It is an endless spiral until you hit depression levels (The Paradox of Thrift).
As for our "fiscally irresponsible" federal government....
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield
There is such a lack of demand for investments globally, investors are literally giving their money to the federal government to hold. Those are *NEGATIVE* interest rates. The federal government literally can borrow for free, put people back to work building/expanding our infrastructure and get the economy back on track (which will help state/local governments with their loss of tax revenue).
Yet, we have a Tea Party "Do Nothing" Congress that can not even get a minor road infrastructure bill passed... Austerity for everyone! WOOO!
Rudy Gonzales
I suggest cutting the budget of state legislators in Austin by 50% since they haven't done their job. They have too much time on their hands to call each other out over petty BS. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander! Vote out the majority of TEA-Republicans in Austin including the Governor who failed miserably on the national stage with his "Deer in the Head Lights" look before he flamed out, crashed and burned just outside ofhis hometown of "Oops-ville."