If major-party leaders are not willing to make tough-love decisions on the ballooning national debt, and if the Tea Partiers are not willing to endorse painful measures, the American people must ask them, “Okay, what is your solution?”
Economy
Get the latest on jobs, business, growth, and policy shaping the state’s economy with in-depth reporting from The Texas Tribune.
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Economy
TribBlog: Cuts and Caps
Lawmakers want state agencies to cut another 2 to 3 percent from their current budgets — on top of the 5 percent cuts that were already ordered. The Legislative Budget Board — comprised of members of both the House and Senate, along with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House — also adopted a spending cap for the next budget.
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Economy
“Grandiose Cuts” to Higher Education?
The session hasn’t started yet, but the battles have. In a heated exchange over possible cuts to higher education at a post-election debrief, Democratic consultant Matt Angle spars with Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign manager, Rob Johnson.
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Economy
Size Matters
How big is the state’s budget shortfall? It all depends on who’s doing the math. A big number means the coming session will be all about what’s cut — what programs and services won’t be offered. A smaller one puts lawmakers in the position of deciding, in hard times, what they can add to current spending.
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Economy
TribBlog: The Most Important Legislators?
Who will be the most important legislators in Austin in 2011? UT Vice Chancellor Barry McBee has an answer.
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Economy
Interactive: Senate Office Spending
State senators reduced the amount they spent on office expenses by $830,000 this year, or an average of nearly $26,000 per senator, an analysis by The Texas Tribune found.
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Economy
Majority Rules
Whether you call it a wave, a rout or a tsunami, one thing is clear: Republicans in the Texas House won a massive mandate for conservative bills — and budgeting — in the coming legislative session.
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Economy
The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Five
As the nation’s shuttle program moves toward its scheduled end next year, observers are asking: What’s next for manned space exploration? Ben Philpott reports on how federal funding changes for NASA will determine the answer.
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Economy
The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Four
What happens after Discovery, the next-to-last shuttle mission, blasts off Monday from Kennedy Space Center (with an Austin astronaut aboard)? For thousands of engineers and support staff at the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, the answer isn’t certain. Matt Largey of KUT News contemplates the impact of the transition to the next phase of NASA’s mission in space.
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Economy
The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Three
NASA lost two shuttles, Challenger and Columbia, during the space shuttle program’s 30-year history. After each accident, the agency was never quite the same. Jennifer Stayton of KUT News recently talked about those tragedies with Pat Duggins, who reports on NASA for NPR and is the author of Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program.