37 Votes Later, Republican Opposition to the Affordable Care Act is Wearing Thin

by: Emily Cadik

Sun May 19, 2013 at 10:00 AM CDT

Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives made their 37th attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Despite the fact that 12 percent of Americans think the Affordable Care Act has been repealed and 23 percent don't know, the measure was entirely symbolic to show that Republicans are fighting the law's implementation every step of the way. It's also symbolic of the Republican strategy to reject anything supported by Democrats without offering a better solution.

Underscoring this point, in remarks on the House floor,Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) said, "Together, we could provide more cost-effective care and do something more about spiraling healthcare costs.  But really, the only true Republican alternative to Obamacare is Nothingcare."

The same goes for Governor Perry's resistance to expanding Medicaid in Texas. Perry and his allies continue to reject the federal dollars that would allow us to insure potentially 2 million more Texans, but have not offered a proposal that would make anywhere near as much of a dent in Texas' highest uninsured rate in the nation.

Read more after the jump.

Big Tobacco Close to Snuffing Out Small Tobacco in Texas

by: Ben Sherman

Sat May 18, 2013 at 01:30 PM CDT

The Texas Senate will vote next week on a bill that would cripple small tobacco companies and violate our state constitution. Texans can expect to see no benefit at all if the bill passes.

In 1998, Texas won a lawsuit against big tobacco companies that manipulated nicotine content, lied about their knowledge of tobacco's effects, and marketed to children. Texas instituted penalty fees on those companies' cigarettes to compensate both the health care costs incurred by the state and the companies' lies.

Since August, three of the biggest tobacco companies - Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Lorillard Tobacco Company - have been pushing the Legislature to pass HB 3536, which would force small tobacco companies to pay the same penalty fees. They've hired a large and well-connected lobbying team to make their case at the Capitol, and that team has been successful since Day One. The bill had 14 cosponsors in the House, including three Democrats (Sylvester Turner, Donna Howard and Eddie Lucio III). The bill passed the House easily on May 7th.

Remember that the small tobacco companies already pay the state sales tax. The big tobacco companies are trying to get them to pay their penalty fees for lying to the state and deceiving consumers. As former Texas Supreme Court Justice Craig Enoch noted in a memorandum on the bill bill, such a move would violate the Equal and Uniform Clause of the Texas Constitution that requires reasons other than nature of the business to impose different taxes on the same kind of business. The Texas Tobacco Settlement clearly meets the "other" reason requirement. Enoch testified in August: "Because a statute that would only tax tobacco manufacturers that were not parties to the Texas Tobacco Settlement (while exempting those that were part of the settlement) has no reasonable basis in the nature of the business and does not apply equally across all members of the class of tobacco manufacturers, it must be rejected as unconstitutional."

Read more below the jump.

Texas House Decides to Audit Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund

by: Ben Sherman

Sat May 18, 2013 at 00:00 PM CDT

Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund has granted $485 million in grants to private companies, allegedly to create jobs in Texas. Many of those companies are owned by the governor's largest donors. Since the creation of the fund ten years ago, Perry has collected $2 million in campaign donations from its recipients. It is a slush fund and crony capitalism at its worst.

On Friday, using a simple voice vote, the Texas House decided to audit the fund. The report is due no later than January 2015. But though the Senate approved an earlier version of the bill, the audit is not yet official.

"The measure must pass a final, procedural House vote. It then heads to conference committee to reconcile the latest version with what the Senate previously approved," the Associated Press explains.

Godspeed.

TPJ Report: Tax-Break Recipients Give Combs $238,500

by: TPJ

Wed May 15, 2013 at 10:16 AM CDT

Click here to find out which of Combs' donors have received $1.2 billion in tax abatements.

Democrats Restore $3.9 Billion to Public Education In Budget Negotiations

by: Katherine Haenschen

Fri May 17, 2013 at 06:28 PM CDT

In 2011, the Republican supermajority slashed $5.4 billion from our public schools, resulting in teachers losing their jobs and school children being unable to gain a competitive education. Restoring those funds has been a priority for Democrats this session. Today, Democrats held firm and struck a deal that restores $3.9 billion, which is the best that 55 Democrats in the House and 12 in the Senate can realistically do.

Pragmatically, this is the best we can do with Republicans in charge of our state who still seek to shortchange our children, and represents practically the highest dollar amount discussed to be restored to public education this session.  

From the Texas Tribune:

Under Friday's deal, the $2 billion in water funding will come from the state's Rainy Day fund, a reserve made up mostly of oil and gas taxes. That funding will be found in House Bill 1025, a supplemental budget bill that addresses funding on various issues.

The roughly $4 billion for public education hews closely to what Democrats had pushed for all week after acknowledging they were not going to be able to completely restore last session's cuts. Budget conferees agreed to $3.2 billion for the Foundation School Program, the main account the state uses to fund public education. Another $200 million is expected to be added to the Foundation School Program in HB 1025.

As part of the $4 billion education package, negotiators also agreed on a $330 million infusion into the Teacher Retirement System's pension fund.

All in all, this is a major win for Democrats, who restored more funding to education in the budget conference committee process than was present in the House or Senate versions of the budget.

While many Democrats and progressives want to see all $5.4 billion restored, this is still a tremendous leap forward for Democrats, who maximized our leverage by standing together and standing firm against Governor Rick Perry's attempts to prevent funding from being restored to public education.

Special thanks goes to Senators Wendy Davis and Sylvia Garcia and Representatives Rafael Anchia, Lon Burnam, Nicole Collier, Joe Farias, Mary Gonzalez, Ana Hernandez Luna, Abel Herrero, Trey Martinez Fischer, Justin Rodriguez, Chris Turner, and Armando Walle, who voted against the budget in the Senate and House respectively, setting a high bar for what was necessary to gain final passage.

This early opposition to an inadequate budget helped give Democrats leverage to fund education, because their votes in the House were needed to fund the Water Plan. Democrats held firm, and now our Texas school children will have a better chance at success.

Good work today, Democrats. Y'all deserve to celebrate this tremendous effort to restore $3.9 billion to public education. Let's finish strong and keep doing the best we can -- and that happens when we stick together.

Dubiously Named "Campus Carry" & "School Marshal" Bills Coming Up In Texas Senate

by: Joe Deshotel

Fri May 17, 2013 at 02:44 PM CDT

First, House Bill 972 referred to as "Campus Carry" is a misnomer. It implies that under current law campuses can not chose to allow licensed concealed handgun owners to carry their weapons on campus, which is not true. Currently each institution of higher education can vote to allow guns to be carried on campus, but this legislation, which is on today's intent calendar in the Texas Senate, would reverse that policy forcing campus' to vote to opt out each year.

Similar legislation has failed in past sessions, but as guns become the new rage for the right and Republicans in Texas run out of taxes and social programs to cut, the measure for true conservatism seems to be how ubiquitous one can make guns in society. This is a litmus test by design and not by demand...

Click the jump for the latest twist in this story...

Sen. Cruz: Bought and Paid For By the NRA

by: JordanKrueger

Fri May 17, 2013 at 00:29 PM CDT

I was outraged when a few dozen members of the Senate managed to block an up-or-down vote on expanded background checks for gun buyers.

But then my friends at Mayors Against Illegal Guns exposed the donation records of the gun lobby to some of those senators, and it was easy to see what compelled these members of Congress to vote against the vast majority of their constituents: money.

That's why they created this powerful receipt to show how Senator Ted Cruz is bought and paid for by the NRA.

Click here to send a free fax to Sen. Cruz with this receipt from the gun lobby for his vote blocking expanded background checks for gun buyers.

The strengthened background check bill could have saved countless lives. And over 90% of Americans, and 74% of NRA members, supported expanding background checks in this way.1

But because the NRA opposed the plan, these bought and paid for senators helped block an up-or-down vote.2

The 45 members of the Senate who voted against the vast majority of Americans on background checks have accepted over $8 million — just in contributions and independent expenditures — from the NRA and other lobbying groups that act as a front for gun manufacturers.

Putting the NRA's agenda above the will and needs of their constituents is wrong. They need to hear that from constituents like you.

Click the link below to send a free fax of Senator Cruz's gun money receipt straight to his office:
http://act.credoaction.com/letter/gun_vote_receipt_Cruz/

Thank you for taking action against the NRA's corruption.

Jordan Krueger, Campaign Manager
CREDO Mobile from Working Assets

Keep Guns Out Of Our Schools

by: TexasDemocraticParty

Thu May 16, 2013 at 05:53 PM CDT

We need your help protecting Texas’ colleges. This is urgent.  

Republicans in the Texas Senate are pushing a dangerous bill — the so-called “Campus Carry bill” — that would reverse a decades-old ban on weapons in our college campuses.

 We need your calls today to stop this bill.  Call your senator right now and tell them to vote to vote “NO” on the “Campus Carry” bill.  

Click here to record your call and get the phone number for your senator.

At the start of this year, Texas Democrats convened a Task Force for Common Sense on Gun Violence.

Our findings after collaborating with community leaders, mental health experts, gun owners, hunters, and educators? Banning guns on college campuses is common sense gun control, except when those firearms are possessed or carried by certified peace officers.

The Task Force was firmly against lifting the ban. So are we.

Can you call your senator right now? We need to remind Democrats AND Republicans that Texans don’t want to see this ban lifted.

Please call your senator right now and tell them to vote “NO” on the “Campus Carry” bill. Then record how your call went by clicking here.