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Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 10:16 AM CDT |
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Mon Sep 26, 2011 at 09:02 PM CDT
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(Great BOR reader diary about family planning. It's clear that these cuts aren't about saving money, but rather harming women and families. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
While Texas has some of the nation's toughest restrictions on reproductive health care, it has also drastically cut funding to family planning centers. At the same time the state has increased funding to so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPC), which has decreased the access women have to reproductive health care in the state. In Rick Perry's Texas, women are not trusted to make their own reproductive health care decisions.
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Thu Apr 28, 2011 at 09:14 PM CDT
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Last year I wrote about Congressman Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2010 and how it would increase the tax burdens on working and middle class Americans and make significant cuts to the social safety net. Earlier this month Ryan released the Path to Prosperity, which would dramatically reduce taxes on the wealthy and corporations while making draconian cuts in the social safety net. While the Roadmap and the Path are both radical conservative proposals, apparently Ryan left his Roadmap to go on a Path where the laws of arithmetic do not apply.
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Thu Feb 10, 2011 at 09:24 PM CST
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Texas Republicans promised to address the $27 billion budget shortfall through budget cuts only, and without the use of the so-called Rainy Day Fund or without raising new revenue. Republican lawmakers have talking about spreading the pain and sharing the burden, but the truth is that the burden of the budget cuts (which were created by the way due to the policies of Texas Republicans over the last decade) is not being shared equally among all Texans. In fact Republicans are placing a significant burden on future Texans. Through deep cuts in education Republicans are placing the burden of their failed economic policies on the backs of future generations.
The Texas Independent reports that the House budget proposal would reduced public education funding by $3.1 billion (9.1%). This would also include a budget cut to the Foundation School Program which would be $9.8 billion below scheduled formula requirements after accounting for student population growth, and cutting other programs by two-thirds, including teacher incentive pay and pre-K grants, in addition to increasing the maximum student-teacher ratio in elementary schools. The Senate budget proposal would provide more funding for public education; $500 million more to the Permanent School Fund (leaving a shortfall of $9.3 billion), plus $400 million to help salvage funding for programs in areas including pre-K, high school completion and college readiness.
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Tue Feb 08, 2011 at 10:28 PM CST
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There are three ways to become a citizen of the United States. You can be a naturalized American citizen; where a foreign born individual meets several requirements and then is granted citizenship. If you are born outside of the United States but at least one of your parents is a United States citizen then you can become a citizen through Jus Sanguinis (Right of Blood). The most common way to become a United States citizen is through Jus Soli (Right of Birthplace), which was codified by the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, there is now a movement to repeal the 14th Amendment, and remove the right of individuals born within the United States borders to automatically become citizens.
During times of economic recession, it is often "the other" that is blamed for the hardships of the many. During the Great Recession "the other" has taken many different forms, but one of the most common is undocumented immigrants. A common refrain is that undocumented immigrants "take American jobs," even though economic studies have shown that undocumented immigrants actually have a positive impact on the native workforce. Not to mention that American corporations have done far more damage to the American worker through outsourcing than undocumented workers ever could have done. The economic situation has lead to an atmosphere of hate, as the Southern Poverty Law Center has documented the rising tide of hate towards Latinos and the increasing activity of nativists lobbies and organizations.
Despite their reverence of the United States Constitution, which often times border on worship, prominent Republican leaders have called for the repeal of the 14th Amendment. Politico reported that Republican Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and David Vitter of Louisiana proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would put new limits on citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The proposal would remove Jus Soli from anyone who is born in the United States whose parents are not citizens, legal permanent resident or active duty military members. In a statement Vitter said that the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country is escalating because of "children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. are granted automatic citizenship," and that "closing this loophole will not prevent them from becoming citizens, but will ensure that they have to go through the same process as anyone else who wants to become an American citizen."
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 at 08:33 PM CST
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Business Insider publishes an article about the fact that Texas is facing a significant budget shortfall, and that is not being included in the narrative about the budget crisis facing many states. Matthew Yglesias blogs about it, the Paul Krugman blogs about it, the Ryan Avent responds to Krugman's blog, and then Krugman responds to Avent's response. Krugman writes a column in the New York Times, and then Kevin Williamson responds to the column at the National Review. So, what is the argument all about? Semantics. But, let's start from the beginning.
Since the Great Recession began after the financial crisis in 2008, the narrative has been that Texas has weathered the storm better than the rest of the states. However, since Texas budgets biannually, the last budget was passed only a few months after the recession began in 2009. The effects of the recession are now being felt in full affect in the budget that will be passed in 2011. Having a budget crisis in a pro-business, low-regulation, low-spending, no-union, Republican-dominated state goes against the narrative. As Yglesias notes, "keeping taxes low by simply not having taxes be high enough to pay the bills is in the best Texas conservative tradition of George W Bush but it doesn't work for state government during a recession."
Texas has maintained an unemployment rate below the national average throughout the recession. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Texas currently has an unemployment rate of 8.2% compared to the national average of 9.4%. But, Krugman notes that on his blog that when you compare the unemployment rate in Texas and New York they are statistically similar. However, Avent notes that the two states are different because of the dramatic difference in their respective labor markets, and that a large share of the rise in the unemployment rate in Texas is due to migration. Although, Krugman responds that the unemployment comparison is relevant because "in terms of personal hardship, in terms of people looking for jobs but not finding them, Texas has done essentially no better than New York." So far it has just been a policy debate among economic policy wonk bloggers.
Then Krugman writes about "The Texas Omen" in his bi-weekly New York Times column, during which he expands on the subject of Texas and points out that it is the state where conservative economic policy has most completely been put into practice. Then Williamson takes issue with Krugman assessment of Texas, and says in his National Review post that "no, Paul Krugman, Texas is not broke." Williamson continues, "keep your pants on, professor. Texas is not going to have a budget shortfall." So, what's the deal?
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Tue Jan 04, 2011 at 08:59 PM CST
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Everything is bigger in Texas, including shortfalls. However, the rhetoric coming from Governor Rick Perry and the rest of the Texas Republicans over the last year has also been bigger, bigger enough to convince the rest of the country that Texas has not been as affected by the Great Recession as much as the rest of the country. However, it seems as those the rest of the country is starting to take notice that things are not as they appear to be in the conservative utopia called Texas.
As Business Insider reports, there's one state, which is fairly high up on the list of troubled states that nobody is talking about, and there's a reason for it:
The state is Texas.
This month the state's part-time legislature goes back into session, and the state is starting at potentially a $25 billion deficit on a two-year budget of around $95 billion. That's enormous. And there's not much fat to cut. The whole budget is basically education and healthcare spending. Cutting everything else wouldn't do the trick. And though raising this kind of money would be easy on an economy of $1.2 trillion, the new GOP mega-majority in Congress is firmly against raising any revenue.
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Wed Dec 01, 2010 at 06:56 PM CST
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The Great Recession has affected everyone's budget. From the federal government to the millions of Americans unemployed, budgets across the nation have been affected by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. State budgets have been also hit hard by the recession. A recently released survey by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers found that states currently face a combined $41 billion in budget shortfalls for fiscal year 2012. According a report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, state tax revenues were 8.4% lower in the 2009 fiscal year than in 2008, and an additional 3.1% lower in 2010, while the need for state-funded services did not decline.
Already during the last fiscal year those states dramatically cut their budgets, raised taxes, and relieved heavily on the $43 billion in federal Recovery Act funds to close those budget gaps. Over the past three fiscal years, states have closed $230 billion in budget gaps, and they done it by making significant budget cuts in education, social services and public safety, the state workforces and reduced aid to local governments. These cuts are having a disproportionate affect on the working and middle class, as services that they depend on are being either cut altogether or dramatically scaled back.
Despite the rhetoric of Texas Governor Rick Perry describing Texas as being relatively unaffected by the Great Recession, the state is facing a significant fiscal crisis. There is a debate about the actual size of the budget shortfall, and the numbers vary from anywhere between $15 billion and $30 billion depending on who is making the estimate. Governor Perry is touting the estimates of State Senator Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) which predict a budget gap of $15 billion or less.
The Legislative Budget Board has adopted a plan to cap the growth in the discretionary spending in the state budget at 8.92% in the budget that will be written in the next legislative session. Cuts of 5% from state agencies produced about $1.2 billion in savings in the 2010-11 budgets, although certain agencies were exempt. It appears that agencies will be expected to cut their budgets by another 2-3%. Reportedly approved cuts from earlier this year, together with the agencies' proposals to reduce spending by 10 percent in the next budget, would produce an estimated $4.2 billion in savings in the 2012-13 budgets.
While Texans are opposed to raising revenues through new taxes and want lawmakers to cut the budget to address the shortfall, a Texas Tribune poll also finds that Texans do not want lawmakers to cut the budgets of popular programs. Texans want to protect public and higher education, health care services for children and elderly, and the prison system from budget cuts. However, in all likelihood at least two out of three of those programs are going to face massive budget cuts. This seems to be consistent with the current American political character: we want to keep popular government programs but we don't want to have to pay for them.
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Tue Nov 16, 2010 at 10:23 PM CST
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( - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
While the most important issue facing the 82nd Texas Legislature is the budget, which is projected to have a shortfall of about $25 billion, but the one issue that may create the largest debate is immigration. During the campaign immigration was an issue that many Republican candidates campaigned on in Texas, and a new wave of conservative Republican legislators will be bringing those campaign issues to the Capitol. Many veteran Republican lawmakers in the Texas Legislature will also have the opportunity to address pieces of legislation that Democrats were able to block during the 81st Texas Legislature.
According to a recent Gallup poll, only 7% of the country believe that immigration or illegal aliens is the "most important problem facing the country," although 11% self-identified Republicans felt that it was the most important problem. The economy and unemployment were the top two most important problems facing the country among those surveyed, and that represented 58% of the responses. However, in Texas voters seem more focused on the border than their paychecks. According to a Texas Tribune poll, the economy was named by only 14% of those surveyed as the most important problem facing Texas. Among those surveyed 21% said that border security was the most important issue, and 19% said that immigration was the most important issue.
To date there has been 487 pieces of legislation pre-filed in the Texas Legislature, and over twenty different bills and resolutions have been pre-filed that are either directly or indirectly associated with immigration policy. Due to the number of pieces of legislation I will be looking at them in two parts, one part a look at the legislation pre-filed in the Texas House of Representatives and another part a look at the legislation pre-filed in the Texas Senate. I will also be looking at the pieces of legislation based on different categories, and high lightening bills within those different categories.
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Tue Nov 09, 2010 at 09:29 PM CST
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A week after Election Day and it feels like the storm surge completely washed away the Texas Democratic Party. While on Election Day nationally Democrats had bright spots and rays of hope, in Texas it was completely dark and there were no rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds. After spending years on electoral strategy and millions of dollars on campaigns, Texas Democrats are probably at their lowest point in since the Civil War. Every single statewide office is held by a Republican, from the Governor's mansion on down. Republicans have a near super majority in the State House of Representatives, and hold more seats than at any time since Reconstruction. While Republicans do not hold a super majority in the State Senate procedural rules give them significant power, and much of the controversial legislation that was blocked by Democrats in the House during the last session was originally passed by the Senate. Make no doubt about it: Republicans are in complete control and there is not a damn thing Democrats can do about it.
There has been a significant amount of analysis of the election, and inquiry into how Republicans where able to make such significant gains and why Democrats where unable to compete. First it must be realized that this election did not happen in a vacuum, and there where several factors at work besides the candidates themselves. National politics played a significant role in the election in Texas, as across the nation Democrats took the brunt of the electorates' dissatisfaction with the economy. Despite the Republican establishment implicit involvement in the collapse of the economy, voters turned against the party in power because of persistently high unemployment. Strait ticket voting for Republicans trickled down the ballot and impacted the outcome of every election in Texas. Governor Rick Perry was also able to effectively determine the terms of the choice in the election, as the 10 year incumbent was able to paint himself as an outsider and paint Bill White as connected to Washington, D.C.
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Wed Oct 20, 2010 at 10:17 PM CDT
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If the Republican Party's message during the midterm elections could be distilled into one word it that it has been campaigning against it would be: spending. The Republicans have been campaigning against spending without identifying any particular spending they would actually like to reduce. Except there is one particular program that they have been campaigning against: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Otherwise known as the stimulus.
In February of 2009 Congress passed the Recovery Act and President Obama signed it, with the intent to prevent the Great Recession from turning into the Great Depression 2.0. While Republicans have criticized the Recovery Act for being ineffective, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report that stated that the stimulus raised the gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7% and 4.5%, lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7% and 1.8%, and increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million. Not exactly as ineffective as the Republicans claim. However, over the last year and a half the Republicans have consistently criticized the stimulus as ineffective, and the economy's achingly slow recovery coupled with persistently high unemployment has contributed to the public's overall negative view of the stimulus.
But, while the Republicans openly opposed the Recovery Act in Congress and criticized it in public, many of them worked behind the scenes to secure funds from the stimulus for their own districts. The Center for Public Integrity reported this week about a expansive letter writing campaign, where Congressional Republicans who voted against the stimulus sent letters to federal agencies requesting stimulus funds for projects in their districts. The Texas Observer reports that of the 22 Congressional Republicans from Texas, at least 16 officially requested stimulus funds from federal agencies.
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