Where anyone can find an ice floe in Texas is a powerful question, but the search will be on to find some soon, if the budget approved by the Texas House of Representatives cannot be fixed.
Texas House Democrats sent out a notice shortly after the vote, explaining some of the cuts:
An hour ago, Texas House Republicans forced through some of the most destructive budget cuts in Texas history. On a party line vote, 101 House Republicans trampled on the priorities of regular, middle-class Texas families. [1]
Tonight, Republicans voted to:
- Eliminate 335,000 Texas jobs in both the public and private sectors, threatening our fragile economic recovery [2]
- Lay off up to 100,000 teachers and school support workers, crowding dozens of kids into unruly classrooms [3]
- Kick 100,000 kids out of full day Pre-Kindergarten [4]
- Close half of the state’s nursing homes, leaving thousands of seniors with no place to go [5]
- Create a ripple effect that will force local governments like cities, counties and local school districts to raise taxes [6]
- Cut off access to financial aid for thousands of graduating high school seniors [7], while forcing up college tuition through cuts. [8]
They didn’t have to cut this deeply into the priorities set by most Texas families. They chose to make the deepest cuts public education since the creation of our school finance system in 1949. [9]
For months, Republicans have been yelling “Cuts! Cuts!” and they have ignored the thousands of office visits, letters, emails and phone calls of average Texans protesting these hurtful cuts.
Democrats offered plenty of creative solutions that would keep schools open, spare nursing homes from closing, and keep our promise to graduating seniors who have worked hard for a chance to earn a college education. Republicans shot them down one by one in favor of deeper cuts.
Anybody can swing an axe and slash budgets across the board. Texas needs people who can lead, set priorities, and protect those priorities.Remember, Republicans chose to make these cuts. Help us hold them accountable for costing jobs, hurting families, and for choosing to sacrifice the future of too many Texas kids.
Sincerely,
Cliff Walker
Texas HDCC
- http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=82R&Bill=HB1
- http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Budget-cuts-could-slash-hundreds-of-thousands-of-1291051.php
- http://www.kvue.com/home/117522288.html
- http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?S=14368977
- http://www.reporternews.com/news/2011/mar/09/democrats-cuts-will-hit-homes/?print=1
- http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/03/08/2906285/unfunded-mandates-from-the-texas.html
- http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-politics/2011/03/house-budget-writers-ok-bill-that-would-trim-23-billion/
- http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=14310923
- http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9MBC0PG1.htm
Fewer teachers when more are needed, bigger classrooms when smaller classrooms are needed, less health care in the state with the largest uninsured population of any state, the highest proportion of uninsured people.
Texas Republicans chose the meat cleaver over the scalpel to try to balance Gov. Rick Perry's $27 billion deficit. Many cuts appear targeted to do the most damage possible to education and other "liberal" state functions. Cleaver prop from YourProps.com
Prisons, highways, state parks, and other programs suffered serious cuts, too.
Had a foreign power done this to Texas, it would be considered an act of war. How will Texas citizens respond?
More:
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Oh it is the common tactic of despots, no matter the political leanings, to love the idea of ensuring that the populace are as dumb as sheep.
After all, when the sheep can’t think for themselves they are ever so much easier to fleece.
And the Republicans have a very wide authoritarian streak in them.
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Howdy Nick!
They do seem to have a vested interest in the dumbing down of the population. I’m trying hard to think of any repressive political movement (on the right OR the left) that didn’t excoriate intellectuals and academia. Extremists either eliminate the educated or quickly bring them to heel.
You ask a vital question, old friend…
Jim
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I wonder why Morgan and his fellow republicans think the economy will be good if 99% of the people are stupid beyond belief.
Hm, which is more important to preserve. Education funding…or the mortgage tax credit that the richest 2% of the population get on their vacation homes.
Common sense says education. Republicans say the vacation homes.
And that in a nutshell is why the Republicans are destroying the country.
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Hi Ellie!
I agree. I would even go a step further. Life INSIDE the womb is of no concern to these people. They have been trying for years to cut funding for programs that provide lower income moms with pre-natal vitamins, free checkups and mentoring during pregnancy.
There is a reason abortion rates declined significantly during the Clinton administration. And it had nothing to do with conservatives.
I do love your idea about a “granny dump”. Governor Perry seems quite fond of the color “grey”, at least when it comes to the old Confederacy.
Jim
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Old people, sick people, and children out of the womb mean nothing to Republicans. I suggest that when Nursing Homes close, the owners do a massive Granny Dump on Rick Perry’s front lawn.
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