Lt. Gov David Dewhurst is interviewed by Ben Streusand
Upcoming session, we will have a blanced budget without raising taxes, and we have redistricting -- we have a busy session upcoming.
We have transportation, public education and higher education challengs. Washington -- ObamaCare, spending, offshore mratorium on drilling, this Administration does not respect states rights.
We will absolutely balance the budget without raising taxes, we did it in 2003 and we were told we had a $5 billion deficit which was actually $10 billion deficit. I came in Jan 2003 and we had that large deficit, no savings.
Fast forward, in 2007, we saved the surplus so last year we were one of 6 states in the Black instead of other states in the red. That is critical as our bond ratings are good and we don't want our credit rating to go down. We must hold onto $4-5 billion or 5% of our budget. Last year, in the middle of a terrible recession, only 2 states whose credit ratings improved -- North Dakota and TEXAS with 25 million people.
In last 10 years, only one state that created net new jobs -- TEXAS.
We need to use some of the rainy day funds to fill the budget gap, we have a umber of sources of revenue, last year we made a decision not to touch the rainy day fund - it will grow to $10.2- $10.7 billing. Just asked the Gov and Speaker to sign on a measure to tighten our belts to the tune of $9 billion. We must make sure we save for the coming years.
We need to save for 2013.
Is leadership trying to make sure fed dollars don't have strings attached? Yes, ObamaCare does not improve health outcomes, we have measures, ideas, proposals -- two blockbuster bills were introduced last year to pay doctors more and pay for outcomes, but ObamaCare doesn't do that. It adds 2 million people to the state roles. ObamaCare will cost TX $27 BILLION TX dollars! That will cut into public ed, higher ed, buildling roads -- that is not right, said Dewhurst.
Voter ID? The Senate passed the bill last session. Americans have shed blood to protect the sanctity of our votes -- you can't check out a library book without a photo ID. We must protect the sanctity of our votes.
Does the Republican party need to change and elect more conservative candidates who stand for the principles? The Tea Paries, made of Ds and Rs has energized the voters.
The growth in our state budget has been under population and inflation growth. I have comfort that legislators will do the right thing.
Dewhurst said we must repeal and replace ObamaCare in each and very state. We must collect signatures for RevereAmerica -- sign up and remind the Administration we don't like this. Sign the petition at the Dewhurst booth - or to go DavidDewhurst.com.
Showing posts with label Texas Budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas Budget. Show all posts
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Rep. Phil King's take on the Texas Budget
In these difficult economic times, there must be more scrutiny than ever regarding how Texas spends your tax dollars. Every odd year, the Texas Legislature meets to set the state budget for the following two fiscal years.
After 19 hours of debate on the House Floor, we successfully passed your state budget. My Republican colleagues and I focused on the priorities that you and your family expressed were most important.
These budget priorities included increasing the quality of our public schools, improving job-training programs, reducing the cost of government, lowering your tax burden and protecting those in our society who struggle to protect themselves – the very young and the elderly. As we debated the budget until 4:30 am, we remained committed to protecting essential programs while ensuring that government spending tightens its belt, just as your family has had to do.
When the state collects your taxes and fees most of the money goes into the General Revenue Fund. In developing the budget, we reduced spending from the General Revenue by approximately $2 billion. This is your tax money we are saving, and we are proud that by working together we were able to reduce the future size of government.
Some highlights of the budget include establishing and protecting job training programs for people displaced by these difficult economic times; fully funding our veterans’ needs, as Texas must honor our commitment to those long-distinguished veterans and those just returning from duty; increasing our public education expenditures by 1.8 billion dollars as all our children deserve every opportunity to succeed in school; reviewing government spending; and ensuring that those who are truly ill and unable to pay receive necessary medical care. All of this was successfully achieved while reducing expenses from the General Revenue Fund by approximately $2 billion.
Unique to this year’s budget cycle is the federal stimulus money that has recently gained notable attention. The stimulus money is an influx of your federal tax money coming back to you. Since this is a one-time receipt of funds, it is our duty to assure that this money will be used only for one-time expenses such as school construction, rebuilding of the gulf coast and other single item expenses, rather than growing government programs that expect taxpayers to continue new spending every two years.
Creating any budget is always a difficult task and doing so for a state as diverse as Texas is especially challenging. However, our priorities are clear and our commitment is strong to make certain that Texas addresses the most important needs while also remembering that this money is yours, not ours, and it is scarce and hard-earned.
After 19 hours of debate on the House Floor, we successfully passed your state budget. My Republican colleagues and I focused on the priorities that you and your family expressed were most important.
These budget priorities included increasing the quality of our public schools, improving job-training programs, reducing the cost of government, lowering your tax burden and protecting those in our society who struggle to protect themselves – the very young and the elderly. As we debated the budget until 4:30 am, we remained committed to protecting essential programs while ensuring that government spending tightens its belt, just as your family has had to do.
When the state collects your taxes and fees most of the money goes into the General Revenue Fund. In developing the budget, we reduced spending from the General Revenue by approximately $2 billion. This is your tax money we are saving, and we are proud that by working together we were able to reduce the future size of government.
Some highlights of the budget include establishing and protecting job training programs for people displaced by these difficult economic times; fully funding our veterans’ needs, as Texas must honor our commitment to those long-distinguished veterans and those just returning from duty; increasing our public education expenditures by 1.8 billion dollars as all our children deserve every opportunity to succeed in school; reviewing government spending; and ensuring that those who are truly ill and unable to pay receive necessary medical care. All of this was successfully achieved while reducing expenses from the General Revenue Fund by approximately $2 billion.
Unique to this year’s budget cycle is the federal stimulus money that has recently gained notable attention. The stimulus money is an influx of your federal tax money coming back to you. Since this is a one-time receipt of funds, it is our duty to assure that this money will be used only for one-time expenses such as school construction, rebuilding of the gulf coast and other single item expenses, rather than growing government programs that expect taxpayers to continue new spending every two years.
Creating any budget is always a difficult task and doing so for a state as diverse as Texas is especially challenging. However, our priorities are clear and our commitment is strong to make certain that Texas addresses the most important needs while also remembering that this money is yours, not ours, and it is scarce and hard-earned.
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