Reading some rainsoaked tea leaves

Is it starting to sprinkle on the governor?

I’m not sure, and it is risky to mine political statements for nuances. But, hey, there is little point in writing a blog without occasionally engaging in speculation. So, here goes.

On Jan. 11, the day he was sworn in to begin his new term, Gov. Rick Perry, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, strongly repeated his opposition to spending any of the state’s $9.4 billion Rainy Day Fund to help bridge the huge revenue shortfall.

“We will craft a budget that meets those revenue projections and not raise taxes nor get into the Rainy Day Fund,” he said.

The governor also addressed the Rainy Day issue during his State of the State speech earlier this week.

He said then: “Setting aside resources for a rainy day has given us a resource that other states would love to have, and some in our state would love for us to spend dry. Emptying the savings account to pay for recurring expenses is a bad idea, whether it happens at home, the workplace or in our state budget. That approach would not only postpone tough, necessary decisions, but also leave us illequipped to handle bigger emergencies in the future. Therefore, we must protect the Rainy Day Fund.”

Now, if you are still with me after that long discourse, there are some subtle differences between the two statements. In the first, the governor pretty flatly says he doesn’t want any Rainy Day money spent to balance a new budget. In the second, longer statement, he tries to convey the same message, but he dances a bit, which is why the quote is so long.

The bottom line of the morerecent statement is that Perry wants to “protect” the Rainy Day Fund, which could be setting the stage for an amended, followup position sometime this spring that the Legislature can “protect” the fund as long as it doesn’t spend all of it.

Or, this may simply mean that I don’t know how to read.

In any event, thanks to the devastating cuts laid out in the initial budgetary proposals, the pressure is building to spend at least part of the $9.4 billion tucked away in the savings account. The Texas Association of Business, one of the governor’s major supporters, supports spending $6 billion of the total. And Republican budgetwriters are openly calling for Rainy Day expenditures.

The mostoutspoken so far has been state Sen. Kevin Eltife, RTyler, who bluntly said yesterday: “It’s insane not to use the Rainy Day Fund. We also have to find additional revenue.”

TSTA urges the Legislature to spend all $9.4 billion in the Rainy Day Fund (at least part of that will automatically be replenished in time for the next budget cycle). But this would only begin to take care of a shortfall as deep as $27 billion.

The Legislature also must enact a new, equitable source of revenue that not only will cure the $10 billion, biennial deficit in the school funding system but also provide future, adequate support for public education and other state services.

Speak up! Tell the governor and your legislators that you and your children can’t afford the alternative.

Make some noise!

0 Comments

There are no comments yet

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *