Legislative Update
- Texas lawmakers agree to budget deal that cuts state spending by $15 billion – Dave Montgomery, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- With budget deal struck, lawmakers get moving – Kate Alexander and Jason Embry, Austin American-Statesman
- The Budget: Where Everything Stands – Thanh Tan, Texas Tribune
- Unexpected deal reached on 'loser pays' lawsuit legislation – Mike Ward, Austin American-Statesman
- Perry signs abortion sonogram bill into law – AP
- Amendment on abortions stirs controversy – Patricia Kilday Hart, San Antonio Express-News
- Tea Party Sets the Agenda, and Legislators Fall in Line – Brandi Grissom, Texas Tribune/New York Times
The Tea Party also found common cause with well-heeled conservative advocacy organizations like the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Empower Texans, which push strict conservative orthodoxy on budget cutting.
“There’s a real coalition of external forces here that really put moderates in the Legislature – never mind the Democrats – in a real bind,” said Jim Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.
It’s too typical of Texas journos (and the people they feature in quotes) to characterize those who look out for taxpayer interests as somehow radical and unreasonable (“strict conservative orthodoxy”) and those who want to disregard taxpayers and spend more as “moderates” or even heroic.
- Democratic reaction to the budget: “an agreement between bad and worse” – Paul Burka, BurkaBlog
That attitude seems to bleed into a fair amount of reporting as well. - Dewhurst having reservations about job creation program that gives tax credits to insurers – Laylan Copelin, Austin American-Statesman
- Lawmakers up a tree – Joe Holley, Chron Texas Politics
Recommended
- 3rd Lance teammate testifies he saw Armstrong use PEDs – AP
Armstrong has said that Hincapie is “like a brother” to him. - Tyler Hamilton claims Lance Armstrong used steroids – Bonnie Ford, ESPN
- Out of Beach? – Paul Burka, Texas Monthly
- An Absolute Honest-to-God Texas Frame-up – Michael Hall, Texas Monthly
- Texas State regents approve plans for new tech incubator – Brian Gaar, Statesman Business Blog
- Dell following a new path on acquisitions – Kirk Ladendorf, Austin American-Statesman
- Congratulations! You’re in Debt – Rich Lowry, National Review
Reformers are brimming with ideas to renovate an expensive and inefficient system. Economist Richard Vedder suggests dismantling the current architecture of financial aid — which helps drive up costs in a never-ending cycle — and giving help only to truly needy students who are performing well academically. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) asks why we can’t move toward three- rather than four-year degrees. Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute wants other ways to credential young people besides a BA. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is embarking on a controversial push to get the state’s universities to devote themselves more to teaching than to obscure research.
- Perry looks more like the chosen one for evangelicals -Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
To quote @jstrevino, “So tired of these Perry 2012 pieces with zero news, 100% idle chatter.” - Blogger’s ‘Man Crush’ on Putin Lands Reflective Interview – Ellen Barry, NYTimes.com
- Spring supper on a restaurant patio in southwest Houston – Beldar Blog