05.25.06
More Republican Failure
Wasn’t Texas supposed to be well taken care of with A Republican Texan in White House, his former lackey Lt. Gov. as the Republican Governor, Two Republican US Senators and a Republican majority in the Texas delegation of the US House, Majorities in the state Senate and, and a Republican holding every statewide office? I guess not, Texas might not see federal money for hurricane relief.
The “No” that Texas first heard from President Bush on hurricane reimbursement is likely to stick.
State officials have been working since January to get reimbursement for more than $2.2 billion in education, housing and community costs from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Bush’s initial 2006 Iraq/hurricane supplemental budget request had no money for Texas, and no money was added in the House version.
The Senate added more than $15 billion in state projects to the bill, including about $1.5 billion for Texas that was pushed by Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. That added funding drew a veto threat from Bush.
Earlier this month, House and Senate conference committees began to work on a compromise between the two versions of the bill. Hutchison was named to the Senate committee, but representatives of her office would not comment Wednesday on the negotiations, saying they did not want to jeopardize the chances of preserving some of Texas’ funding.
Dubya hasn’t vetoed a single bill as President but he’s threatening to veto Hurricane reimbursement money for Texas? Go figure.