02.22.07
The Republican Budget For Texas Is A CF, Again
Kuff has the post, The budget bungle, and speaks for all of us bloggers:
Dear “Democrats for Real Reform”:
Just so we’re clear, this is why the rest of us are pissed off. Yes, we know, you got your shiny new committee chairs and whatnot in return for your support of the current regime. Who knows, you may even be able to do some good from those lofty perches. I hope you can, because Lord knows there’s not enough good in the world, let alone in the Lege. But frankly, it won’t matter, because it’s not possible for you to do enough good to undo all the bad that’s going to get done, and already has been done.
It’s very simple. They don’t care about restoring CHIP. They’re not going to fully fund the schools. They took six billion dollars out of general revenue to fund a reckless property tax cut, and I guarantee you they’re going to take more to pay for more of those cuts in 2009. There will be a few scraps left over to fight for, but for the third regular session in a row, we’re gonna get screwed. That’s just how it is.
Now, maybe things wouldn’t be that much better with a different Speaker. I’m sure Jim Pitts would have done his darnedest to fund that property tax cut, too. But maybe, just maybe, with someone other than Warren Chisum in charge of the purse strings, we could have rejigged the priorities a little. Let’s just say that this is one of those times where the devil you know was unquestionably the greater of the two evils.
So this is why we’re mad, and why people are tossing around words like “primary” and “Iscariot”. And just think, there’s three full months left of this joy. How lovely.
Yours,
All of us cranky bloggers
Amen!