• Texas Tax Cut Rehearsal Leaves Government with No Money to Operate
• The (Anti) Education Governor
• Polluters = Contributors

Texas Tax Cut Rehearsal Leaves Government with No Money to Operate

In what may well have been a trial run for Bush's strategy to limit the effectiveness of the federal government by depriving it of the funds needed to operate, Bush's revenue reduction regime in Texas has left legislators cutting plans to improve education and infrastructure, and struggling to find ways of maintaining social services at current levels. A program to improve health insurance for teachers may well have to be scrapped.

Compounding the effect of the tax cuts, and economic downturn in Texas has limited consumer spending. Reduced spending has in turn reduced revenue from sales tax - significant in a state that has no income tax. Further, enrollment in state Medicaid programs and increases in prescription drug prices have exceeded state estimates. Having failed to consider these possibilities when preparing his state budgets, the Bush actions leave Texas at the end of the current budget without the funds necessary to cover even two days of government operations.

The Bush administration knew that Medicaid costs were increasing in Texas. Since the state's per capita income exceeded much of the rest of the country, federal matching funds for Medicaid would be proportionately lower. Moreover, the trend of lower Medicaid caseloads that began with federal welfare reform in 1996 had started to reverse itself, so that by 1999 caseloads were actually increasing. Nonethless, the Bush cost projections "assumed" that federal matching funds would remain constant, and the caseload rate would merely slow its rate of decline.

Even with their misleading projections, the budget surplus was inadequate balance a budget that included the much-ballyhooed tax cuts. The solution was to budget state funds for nursing homes for only 23 of the 24 months in the budget period, shifting the liability for the 24th month to the following budget cycle. So while the budget appeared to be balanced, it was actually using funds from the following period to do so. This fact was not publicized in 1998. Even Republicans have been taken aback when the gimmick came to light recently.

This then, was the "model for the nation." In his 1999 State of the State address, Bush promised to "show Washington how to handle a budget surplus," and "what limited and constructive government looks like. Now we know. The only question is whether we want to bring it to Washington."

References:
Zengerle, Jason. "America's Fiscal Future: Texas". The New Republic22 Mar. 2001

The (Anti) Education Governor

Polluters = Contributors

Texas Chemical Council Members Dump:187 Million Pounds of Toxins in Texas, Up to $10 Million into State Politics. Gov. Bush #1 Recipient of Texas Toxic Cash

Austin, TX: A new study finds that members of the Texas Chemical Council (TCC) trade group released 187 million pounds of toxic wastes into Texas’ environment in 1996, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data. TCC members also released more than $2 million in political contributions in the last two election cycles and spent up to $8 million on lobbyists in 1999, according to Toxic Exposure: How Texas Chemical Council Members Pollute State Politics and the Environment. The study was produced by Texans for Public Justice and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund.

"Pollution and political clout are closely linked in Texas," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice. "The TCC is a prime example of how a special-interest group harnesses big money in order to dump on average Texas citizens. Cleaning up state politics is the first step towards cleaning up the air we breathe and water we drink."

Toxic Exposure reveals the amount of toxins and certain carcinogens released into the ground, air and water by companies that belong to the TCC. It also reports on the political contributions and lobby expenditures of this trade association and its member companies. The report exposes the political agenda behind these political expenditures. Not surprisingly, that agenda seeks to minimize environmental protections in Texas.

Among the findings of Toxic Exposure:

• Members of the TCC spewed 187 million pounds, or 74 percent, of all EPA-tracked toxic chemical emissions released in Texas in 1996. TCC emissions alone exceeded the total toxic emissions of every other state. TCC members account for 98 percent of Texas’ toxic water pollution, 90 percent of its toxic underground injections and 67 percent of its toxic air pollution.
• Texas led the nation in the release of known and suspected carcinogens tracked by the EPA. TCC members released more than 13 million pounds of the top-10 known or suspected carcinogens. Huntsman Corporation’s Port Arthur plant is the nation’s No. 1 source of benzene emissions, a potent carcinogen. Lyondell’s Channelview plant is the nation’s No. 1 polluter of 1,3-Butadiene.
• DuPont led TCC members in total toxic pollution, releasing more than 40 million pounds of toxins into the water, land and air. BASF Corporation ranked second in overall pollution, releasing 17 million pounds of toxins, followed by Hoechst Celanese, Huntsman Corporation, British Petroleum, Mobil Corporation and Sterling Chemicals, each of which released more than 10 million pounds of toxins.
• Political Action Committees (PACs) tied to the TCC and it members spent $2.2 million in the 1996 and 1998 election cycles in Texas. During this period, these PACs contributed more than $1 million to current members of the legislature and statewide office holders.
• Governor Bush received the most TCC-affiliated PAC money ($115,871) followed by Attorney General John Cornyn ($77,350). Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman Buster Brown took more TCC-affiliated PAC money ($24,900) than any other member of the three environmental committees that handle most of the TCC’s priority agenda.
• TCC members hired 222 lobbyists in 1999 alone, paying them up to $8.7 million. Leading polluter DuPont led the lobbying cavalcade by hiring 21 lobbyists at a cost of up to $1.2 million.

"It is no coincidence that Texas has some of the weakest campaign finance laws and the worst toxic pollution in the country," said Derek Cressman, spokesperson for U.S. PIRG. "With no limits on the political money polluters can spend, there is little political will to place limits on the toxins that they can discharge."

Toxic release data used in the report came from the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory. Campaign contribution and lobbying expenditure data came from reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.

U.S. PIRG Fund. 11 Aug. 1999
Copies of the report are available through Texans for Public Justice, or The U.S. PIRG Education Fund.