Last week, the White House announced that President Barack Obama would undertake a series of "Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity" tours around the country. "He will visit these places to learn what has helped them become successful and use these models of growth to encourage Congress to act," a White House spokesman told reporters over the weekend.
UPDATE: REP. DARBY HAS PULLED DOWN HIS BILL, AND IN DOING SO SUGGESTED THAT IT WOULD BE TAKEN UP IN A SPECIAL SESSION.
Michael Quinn Sullivan is at it again. Writing on the Empower Texans website, he assails the House leadership for scheduling a bill raising fees for transportation. HB 3664, authored by Drew Darby and appearing on the major state calendar today, raises fees on vehicle registration stickers by $30. Governor Perry opposes fees for funding transportation.
This story is a response to "Paranoia is the New Stupid," which ran in the May issue of Texas Monthly.
The new thing on the Left, apparently, is to say the Right is paranoid. Think the federal government is overreaching? Trampling on the Constitution? Threatening liberty? You’re paranoid. It’s “the new stupid” in conservative politics, and its poster boy is our own junior U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.
Yesterday's scene at the end of the floor session in the House was all too familiar. The proceedings limped to a close. Members milled about in the aisles. A major tax-cut bill, HB 500, was on the calendar but hardly anyone knew what was in it. Or cared. This scene has been repeated throughout the Straus speakership as the end of the session approaches. I get that Straus wants the members to be in charge--we've known that since 2009--but at some point you have to get the votes for the things you want. The House and Senate are far apart on their approaches to funding infrastructure. The clock is running out on the session. I recognize the symptoms. The lethargy in the House is what you get when members start to resign themselves to a special session. I think that's where we're headed.
"The new Dan Patrick!" said Royce West, a Democratic senator from Dallas, in earshot of the Senate's crowded press table. It was Monday afternoon, midway through the Senate's discussion of their version of House Bill 5, which had been sponsored, in the Senate, by Patrick—the Republican from Houston who is chair of the Senate Education Committee and has, in both capacities, occasionally frustrated his colleagues on both sides of the aisle during the course of this session.
State District Judge John Dietz listens as attorney David Hinojosa makes his closing arguments in a consolidated six-lawsuit case contending the school finance system violates the Texas Constitution on February 4 in Austin. (AP Photo | Eric Gay)
One of the critical issues facing the 83rd Legislature has been the funding of the public schools, a debate that has raged long and loud after the deep cuts that were made by the 82nd Legislature. Compounding the issue has been the school finance lawsuit; in early February Judge John Dietz ruled that the current system was unconstitutional.
Long before Austin became a bustling hub of live music, technology, and food trucks, it was a simple capital city, dominated by politicians and lobbyists. That city, on the eastern edge of the Hill Country, was the Austin of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s day. Though Johnson didn’t live in Austin for much of his life, the city made a mark on the president from a young age. He was only 10 when he began accompanying his father, a state representative, to the Capitol, where he became enchanted by the legislative process.
"My name is Michael McSpadden, judge of the 209th District Court. The court is going to read the charge against you. Please do not respond in any way…"
How could Chairman Todd Hunter allow HB 1076, by Steve Toth -- the "nullification" bill -- to get on the general state calendar? Calendars is not a charity booth for clueless tea party members. It's serious business. This is the worst breach of the way Calendars is supposed to work since Speaker Craddick let Ryan Guillen's local bill get on Major State, in 2007. I know Saturday was "gun day," but that's no excuse.
Director Michael Bay will shoot portions of the fourth “Transformers” movie in a handful of Central Texas towns including Elgin, Pflugerville, Taylor and Lockhart, the Austin American-Statesman reported this week.
