FRIDAY NEWS LINKS: Texas House Has Its Say On Budget: Nixing School Vouchers And Setting Aside Medicaid Expansion

Aman Batheja & Chris Hooks,
Texas Tribune
After roughly 12 hours of debate that included a crushing defeat of school vouchers, a serious setback for Medicaid expansion and far fewer floor fights than expected, the Texas House passed a $193.8 billion budget Thursday on a 135-12 vote.

[…] The next stop will be in a conference committee where House and Senate members will resolve differences.

The day did deliver a few tense moments, most notably on a vote that signaled the House is overwhelmingly opposed to private school vouchers, and a protracted debate over an amendment that was viewed as leaving Texas open to negotiations to expand Medicaid as part of federal health reform.

At the end of the day, Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, did not see the need to sell the budget any further. His entire closing argument consisted of three words — “I move passage” — that drew cheers from throughout the room.

The Democrats who voted against the measure said the partial restoration of cuts made to education in 2011, additions totaling $2.5 billion, was a key reason for their opposition. “Although there’s been some money that was put back into education, it’s simply not enough when you realize that there was $5.4 billion that was taken out in the last budget and the reason given was that there was not enough money,” said state Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Corpus Christi. “And now we have a Rainy Day Fund that has billions of dollars.”

Texas House Seal — **RELATED STORIES:**
**• House appears to slam door on school vouchers**
(Chron.com)
**• In Bipartisan Truce, House Members Pulling Amendments**
(Texas Tribune)
**• House Backtracks on Medicaid Amendment**
(Texas Tribune)
**• Budget Amendment Pits Arts Against Firefighters**
(Texas Tribune)

State Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, who oversaw the portion of the budget focused on education, defended the level of education funding in the bill early in the day and kept at it as the debate progressed. “This is another step towards restoring the public education cuts that had to be made last summer,” he said, adding that “another supplemental bill in the coming weeks” would further address school funding.

Other critics of the education funding in the House budget stressed how those increases were distributed. Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, ultimately voted for the budget, but complained that the amounts restored in wealthier schools, such as those in her House district, were smaller than what would go to less-well off schools. She said that there should be a “minimum level of restoration for all districts.”

Pitts replied that equity was a prime concern, but acknowledged that some districts were getting more than others.

Banning the use of public dollars for private schools turned out to be the major vote on public education. That anti-voucher amendment passed 103-43, with bipartisan support. It was a surprisingly lopsided defeat for an issue touted by the governor and the lieutenant governor as a major goal for this session.

[…] An amendment related to potential negotiations between the state and federal government on expanding Medicaid passed quietly, apparently catching some legislators off guard.

Some Republicans were spurred to rethink their vote by an email from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, which argued that the amendment from state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, “opens the door to Medicaid expansion by creating a veneer of conservative policy.”

A vote to reconsider the measure won majority support, on partisan lines, prompting Burnam to pull the amendment before the House could hold a debate or an up-or-down vote on the content. Similar language is already attached to the Senate’s version of the budget and could be discussed by a conference committee in coming weeks.
(Read the full story at Texas Tribune)

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

STATE HEADLINES:

NATION & WORLD: