Searching for Budget Solutions
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst supports the Senate Finance Committee's budget package, but with reservations. Photo by Christopher Kosho for KUT NewsAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Texas Senate’s budget is going nowhere fast.
The body’s finance committee voted out a budget package that pulled $3 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to help plug the state’s revenue shortfall. Committee Chairman Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) told reporters today that it was the reason for having the fund in the first place.
But Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the state senate, hasn’t been crazy about tapping the Rainy Day Fund. He prefers a package that uses non-tax revenue to fill in the funding gap. But in a letter yesterday, Dewhurst expressed support for the Finance Committee’s package.
KUT’s Ian Crawford and Jason Embry of the Austin American-Statesman discuss how this could play out in the state senate…and in an expected Dewhurst run for the U.S. Senate next year in this week’s “Texas Political Parlor.”
Podcast: Download (4.1MB)
