The Myth Of Fiscal Conservatism in Texas
The long-term consequences of short-sighted budgeting.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/day-51-the-myth-of-fiscal-conservatism
*snip*
Over the last month(ish), I’ve watched hours and hours of Legislative hearings, clipping and summarizing them for you. From those hearings, there are certain facts we all know to be true, the biggest being that the Texas State Government underfunds every government agency. Because of that underfunding, government agencies are struggling. They have a hard time retaining employees. They are working on 40- and 50-year-old computer systems. And they aren’t keeping up with the demands of the population.
This is why the DOGE Committee is so interesting. The idea is that they will find waste, fraud, or abuse to cut and save us all money. But you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.
We probably all have opinions on programs the Republican government can axe, like Operation Lone Star or taxpayer-funded fake pregnancy centers. Still, knowing how Republicans operate, they’ll likely be looking for ways to cut education, healthcare, or much-needed services for marginalized communities.
Despite the Republican hype about being “fiscally Conservative,” the Texas GOP is anything but that. That’s why I wanted to first talk about Every Texan’s testimony.
Their testimony showed how Texas’s chronic underfunding of state agencies has led to “crisis-level” workforce turnover. When you can’t keep state employees because their wages are stuck in a decade-long freeze, the cost of constantly hiring and training new staff outweighs any so-called savings from budget cuts. It’s simple math (unless you’re a Republican legislator), in which case math is optional.
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