Texas Misused Federal Funds

Last year the federal government gave Texas $3.2 billion in stimulus funds. The money was supposed to be used in addition to state dollars to stimulate the economy and save jobs and create jobs in the state. And that was the way the states used that money -- all of the states except Texas. The Republican leadership in Texas decided they didn't care what the federal government wanted the money used for.

So the state Republicans put all of the money into education, and then turned around and cut an equal amount of state funding for education. Instead of using the money to stimulate the economy, Texas just used it to balance their budget. This meant no more money entered the Texas economy than would have entered it without the federal stimulus funds and the Texas economy was not stimulated. It also allowed the state to leave billions of dollars in their "rainy day fund" instead of using it (even though the current economic crises is exactly what the fund was created for).

It looks like the U.S. House of Representatives has learned its lesson. They just included some funds in the supplemental bill to be used to help schools (so they don't have to cut programs or lay-off teachers), and the share that Texas would get is about $800 million. But that attached a provision to the bill -- a provision that would only apply to the state of Texas. The new provision would deny Texas the new money unles Governor Perry assured the federal government they would maintain the current level of funding for state education.

This means the money couldn't be used as a substitute for state education funds like happened last year. Congress wants to make sure the money goes to education and not to fund other budget items, and it learned from Texas Republican's misuse of federal funds last year that they could not be trusted to do that without a federal mandate requiring them to do so.

Of course this has Governor Perry (pictured) spitting mad. He is calling the provision unconstitutional and urging senators to remove the provision before they approve the measure. His charge is silly. There is nothing unconstitutional about the federal government requiring federal funds to be used as they are meant to be used. It just makes sense in light of the state's misuse of stimulus funds.

But that's just like Republicans. They won't do the right thing until they're forced to do it.