How Rick Perry aggressively pursued federal aid he now decries In his campaign kickoff last Saturday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry burnished his conservative credentials by attacking the idea of deficit stimulus spending. "Washington's insatiable desire to spend our children's inheritance on failed stimulus plans and other misguided economic theories have given us record debt and left us with far too many unemployed," he said. But it was not always so for Perry. Back in 2003, lobbyists under Perry's direction went to Capitol Hill to lobby the Republican Congress for more than a billion dollars in federal deficit spending on "stimulus." And they won. A 2005 report (pdf) by the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations boasted of "$1.2 billion in temporary state fiscal relief to Texas" through Medicaid that Perry's lobbying operation had secured. (Watch TIME's video "Rick Perry Is Ready to Run for President.") And that was just the beginning. The same report details millions more that flowed from the federal treasury into Texas as a result of the official state lobbying campaign, which was overseen by Perry, a Republican Lt. Governor and the Republican speaker of the state house between 2003 and 2005. In several cases, the Texas lobbying campaign won funds for programs that Perry now says he opposes as fiscally irresponsible intrusions on state responsibilities. In the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, for instance, Texas lobbyists successfully pushed to include an additional $47.5 million a year for four years, to help reimburse the cost of health care for undocumented immigrants. In 2005, the lobbyists fought to restore $200 million in funding for No Child Left Behind that had been cut by the Senate. About $14.5 million of that money was directed to Texas for "innovation programs." The Texas lobbying operation also supported several earmarks, including direct funds for maintenance dredging in the Matagorda shipping channel, and money to study the feasibility of a desalination project in Freeport. Mark Miner, a spokesman for the Perry campaign, said Perry's record of fiscal responsibility is clear from his state record. "Americans send billions of dollars to Washington, D.C., every year and continue to be frustrated by a federal government that is irresponsible with taxpayer dollars," he said. "The Governor has signed six balanced budgets, in a large and diverse state. You have to prioritize and make tough decisions and that is not what we are seeing from the Obama Administration." http://news.yahoo.com/rick-perry-aggressively-pursued-federal-aid-now-decries-095000694.html
This is why he is a great Governor. He governs all the people, many who like the federal funding. What you propose is Perry only accept and obey laws that he personally likes? I think many traffic lights are unnecessary, should i just obey the ones I want to?
Every Governor pursues Federal Aid and matching funds - has to, no choice in the matter. That's how the Federal government maintains control over the States. Been that way since the days of Alexander Hamilton in fact.
Agreed. Let's hope Perry resumes his stimulus spending efforts (from the ground up) when he wins the presidency.
I suppose you also view it as hypocrisy when rich democratic congressmen/senators/Obama talk about raising taxes on the rich, but dont contribute the maximum amount they can be taxed at to the government with no write offs.
Kinda like General Electric sitting at the head of the President's economic roundtable - and paying no income taxes on several billion dollars of income ? Did you know that many of GE's tax breaks were special sweetheart deals from Charlie Rangel ?