Rick Perry's Stimulus:Texas used federal stimulus to balance its last two budgets

[cal04]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/17/rick_perrys_stimulus.html


The Texas Tribune reports that as Gov. Rick Perry has launched his presidential bid, "he's turned to a talking point familiar to anyone who has heard him rail against the federal government over the last two years: the perfidy of the roughly $800 billion stimulus plan orchestrated by the Obama administration in 2009."

He even ripped the plan in his recent book, Fed Up!: "We are fed up with bailout after bailout and stimulus plan after stimulus plan, each one of which tosses principle out the window along with taxpayer money."

"But the reality of Perry's relationship with fed-stim is complicated. Through the second quarter of this year, Texas has used $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money -- including $8 billion of the one-time dollars to fund state expenses that recur over and over. In fact, Texas used the federal stimulus to balance its last two budgets."


Perry and the Stimulus: It's Complicated
by Ross Ramsey
August 17, 2011
In his book and on the campaign trail, Rick Perry rails against the Obama administration's "failed" 2009 federal stimulus program. But the governor and state lawmakers took more than $17 billion in fed-stim funding, including $8 billion of the one-time dollars to cover recurring state expenses. In fact, Texas used the stimulus to balance the current biennium's budget — and the one before that

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/2012-presidential-election/love-hate-thing-stimulus-money/

(snip)
Through the second quarter of this year, Texas has used $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money — including $8 billion of the one-time dollars to fund state expenses that recur over and over. In fact, Texas used the federal stimulus to balance its last two budgets.

(snip)
But Texas happily accepted the rest. In 2009, lawmakers initially used stimulus money to fill most of a $3.3 billion hole in what was then the state’s current budget, the one for the 2008-09 biennium (Texas operates on two-year budget cycles, and by law the state budget must balance). Medicaid spending overshot what had been budgeted, and lawmakers had to approve so-called supplemental appropriations to cover the difference. They used federal funds to supplant spending that would otherwise have come from the state.

[Historic NY]

1. Silly taxpayers thought there were restrictions on it too....

where the reports ??? Grants and other receipts for its use.