State Senate committee backs stimulus funds
AUSTIN - A key Senate committee on Monday approved spending almost $11 billion in federal stimulus funds in the next state budget.
Still a long way from becoming law, using the federal money would enable lawmakers to close a multibillion dollar gap between the amount of state revenue available and spending needs for the 2010-11 budget period.
The largest chunks of the money will be spent on education and health care. But federal stimulus money also is slated to help pay for meals for the elderly, energy conservation and school lunch equipment.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst touted a job re-training program in the plan that would use $400 million of the stimulus money, including almost $200 million in child care and development grants.
"We've got people here in Texas that are hurting," Dewhurst said. "Folks are sitting around their dining room tables each night concerned about their jobs, their mortgage payments, their car payments, whether or not they're going to be able to afford sending their children to college."
The budget-writing Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote on the full, two-year budget next week. Dewhurst, who has criticized the stimulus law for creating too much national debt, said the full Senate will take up the budget early next month.
With the approval of the stimulus spending, "we've got a bill that will balance and does not require us to use or anticipate the use of the Rainy Day Fund in order to pass it," said Republican Sen. Steve Ogden, chairman of the committee.
The federal money is less than 10 percent of the total budget proposed by the Senate, which totals about $177 billion in all funds. Another $3.3 billion in federal stimulus money has been set aside for spending in the current budget period, which ends this summer.
The House is working on its own version of the budget, which is expected to come to a vote later next month.
The two-year state budget is the one piece of legislation lawmakers are legally required to adopt during the biennial legislative session, which convened earlier this year and adjourns in June.
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State Senate committee backs stimulus funds
AUSTIN - A key Senate committee on Monday approved spending almost $11 billion in federal stimulus funds in the next state budget.
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