By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – What started out as a battle over redistricting has suddenly taken a different turn.
When 11 Senate Democrats fled Texas for New Mexico on Monday, they did so in the name of breaking a quorum to prevent a contentious congressional redistricting bill from coming to the Senate floor without a long-standing Senate rule in place.
Less than a week later, the focus has turned from redistricting to health and human services spending.
And Democrats are crying foul.
In a speech to the Texas Hospital Association Thursday, Gov. Rick Perry said of the flight of the Senate Democrats, "What is at stake here is not politics, but good public policy. Not only are additional dollars for Medicaid rate reimbursements jeopardized by the Democrats' actions, but so is an additional $36 million for community care services." Perry said the funding would assist "disabled and poor Texans" who "deserve better."
Perry also announced that he, Lt. Gov David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick had agreed "in principle" to allocate $167 million for Medicaid rate relief for health care providers and community care services. But he says he needs the Democrats back to vote on legislation that would authorize that appropriation.
Not so, says State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who said Thursday that her staff had worked closely with the state's leadership to find a solution that gives the governor and the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) authority to spend the money even though the legislature had adjourned the regular session and signed off on the budget.
Two House Democrats quickly jumped to the defense of their Senate counterparts. In separate press conferences in Austin and Houston yesterday, Reps. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) and Pete Gallego (D-Alpine) accused Perry of "deliberately misleading the public."
The two point out that the governor and the LBB were given authority to appropriate the $372.3 million in federal fiscal relief money in House Bill 1 passed during the regular session that ended June 2. "They could allocate those funds now."
"They don't need the 11 Democrats to come home to restore these cuts," said the two House Democrats. "The 11 people they need to restore these cuts are the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker and eight House and Senate members on the LBB.
"Once again, the governor is deliberately misleading the public and playing political games with the neediest Texans. If health and human services are truly the priority of the governor, then he will immediately take redistricting off the table."
Republican Party of Texas Chair Susan Weddington doesn't view it that way.
Thursday, the 11 Senate Democrats in Albuquerque met with New Mexico lawmakers and health and education officials.
"If the Democrats want to meet with education and health care officials, they should meet with Texas education and health care officials who actually have an impact on Texans' lives," said Weddington. "They should not be wasting their time in New Mexico with ridiculous charades designed to distract attention from the fact that they are costing the people of Texas millions in education and health care funding by continuing to shirk their responsibility."
Perry echoed those sentiments. "Don't just talk the talk when it comes to health care," he said to the absent Democrats in a statement Thursday, "but come back home to cast your vote for better health care. Texans elected you to cast your vote in Austin, so come back to work."
"Democrat senators were elected by their constituents to listen to Texans' concerns and represent Texans in the Texas legislature," said Weddington.
"It is disappointingly ironic that Democrat senators are apparently willing to visit the New Mexico state capitol and meet with New Mexico lawmakers when they refuse to meet and work with their own Texas colleagues in Austin.
"We would be more than happy to arrange for a free, guided tour of the Texas Capitol, starting with the Senate chamber, if the Democrats would simply return home and get back to work."