Conroe Courier - News
Comptroller says state revenue to drop $9B
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| President George W. Bush smiles during his last formal news conference in the press room at the White House in Washington on Monday. |
AUSTIN – Tighter consumer spending over the next two years will contribute to an anticipated $9 billion drop in state revenue over the next two years, Comptroller Susan Combs said Monday in her revenue estimate.
That means lawmakers, who convene in Austin on Tuesday for the biennial legislative session, will start writing the 2010-2011 state budget with a $77.1 billion beginning balance – 10.5 percent less than the amount from two years ago, when the current budget was written.
The figure illustrates anticipated drops in consumer spending on a variety of state revenue sources, including vehicle sales taxes, cigarette taxes and the lottery.
The grim number does not necessarily mean the Legislature will have a shortfall. That’s because the figure doesn’t include $3 billion in funds that were set aside to cover an expected hole in school spending and $6.7 billion expected to be in the so-called Rainy Day Fund at the start of the 2010-2011 budget period.
“Though Texas has avoided the worst economic impacts affecting other states, the national downturn has finally begun to touch Texas,” Combs said. “Our new economic forecast indicates Texas will be affected in fiscal 2009, before regaining economic momentum in fiscal 2010.”
The revenue estimate covers the 2010-2011 fiscal years. Combs’ estimate, which includes a $2 billion balance left over in the current budget, is the number lawmakers are required to use to write the budget. State law does not allow deficit spending.
Already, spending demands are mounting on the available revenue. Health care costs are rapidly rising and enrollment in entitlement programs is expected to grow.
Early in the session, lawmakers will have to deal with costs of Ike and Medicaid enrollment growth that were not covered in the current biennium. Those items could cost together as much as $3.2 billion before the Legislature even gets started on the 2010-2011 budget.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – One person was killed and four others injured when an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a field training exercise crashed Monday into a field on the campus of Texas A&M University.
The helicopter crashed around 3:30 p.m. near the Corps of Cadets field on the school’s College Station campus. A crew of four and an Army lieutenant assigned to the school’s ROTC unit were the only ones aboard the Blackhawk, Texas A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson said. No students were among the injured.
Melissa Purl, spokeswoman for College Station Medical Center, said three men were taken to that hospital. All three were in critical condition. Another crash victim was at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan, a spokesman said.
Officials did not release the names of the dead and injured.
Bart Humphreys, a spokesman for the College Station Fire Department, said the investigation into the crash was just beginning.
The helicopter, along with 190 cadets in the university’s Corps of Cadets were participating in the ROTC Winter Field Training Exercises.
Students are currently on winter break, with classes set to resume on Jan. 20.
WASHINGTON – By turns wistful, aggressive and joking in the final news conference of his presidency, President George W. Bush vigorously defended his record Monday but also offered an extraordinary listing of his mistakes – including his optimistic Iraq speech before a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner in 2003.
After starting what he called “the ultimate exit interview” with a lengthy and personalized thank-you to the reporters in the room who have covered him over the eight years of his presidency, Bush showed anger at times when presented with some of the main criticisms of his time in office.
“I think it’s a good, strong record,” he said. “You know, presidents can try to avoid hard decisions and therefore avoid controversy. That’s just not my nature.”
He particularly became indignant when asked about America’s bruised image overseas.
“I disagree with this assessment that, you know, that people view America in a dim light,” he said. “It may be damaged amongst some of the elite. But people still understand America stands for freedom.”
Bush said he realizes that some issues such as the prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have created controversy at home and around the world. But he defended his actions after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including approving tough interrogation methods for suspected terrorists and information-gathering efforts at home in the name of protecting the country.
With the Iraq war in its sixth year, he most aggressively defended his decisions on that issue. There have been more than 4,000 U.S. deaths since the invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But it was in that area that he also acknowledged mistakes. He said that “not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment.”
The accusation that Saddam had and was pursuing weapons of mass destruction was Bush’s main initial justification for going to war.
He also cited the abuses committed by members of the U.S. military at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as “a huge disappointment.”
That means lawmakers, who convene in Austin on Tuesday for the biennial legislative session, will start writing the 2010-2011 state budget with a $77.1 billion beginning balance – 10.5 percent less than the amount from two years ago, when the current budget was written.
The figure illustrates anticipated drops in consumer spending on a variety of state revenue sources, including vehicle sales taxes, cigarette taxes and the lottery.
The grim number does not necessarily mean the Legislature will have a shortfall. That’s because the figure doesn’t include $3 billion in funds that were set aside to cover an expected hole in school spending and $6.7 billion expected to be in the so-called Rainy Day Fund at the start of the 2010-2011 budget period.
“Though Texas has avoided the worst economic impacts affecting other states, the national downturn has finally begun to touch Texas,” Combs said. “Our new economic forecast indicates Texas will be affected in fiscal 2009, before regaining economic momentum in fiscal 2010.”
The revenue estimate covers the 2010-2011 fiscal years. Combs’ estimate, which includes a $2 billion balance left over in the current budget, is the number lawmakers are required to use to write the budget. State law does not allow deficit spending.
Already, spending demands are mounting on the available revenue. Health care costs are rapidly rising and enrollment in entitlement programs is expected to grow.
Early in the session, lawmakers will have to deal with costs of Ike and Medicaid enrollment growth that were not covered in the current biennium. Those items could cost together as much as $3.2 billion before the Legislature even gets started on the 2010-2011 budget.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – One person was killed and four others injured when an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a field training exercise crashed Monday into a field on the campus of Texas A&M University.
The helicopter crashed around 3:30 p.m. near the Corps of Cadets field on the school’s College Station campus. A crew of four and an Army lieutenant assigned to the school’s ROTC unit were the only ones aboard the Blackhawk, Texas A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson said. No students were among the injured.
Melissa Purl, spokeswoman for College Station Medical Center, said three men were taken to that hospital. All three were in critical condition. Another crash victim was at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan, a spokesman said.
Officials did not release the names of the dead and injured.
Bart Humphreys, a spokesman for the College Station Fire Department, said the investigation into the crash was just beginning.
The helicopter, along with 190 cadets in the university’s Corps of Cadets were participating in the ROTC Winter Field Training Exercises.
Students are currently on winter break, with classes set to resume on Jan. 20.
WASHINGTON – By turns wistful, aggressive and joking in the final news conference of his presidency, President George W. Bush vigorously defended his record Monday but also offered an extraordinary listing of his mistakes – including his optimistic Iraq speech before a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner in 2003.
After starting what he called “the ultimate exit interview” with a lengthy and personalized thank-you to the reporters in the room who have covered him over the eight years of his presidency, Bush showed anger at times when presented with some of the main criticisms of his time in office.
“I think it’s a good, strong record,” he said. “You know, presidents can try to avoid hard decisions and therefore avoid controversy. That’s just not my nature.”
He particularly became indignant when asked about America’s bruised image overseas.
“I disagree with this assessment that, you know, that people view America in a dim light,” he said. “It may be damaged amongst some of the elite. But people still understand America stands for freedom.”
Bush said he realizes that some issues such as the prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have created controversy at home and around the world. But he defended his actions after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including approving tough interrogation methods for suspected terrorists and information-gathering efforts at home in the name of protecting the country.
With the Iraq war in its sixth year, he most aggressively defended his decisions on that issue. There have been more than 4,000 U.S. deaths since the invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But it was in that area that he also acknowledged mistakes. He said that “not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment.”
The accusation that Saddam had and was pursuing weapons of mass destruction was Bush’s main initial justification for going to war.
He also cited the abuses committed by members of the U.S. military at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as “a huge disappointment.”
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