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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (46355)	10/14/2000 9:40:19 PM
From: ColtonGang	Respond to of 769667

Houston Chronicle this July.......... State budget 'ample,' but shortfalls seen By CLAY ROBISON Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN -- Fine-tuning their budget projections, legislative leaders said Tuesday that state government will end the current budget period in the black but with an estimated $610 million shortage for some programs. "It appears that there will be ample revenue in this state to meet the current obligations, meet the natural growth in population that we're having in the state, our population growth in our schools," Lt. Gov. Rick Perry said. "Over and above those obligations, I don't expect much of a budget surplus." Earlier, there had been talk of the state ending its current two-year budget period with a $1 billion surplus. But that talk had dimmed earlier this week amid predictions that funding for Medicaid and certain other programs could fall as much as $750 million short of needs. Perry, after being briefed by the Legislature's budget staff, said Tuesday that a $610 million shortage was a more accurate projection, and it was limited primarily to the state's Medicaid and criminal justice programs. Medicaid, which provides health care coverage for the poor, is underbudgeted primarily because of rising prescription drug costs, Perry said. And the state will need to supplement the criminal justice budget to pay counties and private jail operators for housing state prisoners, thanks to a low parole rate that has filled up state prisons. Perry said sales tax collections also were running about 2 percent higher than expected and that some other programs may end up not spending $150 million of their budgeted funds. Perry, who chairs Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign in Texas and would become governor if Bush is promoted to the White House, also defended Bush's and the Legislature's decision to save enough money from the budget to cut taxes by $1.7 billion. State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who helped negotiate the final budget compromise, said on Monday that taxes had been cut at the expense of meeting all the state's needs. Despite earlier fears, the health insurance program for retired teachers won't require additional revenue from the Legislature during this budget cycle, state Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said after being briefed by budget staffers. But, he added, the next budget period may be a different story. ................................. BUSH CAN"T EVEN HANDLE HIS OWN STATE'S BUDGET..........GOD HELP US IF HE WINS

To: greenspirit who wrote (46355)	10/14/2000 9:44:26 PM
From: ColtonGang	Respond to of 769667

Texas pollution keeps rolling along..........Oct. 14, 2000, 10:43AM Sewage pollutes Plano creek Associated Press DALLAS -- More than four million gallons of raw sewage seeped into a North Texas creek in what has been called the worst environmental spill for the Dallas suburb of Plano. Workers spent Friday cleaning dead fish from Spring Creek but officials said the spill did not affect the city's water supply and that there was no risk to public health. "In my 21 years, it's the worst," said Mike Rapplean, Plano's public works operations manager. "It's one of our deepest, darkest nightmares."

To: greenspirit who wrote (46355)	10/14/2000 9:47:48 PM
From: ColtonGang	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

Texas is a disaster zone...........ODESSA – Democrat Joe Lieberman came Thursday to the West Texas oil patch where George W. Bush grew up and started his career, and he accused the governor of forsaking Texans' health by failing to stand up to industrial polluters. "The one place that Texas has the most clean air is in the speeches that Governor Bush makes, not in the reality of the air people are breathing," said Mr. Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president. He spent 45 minutes in the living room of a shotgun house in Odessa, speaking with four local women about the cancers and other ailments that they blame on a nearby petrochemical complex. "Why is he not putting pressure on these companies?" one of the women, Norma Nuñez, 39, said of Mr. Bush. "Just imagine – he did it to us and we live in Texas. ... What's going to happen to the rest of the states?"

To: greenspirit who wrote (46355)	10/14/2000 10:14:02 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

Bush counters attacks on his record in Texas By DAVID IVANOVICH Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush on Sunday defended his record in the governor's mansion, arguing that if the presidential race turns on how effective he has been in Texas, "I'll win by a landslide." The Republican presidential hopeful has come under fire from his Democratic rival, Vice President Al Gore, over administration of a school lunch program in the Lone Star State. Gore, in a campaign stop in Baltimore on Saturday, pointed to a report showing that $33 million in federal money, which could have been used to feed up to 1 million Texas schoolchildren, went unused by the Texas Department of Human Services. "Let's tell him to leave the mess in Texas," Gore said in campaign literature. Bush, appearing on ABC's This Week Sunday, argued that a look at July, rather than June figures, shows Texas ranking higher than the national average in signing up children for the summer food program. (Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett said later that Bush meant to say the June numbers were higher than the national average.). Bush also downplayed projections of a budget squeeze in two Texas programs, which could drain $610 million from the state's $1 billion surplus. Gore insists that Bush's $1.7 billion tax-cutting plan caused the predicament. Bush argued that if his record in Texas "were so bad, why have the people of Texas re-elected me to become the governor? I'm the first governor to ever be re-elected to back-to-back four-year terms." Bush added that Gore's attacks are turning people off. "People do not like the politics of tearing people down," he said. Gore was busy Sunday defending his own record during a dueling interview on NBC's Meet the Press. Since his days in the Senate representing Tennessee, Gore has changed his position on abortion. While a senator he described abortion as "arguably the taking of human life." Now he is a supporter of abortion rights. "I talked to a lot of women, who taught me about the kinds of circumstances that can come up and the kinds of dilemmas that women can face," Gore said. "I've come to the very deep conviction that a woman's right to choose must be protected regardless of the woman's income." Bush, meanwhile, is under pressure from the religious right not to pick an abortion rights supporter such as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as his vice presidential running mate. Bush said he gets "all kinds of interesting advice" but has not ruled out any candidate for the No. 2 job. "This is a pick that is based upon two very important criteria: Can the person be the president?" Bush said. "And secondly, will there be a compatibility? Can we get along? Will the person be added value?" Gore also tried to counter criticism of his Social Security plan, which calls for handling a massive influx of baby-boomer retirees without raising taxes or cutting benefits. His proposal assumes budget surpluses for the next several decades. Gore argued that both government and industry economists "say that's the safest assumption." Political strategist and former Clinton adviser Dick Morris., appearing on Fox News Sunday, said both Bush and Gore would get a boost from their conventions. But Bush will emerge with a 7-to-10-point lead in the polls. "Then all fall, through each of the debates, Gore is going to gain week after week. And it will be a photo-finish at the end," Morris said.