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Political Report

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The Legislative Report
By SHEILAH PEPPER
The Gazette Staff
Washington D.C. The U.S Representative for this district in the U.S. House, Jeb Hensarling, now has a clear path to a leadership position in the GOP.
Rep. Michele Bachman of Minnesota announced November 10th that she would drop out of the race for the position of House Republican Conference Chair.
Hensarling is known as a fiscal hawk and has worked against the earmarks (pork barrel) system of attaching expenditures for individual member's district onto unassociated pieces of legislation. While earmarks only amount to about $15 billion a year, opponents of the practice believe it creates a habit and also encourages corruption because it often greases the way for persuading members to support specific major bills.
Hensarling said, "People in the conference who know my record support me."
He noted that he had the support of Mike Pence of Indiana and likely majority leader Eric Cantor of Virginia along with newly-elected Tea Party favorite, Rand Paul.
Hensarling voted against the bailout package. "In many respects, I guess I would say I was into Tea Party before there was a Tea Party." The vote will take place on November 17th.
Austin: The race for the speaker's position in the Texas House heated up a whole lot in recent days. See the separate story on Bryan Hughes' statement on today's front page.
By the time you read this, Texas Governor Rick Perry may have been elected head of the Republican Governors Association.
Perry spokesman Mike Miner said Perry has been lobbying for the job so he can continue to champion his pet issues of states rights and a limited federal government. Following the November 2nd election, Perry has been traveling the nation on a media tour to promote his new book "Fed Up." Republican governors, as of January, will control over 31 state houses and Republicans will have added over 680 state legislative seats.
Texas lawmakers are looking for ways to cover an estimated revenue shortfall next year. The figures are all over the place, going from $9 billion to $23 billion, depending on what outlets you are reading. Perry said no one knows exactly, because the numbers is simply an estimate. Under the constitution, Texas must balance the state budget.
State agencies have been asked to make a 10 percent cutback in their budgets. Lawmakers say they too will make a 10 percent cut in the per diem funds they get to each day of the 140-day legislative session. The current amount of $168 a day would be cut to $150.
In Texas, lawmakers sit just every second year. They are paid just $600 a month and most have other jobs they go home to. They also receive some taxpayers fund to maintain staffers and other costs related to their office. Campaign funds are raised separately.
The per diem cut will amount to a saving of about $400,000 annually.
Perry and some other Republicans have floated the idea that Texas might withdraw from Medicaid. This costs the state $24.7 billion annually but this would be a drastic move because it would affect children's health programs, nursing homes and many other aspects of the health system. However, proponents think it should be at least on the table as a discussion point.
Republicans will have a 48-seat edge in the 150 seatTexas House. In the 2009 session, they had only a 2-seat edge.