Rick Perry calls federal government a ‘monster’ harming states

By TODD J. GILLMAN / Washington Bureau
February 2011 11:47 AM

Gov. Rick Perry called the Obama approach to health care a "train wreck" in his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Texas Gov. Rick Perry told a major conservative gathering Friday that the federal government has grown into an intrusive, overbearing “monster.”

“They call us reactionary or lacking compassion,” Perry said. “Do you agree with them that the only answer to our challenges is more taxation, more borrowing, more spending, more central control?”

The crowd of several thousand at a Washington hotel shouted no.

“Me neither,” he said.

Perry joined a parade of big-name Republicans and would-be presidents, from Mitt Romney to Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump , all appearing at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference.

He insisted ahead of his speech that he’s not interested in higher office, and he made no hints to the contrary. But he embraced the high-profile chance to push a vision of a vastly shrunken federal government and boast about Texas’ relative prosperity.

“It’s not some problem-free nirvana,” he joked, though it’s “close.”

He offered a vision of a federal government that is vastly more humble and honors the 10th Amendment — the one restricting its role. He thundered at the Environmental Protection Agency, calling it “hellbent” on replacing a highly effective Texas air pollution permit system with regulations that would kill jobs and industry.

“We ought to be getting praise from our federal government,” he said. “But we’re being threatened by a fine and a lawsuit.”

Earlier Friday, in a breakfast speech to the Texas State Society, Perry unloaded on Texas Democrats for impeding the state’s access to $830 million in federal education funds.

Last summer, Texas Democrats in the House inserted an amendment in an education law that requires Perry to promise a certain level of state education outlays in order to qualify; they accused him of hypocritically tapping $3.2 billion in emergency school funds to balance the Texas budget, and said they needed to ensure he couldn’t do that again.

Perry insists that he’s not lawfully able to make such a promise — a point he reiterated in a terse letter to Texas congressional Democrats on Friday night.

Singling out Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, in his breakfast appearance, Perry said that “everything that he’s done on this issue is what the November elections were about — Washington, D.C., trying to micromanage the states. … That’s hurting the kids of the state of Texas.”

The political action conference Perry addressed, a major annual gathering in GOP circles, attracted about 11,000 people this year.

In both speeches, Perry described the Obama approach to health care as a costly “train wreck.” And he complained that instead of meddling in such areas, Washington should pay closer attention to true federal responsibilities it has neglected, such as security along the state’s 1,200-mile border with Mexico.

“We’re stuck in this frustrating paradox where Washington actually neglects the things they’re clearly supposed to be doing, while interfering in other areas in which they are neither welcome nor authorized,” he told the conservative gathering.

The good news, he said, is that in November, voters rejected politicians in both parties who pursued that path.

“Ladies and gentlemen who championed that big government idea of bailouts, those so-called stimulus programs, supported government giveaways — they got a pink slip,” he said. “It was awesome.”

Paul, a Texas congressman, spoke just before Perry. He offered no clues as to whether he’ll run for president again, though legions of Paulistas in the crowd would have been thrilled to hear that.

He did bask in his role as herald of the 2010 tea party surge, and father of freshman Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

“I’m glad to see the revolution is continuing!” Paul proclaimed, playing on his slogan from the 2008 presidential race.

After warming up the crowd with a Libertarian-tinted case to eliminate the Federal Reserve, and curtail U.S. military activity and foreign aid, he offered a caustic judgment on the ideal of bipartisanship. Too often, he said, lawmakers cross party lines to allow government to expand beyond its true mandate.

Gov calls out Democrats

More on the Perry/Doggett clash.

-Patricia


By Gary Martin
Saturday, February 12, 2011

WASHINGTON — Gov. Rick Perry asked Republican leaders in Congress on Friday to repeal a provision by Texas Democrats that dictates how the state can use federal education funds and criticized the Obama administration over border security.

“From this administration there is a very clear, almost hands-off approach to the Texas-Mexico border,” Perry said. A Homeland Security Department spokesman dismissed the accusation.

And Perry, a Republican, charged that Democrats in Congress, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, have harmed state public education with a provision dictating state use of federal funds that has tied up $830 million for Texas schools.

“Once Texans really figure out what Lloyd Doggett did — for a rank political stunt — he will be rejected by the voters of Texas,” Perry said.

Doggett accused Perry of making personal attacks to avoid taking responsibility for diverting federal funds to shore up state deficits instead of using the money on Texas schoolchildren.

“This is not about differences between two political figures, but about the future for thousands of Texas schoolchildren,” Doggett said. “It seems to me that he is a little desperate.”

The governor made his comments about education and border security to Texas reporters after a breakfast speech to the Texas State Society at the Capitol Hill Club.

After the breakfast speech, Perry met with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville.

Burgess has filed a bill co-sponsored by Texas' 22 Republican congressmen that would repeal the Doggett amendment and ease requirements on how Texas spends its federal education funds.

A similar bill was filed in the Senate by the senators from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both Republicans.

Texas congressional Democrats, meanwhile, say a repeal of the amendment would indicate a desire by Perry and Republicans to “simply replace state educational dollars as was done in 2009.”

Doggett claims the state used $3.25 billion in emergency federal education funds in 2009 to replace state funding, denying state support for “improvements in the quality of education.”

“I consider it one of the greatest abuses of stimulus funds across the country,” Doggett said of the state's use of federal education money to plug state budget gaps.

Perry claimed the amendment was merely “Washington trying to micromanage the state. That is what this issue is about.”

The governor also said the federal government has failed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and has ignored his pleas for 1,000 National Guardsmen in Texas until 3,000 Border Patrol agents can be hired and trained.

A Homeland Security spokesman said the “Obama administration continues to deploy unprecedented resources to the Southwest border, including Texas.”

Last year, in Laredo, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Perry could follow the lead of Arizona and New Mexico governors and pay for National Guardsmen to provide immediate security.

The governor said he wants the federal government to pay for the deployment.

Perry was in Washington to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference. He has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate because of his conservative credentials. He denied again Friday that he is interested in the job.

Back-and-forth goes on over stuck Texas education funds

Dems urge Perry's cooperation; he tells them to repeal Doggett amendment.

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Friday, Feb. 11, 2011

Gov. Rick Perry is asking Congress to repeal a federal provision that has stirred up a political hornet's nest and tied up about $830 million intended to help struggling Texas schools.

In a letter to Texas Democrats on Friday, Perry reiterated his position that state law forbids him from making the assurances about spending that the federal law requires.

Perry, who was in Washington to speak to several groups Friday, urged the delegation to repeal the amendment, which he said "unfairly targets Texas schoolchildren, teachers and taxpayers."

State Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, added the amendment to last year's $10 billion education jobs bill that required Texas to certify that the state's public education spending would hold steady as a proportion of the state budget for three years. Other states had to make that assurance for one year.

The U.S. Department of Education kicked back Texas' application for the money and asked Perry to resubmit it.

He refused, saying that it would violate the state constitution because a governor cannot appropriate money nor obligate a future Legislature to a certain level of spending.

Texas officials then sued the federal government seeking to overturn the federal decision.

Perry cited Doggett and the amendment in his State of the State speech this week, saying the current tight budget was "made worse by a certain Texas congressman who singled out our state for punishment in pursuit of his own agenda."

Doggett and the other eight Democratic members of the Texas congressional delegation have since responded twice; in a letter to Perry on Thursday, they urged Perry to cooperate in getting the money released, saying, "there does not appear to be any policy reason for your failing to complete a proper application for federal funding."

The letter concluded: "Please take the opportunity of your visit to Washington to file the application or to work with us to constructively help our schools to avoid closures and layoffs."