Texas Senate OKs Rainy Day spending for schools

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas public schools pummeled by historic budget cuts in 2011 would recover nearly 70 percent of that funding under a Senate plan approved late Tuesday and made possible by Republicans softening on a longstanding reluctance to tap the state's Rainy Day Fund for education.

A major part of the bipartisan deal, which emerged during daylong negotiations, is pulling $800 million from the state's emergency piggybank for schools. That component may be at odds with Gov. Rick Perry, who said this month he supports using the Rainy Day Fund for water and road projects but not classrooms.

Under the proposal unanimously passed by the Senate, schools would also get another $1.4 billion thanks to what lawmakers say are freshly revised local property tax estimates from the state comptroller.

Combined with extra education funding the Senate has previously approved, and Texas schools now appear in line under the Senate plan to win back $3.7 billion of the $5.4 billion lost two years ago.

"We are within spitting distance," Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis said.

Voters would ultimately decide in November through a proposed constitutional amendment whether to allow the state to raid the Rainy Day Fund for public schools. The plan sets aside $300 million of the spending for merit raises for teachers in low-income school districts.

"This is going to allow us to put a substantial amount of new money into public education," said Republican state Sen. Tommy Williams, the Senate's chief budget-writer.

Classroom spending is the smallest portion of the Senate's proposed $5.7 billion draw down the Rainy Day Fund, which is projected to reach a nearly $12 billion balance by 2015 if left unspent.

The other withdrawals are $2 billion for water projects and $2.9 billion to improve the state's crumbling and congested roads. Both are less than what Senate budget-writers originally proposed earlier this month, and like the education spending, taking the rainy day money for roads and water would also require voter approval in November.

Perry and fiscally conservative Republicans have fiercely safeguarded the Rainy Day Fund in recent years, even as the balance soared and state budgets were slashed. They have argued that the fund was created for one-time expenses and natural disasters, and not recurring costs such as school funding.

Earlier this month, Perry did not waver when asked whether lawmakers should tap the Rainy Day Fund for schools.

"The dollars for education are there in our regular general revenue," Perry said following an appearance at an Austin transportation summit on April 12.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was not in the Senate for one of the biggest votes passed by the chamber this session. He issued a statement calling the deal a chance that "will allow voters to decide if they want to utilize the resources of our state's savings account to prepare for our future in a meaningful and transparent way."

___

Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber

View the original article here

Blue Angels grounded due to spending cuts

By Kaija Wilkinson

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - The renowned Blue Angels precision flying team will be grounded for the remainder of its 2013 show season due to federal spending cuts, the U.S. Navy said on Tuesday.

The move was expected after military leaders said active-duty troops would be given priority amid $85 billion in automatic budget cuts that began taking effect on March 1.

Cancelling the remaining 33 shows in the flight demonstration squadron's season will save an estimated $28 million, Navy officials said. Launched in 1946 to enhance recruiting, the Blue Angels program costs about $40 million a year.

"I know a lot of people are terribly disappointed that they won't get to see the Blues perform, but there is probably no one more disappointed than the Blues themselves," said Lieutenant Aaron Kakiel, spokesman for the Naval Air Forces in San Diego.

The Navy's announcement follows the Air Force's decision to cancel performances by its Thunderbirds exhibition flying team as of April 1 due to the so-called sequestration cuts.

The 130-person Blue Angels team, which includes seven pilots, will remain stationed in Pensacola, Florida. The pilots will continue training to maintain flying proficiency but will not practice their thrilling formations and acrobatics, Kakiel said.

The team will continue its outreach in the local community and is looking for ways to stay engaged with supporters in other parts of the country, he said.

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward said the loss of the Blue Angels' shows in that city would have both a financial and sentimental impact.

"Beyond the multimillion-dollar economic impact of their two annual flight shows in Pensacola, the Blue Angels are a fundamental and beloved part of the fabric of our city, and the loss that we feel as a community is beyond measure," Hayward said.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

View the original article here

Napolitano: Airports feel impact from spending cuts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on Monday cautioned airline passengers to get to the airport extra early because U.S. spending cuts have already led to long lines at some security checkpoints, and said the coming furloughs will only make the situation worse.

Napolitano said mandatory spending cuts ordered on Friday by President Barack Obama have led to the elimination of overtime for Transportation Security Administration officers and customs agents. She said TSA would begin sending out furlough notices to employees on Monday. Hiring freezes have also prevented any open positions from being filled.

"We are already seeing the effects at some of the ports of entry - at the big airports, for example. Some of them had very long lines this weekend," Napolitano said at a "Politico Playbook" breakfast event.

She pointed to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as examples of those with long lines.

Napolitano said delays were between 150 percent and 200 percent at certain airports, although the TSA website did not show any major delays at any U.S. airport on Monday morning.

Some lawmakers have accused Napolitano and other administration officials of fear-mongering and exaggerating the impact that would be seen from the deep spending reductions known as the "sequester" which cut a total of $85 billion from government agencies between March 1 and October 1.

But Napolitano said the problems were real.

"Look, people, I don't mean to scare, I mean to inform. If you're traveling, get to the airport earlier than you otherwise would," she said. "And please don't yell at the Customs officers or the TSA officers - they are not responsible for the sequester."

Napolitano did not give details on who at TSA would be furloughed and officials at the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for further explanation.

The Secret Service, which is also part of DHS, will see a five percent cut in spending but Napolitano said it would not impact security of the president.

The cuts at the agency will be on the investigative side which handles financial and identity theft, cyber crime and counterfeiting cases.

(Reporting by Deborah Charles; Editing by Jackie Frank)

View the original article here

Small U.S. printers face hit from government spending cuts: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private printing presses are among the businesses that will be hit hard if Washington goes ahead with $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts, a government official said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Government Printing Office, the printing press for official documents, uses about 16,000 private vendors to carry out most of its work, which is due to shrivel if the "sequestration" cuts kick in on Friday.

"Some vendors may have as much as 80 or 90 percent (government business)," Davita Vance-Cooks, the acting GPO director, told lawmakers on Wednesday. "It is entirely possible they will see a reduction in their revenue. They may even close."

The automatic spending cuts will take a modest bite out of the GPO budget, but about 84 percent of the agency's business comes from other agencies - such as printing passports - so its bottom line is expected to take a hit as the federal government pulls back.

About $48 million in GPO spending went to Maryland last year, Vance-Cooks said, while Virginia sees $11 million and Florida some $12 million.

The Department of Defense is the largest client for the GPO, but Vance-Cooks said she thought the Pentagon - which may have to put most of its 800,000 civilian employees on unpaid leave for 22 days - would have other priorities.

"I think that they're involved in looking at other things beyond printing," she told a congressional panel. "I think printing will be probably the last thing they start to look at."

(Editing by Fred Barbash and Peter Cooney)

View the original article here