AUSTIN – As the state of Texas mulls austere budget cuts, at least one lawmaker from the Texas-Mexico border feels like the state is focusing too much on border security at the expense of other key priorities.
Community colleges, public schools, jails and mental health care are all targeted for deep cuts under the first draft of the state's budget. There is one area, though, which was spared from proposed cuts -- border security.
“This is not the highest and best use of our tax dollars. If we want Texas to be a competitor in the economic climate in the future, we have to focus on education,” State Rep. Naomi Gonzalez, D-El Paso said. “I’m not sure when Border Protection became the primary goal of Texas government.
The State of Texas will continue to pay for more boots on the ground, under the first draft of the state budget.
"There is only one area where we tried to take no reductions at all. The decision reflects our commitment to border security,” State Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie said as he laid out his preliminary budget draft on Wednesday.
Pitts proposed the state once again invest nearly $80 million in on-going border security programs of the Department of Public Safety and to pay overtime for local law enforcement agencies on the border.
Pitts will get support from State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball.
“If we don’t do that No. 1 priority and do it well, there is no No. 2 priority,” Riddle said.
Even as the state considers deep cuts to education and health care, she believes the state must keep spending levels high on the border to keep Texans safe.
“Budget cutting is no fun, but the fact is, crime is no fun," Riddle said.
Gonzalez and other border leaders will have a tough fight against Riddle and other Republicans who campaigned on cracking down on the border and who now possess a supermajority in the Texas House of Representatives.
