Earlier this week I wrote a very wonkish post about the history of tax policy and the future of the SALT deduction (which I argued bails out blue states). I’d like to continue writing these posts every once in awhile, in the tradition of Pete Spiliakos on the POMOCON blog. Carl is right that in politics alot of times “the devil (or the angel) is in the details.” I’d add that if you’re just listening to the rhetoric of American politicians these days without looking into their policies, it’s hard to know what’s really going on.
Another reason I’ve been picking up some of this policy stuff is that since taking my job in Houston three years ago, local TV and radio stations have been asking me to talk about Texas government. I try to get the details down before going on air so that I won’t look like an idiot and have one of these local TV appearances “go viral”- making me a national star (and not in a good way).
So here’s something I talked about with the local TV people (Fox 26 Houston) on Monday: the exciting conclusion of the biennial Texas legislative session. Everybody’s talking about how there are too many bills to finish in just one week, but they forget that in Texas the Governor has the power to call a special session after the summer to finish up whatever bills he wants. Governor Abbott already announced in a letter there will be a special session this fall in Austin, with redistricting and unused COVID education funds on the agenda. The Texas department of education complained and wanted to spend the $6 billion in leftover money, but Abbott is keeping control of it until the fall. He didn’t mention his reasons for that exactly.
Today I read about what’s going on in DC regarding leftover COVID money. Apparently it will play a part in the deal Senate Republicans are coming up with for Biden’s infrastructure bill. Initially Biden said he would pay for a $2 trillion infrastructure bill (and hopefully deter inflation) with a tax on Corporations. Instead of that tax on corporations, some Republicans like Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Senator Pat Toomey proposed to fund a smaller infrastructure bill using $350 billion in COVID money earmarked for state and local government. Says Senator Toomey: “There is a tremendous amount of available funds in the form of money that has been previously approved but has not yet been spent. That money can be repurposed.” So in other words, there might be a “clawback” of federal funds instead of a corporate tax.
Which leads me to wonder: Did Governor Abbott know the Senate Republicans’ planned clawback of COVID money for the infrastructure bill? Is that why he delayed the decision on the Texas COVID education money until this fall? Why would he do that?
These questions cause me to consider the possibility that Governor Abbott is more deeply attuned to what is happening in D.C. than any of us average citizens. This is Grand Strategy stuff.
Stuff like this is why I it’s interesting to pay attention to the policy wonks.
Next time, give us a link to video of one your TV appearances!
Yeah, Chris, we gotta see your punditry skills, if we're gonna cheer your rise to Texan & national fame!