Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yeah, we want a neur Own Texas version of that.
Five fifty two is our time here in Houston's Morning News,
Andy Hope joins this political correspondent with the hay Ride.
Let's talk about doze in Texas. There are a lot
of people who think that we could say, maybe we
can't save trillions of dollars, but I wouldn't be surprised
if we could dig up a billion plus dollars in
waste in this state. What do you think, Andy, I
(00:23):
think the potential.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Is there, But again, it all depends on political courage
and political will, and we know sometimes the devil's in
the details.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
True enough, all right, So here's the first question. Is
there the political will in order to do this?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, well, we've got to look at the recent history.
But right now we have a new Speaker and a
new House with some some new members. So it may
be the same general circle of power we've had since
Joe Strauss in charge of the House, but we have
seen a general improvement in terms of conservatism and school
choice for instance, might stand a better chance to session.
So we really don't know until the session shakes out,
(00:59):
but it looks like the way the committee stapped up
and the way all committees are stacked up in the House.
And this is actually a standing committee. It's not a
sub committee or a task for certain advisory board like
Elon Musk has with the President. This is an actual
committee of the House and that requires a Speaker to
assign bills to it, as well as the speaker's lieutenants
(01:21):
and the Calendar's committee to approve any bills coming out
of it. So the speaker controls the input and the
output there. So it all depends on what the leadership wants. Actually,
when it all comes down to it.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Is there anything close to a dose committee?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Now?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Do we have any sort of a committee here in
Texas that is supposed to be on the lookout for
wasteful spending? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Of course, you know, the political nerds know all about it.
We've got auditors all over the state government. Every department
has auditors and people that work very hard. Some departments
have an annual and biennial internal audits. Some have external
auditors that come in every once in a while, companies
that give it an objective look. So it all depends.
But yeah, every department does that, and we have the
(01:59):
Control Office. Let's not forget to Glenn Hager and the
hard work he does. So there's a lot that goes on,
but to have an actual standing committee in the House
is a major step forward and in some ways a
lot more official than even what Trump and Elon Muskalff
going on.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, that's true, that's true because right now it's just
Elon and the folks work of Elon. There is no
official Well there's a Doge committee, I guess in Congress,
but that Doge Committee hasn't really done anything up until
this point. And that's always the problem, isn't that you
can even if you come up with a laundry list.
And we may find that out with Elon Musk, we've
certainly found out this at the federal government level before
(02:34):
that just because you kind of identify the ways doesn't
mean you have the political will to eliminate it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
That's right, And in order does a fad often dictate
the will of a little bit of a body like
the Texas House. So I'm sure it's a lot of
that's just based on writing the headlines and doing what's
fashionable answering to what the people want. But to think,
in this case, given the overwhelming popularity of doughe with
a majority of voters. People should probably pay attention. The
(03:00):
Speaker ought to take this very seriously. It's a powerful tool,
It has a lot of potential, and it ought to
be taken seriously. I'd like to be autimistic about this
and think that some good spending bills will be referred
to it. Again, it's not just a committee where the
expectation is this bill should pass. Tell us why not.
It's a committee where, okay, this bill needs to pass
(03:22):
to cut government, you know, tell us why this cut
shouldn't be made. That's a whole different paradigm. So if
the Speaker is serious about conservative reforms, this is a
chance to do it and to have some populous cover
in doing so. This is the spirit of the age. Sorry, man,
people want cuts, you know, not my phone.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I guess part of the problem though, that you have
here in a state like Texas. Unlike other states which
are running budget deficits, we are running and have been
consistently running a budget surplus. Not that that is an
excuse to waste money by a stretch of the imagination,
but it certainly doesn't turn up the heat very much
when you're running a surplus.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Oh you had to bring got up one up, Jimmy.
That's rough. We have a surplus that often rivals the
debt of California. I think it was a thirty four
billion last session on things that maybe twenty three or
twenty five billion this session. But there's still a lot
of money, and last session the legislature opted to spend
it rather than give it back to the people in
some way. Fortunately some of that involved a buydown of
(04:21):
property taxes. But again, there's a chance to actually reduce
the size and the scope of government. Instead, we've seen
an expansion of government buildings on the north side of
the Capitol. I would like to see the first floor
of some of these government buildings turn into subways. And
you know, forever twenty ones. I mean, we have an
opportunity to start selling off state buildings and reducing government,
(04:42):
but we seem to keep growing it. And even though
the possibility has been here since around twenty fifteen to
actually switch tracks and reduce the size of government, but
we're just not. We're just not quite there yet, aren't we.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Nope, we're not. We're going to have to keep the
pressure up, Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Andy Hoague, political
correspondent at the hay ride. It is by fifty seven
Yeah, we want a neur Own Texas version of that.
Five fifty two is our time here in Houston's Morning News,
Andy Hope joins this political correspondent with the hay Ride.
Let's talk about doze in Texas. There are a lot
of people who think that we could say, maybe we
can't save trillions of dollars, but I wouldn't be surprised
if we could dig up a billion plus dollars in
waste in this state. What do you think, Andy, I
(00:23):
think the potential.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Is there, But again, it all depends on political courage
and political will, and we know sometimes the devil's in
the details.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
True enough, all right, So here's the first question. Is
there the political will in order to do this?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, well, we've got to look at the recent history.
But right now we have a new Speaker and a
new House with some some new members. So it may
be the same general circle of power we've had since
Joe Strauss in charge of the House, but we have
seen a general improvement in terms of conservatism and school
choice for instance, might stand a better chance to session.
So we really don't know until the session shakes out,
(00:59):
but it looks like the way the committee stapped up
and the way all committees are stacked up in the House.
And this is actually a standing committee. It's not a
sub committee or a task for certain advisory board like
Elon Musk has with the President. This is an actual
committee of the House and that requires a Speaker to
assign bills to it, as well as the speaker's lieutenants
(01:21):
and the Calendar's committee to approve any bills coming out
of it. So the speaker controls the input and the
output there. So it all depends on what the leadership wants. Actually,
when it all comes down to it.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Is there anything close to a dose committee?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Now?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Do we have any sort of a committee here in
Texas that is supposed to be on the lookout for
wasteful spending? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Of course, you know, the political nerds know all about it.
We've got auditors all over the state government. Every department
has auditors and people that work very hard. Some departments
have an annual and biennial internal audits. Some have external
auditors that come in every once in a while, companies
that give it an objective look. So it all depends.
But yeah, every department does that, and we have the
(01:59):
Control Office. Let's not forget to Glenn Hager and the
hard work he does. So there's a lot that goes on,
but to have an actual standing committee in the House
is a major step forward and in some ways a
lot more official than even what Trump and Elon Muskalff
going on.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, that's true, that's true because right now it's just
Elon and the folks work of Elon. There is no
official Well there's a Doge committee, I guess in Congress,
but that Doge Committee hasn't really done anything up until
this point. And that's always the problem, isn't that you
can even if you come up with a laundry list.
And we may find that out with Elon Musk, we've
certainly found out this at the federal government level before
(02:34):
that just because you kind of identify the ways doesn't
mean you have the political will to eliminate it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
That's right, And in order does a fad often dictate
the will of a little bit of a body like
the Texas House. So I'm sure it's a lot of
that's just based on writing the headlines and doing what's
fashionable answering to what the people want. But to think,
in this case, given the overwhelming popularity of doughe with
a majority of voters. People should probably pay attention. The
(03:00):
Speaker ought to take this very seriously. It's a powerful tool,
It has a lot of potential, and it ought to
be taken seriously. I'd like to be autimistic about this
and think that some good spending bills will be referred
to it. Again, it's not just a committee where the
expectation is this bill should pass. Tell us why not.
It's a committee where, okay, this bill needs to pass
(03:22):
to cut government, you know, tell us why this cut
shouldn't be made. That's a whole different paradigm. So if
the Speaker is serious about conservative reforms, this is a
chance to do it and to have some populous cover
in doing so. This is the spirit of the age. Sorry, man,
people want cuts, you know, not my phone.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I guess part of the problem though, that you have
here in a state like Texas. Unlike other states which
are running budget deficits, we are running and have been
consistently running a budget surplus. Not that that is an
excuse to waste money by a stretch of the imagination,
but it certainly doesn't turn up the heat very much
when you're running a surplus.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Oh you had to bring got up one up, Jimmy.
That's rough. We have a surplus that often rivals the
debt of California. I think it was a thirty four
billion last session on things that maybe twenty three or
twenty five billion this session. But there's still a lot
of money, and last session the legislature opted to spend
it rather than give it back to the people in
some way. Fortunately some of that involved a buydown of
(04:21):
property taxes. But again, there's a chance to actually reduce
the size and the scope of government. Instead, we've seen
an expansion of government buildings on the north side of
the Capitol. I would like to see the first floor
of some of these government buildings turn into subways. And
you know, forever twenty ones. I mean, we have an
opportunity to start selling off state buildings and reducing government,
(04:42):
but we seem to keep growing it. And even though
the possibility has been here since around twenty fifteen to
actually switch tracks and reduce the size of government, but
we're just not. We're just not quite there yet, aren't we.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Nope, we're not. We're going to have to keep the
pressure up, Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Andy Hoague, political
correspondent at the hay ride. It is by fifty seven
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