“This state budget deal is a victory for all Texans – and especially for the Texans who worked hard over the past several months to remind our legislators that they wanted a fiscally conservative state budget. The announced budget deal is a win for Texas on three specific points:

– It does not use a single penny of the rainy day fund for the next biennium. – It does not raise taxes. – It does represent the first all-funds reduction to a biennial state budget in the past half-century.

“What happened in the Texas Legislature this session is more than just a victory for Texans. It’s a victory for America. Texas already leads the way in job creation, economic vitality, and economic liberty. Now Texas is leading the way in the most important cause facing our country: the need to live within our means.

“Today, in Austin, Texas, the men and women of our legislature showed it can be done. That’s a tremendous accomplishment for Texas – and it’s a shining beacon of hope for America.”

The Honorable Talmadge Heflin is Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Heflin served 11 terms in the Texas House of Representatives and chaired the House Appropriations Committee in 2003, leading the Texas Legislature’s successful efforts to close a $10 billion budget deficit without a tax increase.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin.

Texans for a Conservative Budget website: www.ConservativeBudget.com Texans for a Conservative Budget commercials: www.YouTube.com/TexasPPF

Primary website: www.TexasPolicy.com Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TexasPublicPolicyFoundation Twitter feed: www.Twitter.com/TPPF

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