Alexandria, VA - Bob Williams, President of State Budget Solutions (SBS), a national nonprofit organization advocating for fundamental reform of state budgets, released the following statement regarding the news that the Texas state budget is short more than $4.1 billion, with Medicaid expenses accounting for a large majority of the deficit.
 
"The massive deficit Texas is experiencing shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who has watched the reckless spending and dangerous gamble Texas lawmakers made when they intentionally underfunded Medicaid by nearly $5 billion. Their accounting gimmicks have lead them into this hole and now they need drastic action to avoid crippling tax hikes and cuts to desperately needed government services.
 
It is unfortunate that Texas lawmakers ignored State Budget Solutions' call to fund Medicaid and avoid budget illusions. In fact, State Budget Solutions warned Texas of their budget crisis in a recent study that put Texas in 44th place nationwide for its total budget shortfall and in 47th place when it comes to outstanding debt. Texas' debt per-capita ranking was also below average, coming in at 29th place. Clearly, Texas is a far cry from the pillar of fiscal responsibility described by Gov. Perry.
 
It is time for Gov. Perry and the legislature to stop the accounting gimmicks and adopt Reality (performance) based budgeting."
 
Bob Williams wrote an article predicting this outcome this past November. To read the article click here. 
  
*Bob Williams, President of State Budget Solutions, is a former state legislator, gubernatorial candidate and auditor with the Government Accountability Office.  To read Bob Williams full bio click here. 

To set up an interview with Bob, please contact Meghan Tisinger at Meghan@TKOCommunicationsLLC.com or 703-965-1145.
 
Check out StateBudgetSolutions.org for more information.