Hunger in Texas increases, latest federal survey shows | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com

Hunger in Texas increases, latest federal survey shows | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com: "Over the past three years, an average of 18.8 percent of Texas households couldn't get enough food to meet their needs, at least at times, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest review, released Wednesday."

'via Blog this'

All The Candidates’ Federal Spending | Swampland

All The Candidates’ Federal Spending | Swampland: All of the governors, however, also have records of looking for federal funds to help balance their budgets, and in the case of Romney that includes the more than $300 million he lobbied for to pay for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Like most governors in office, he did what he could to use the federal government to balance his books. The biggest accomplishment in this regard was his success in convincing the Bush Administration to allow Massachusetts to keep getting nearly $400 million a year in special Medicaid reimbursements that were slated for elimination in 2003. His pitch: I will use the money to help fund a grand new experiment in state-based universal healthcare. (Don’t forget: Even the Bush Administration was excited by experiments with individual mandates back then.)

How Texas Gov. Perry Pursued Federal Aid He Now Decries | Swampland

How Texas Gov. Perry Pursued Federal Aid He Now Decries | Swampland: For the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, for instance, Texas lobbyists successfully pushed to include an additional $47.5 million a year for four years, to help reimburse the cost of health care for undocumented immigrants. In 2005, the lobbyists fought to restore $200 million in funding for No Child Left Behind that had been cut by the Senate. About $14.5 million of that money was directed to Texas for “innovation programs.” The Texas lobbying operation also supported several earmarks, including direct funds for maintenance dredging in the Matagorda shipping channel and money to study the feasibility of a desalination project in Freeport.

All the Candidates Pork - TIME

I can't show the graphic but it is worth a look.

All the Candidates Pork - TIME: GOP presidential contenders want to cut federal spending. That wasn't always the case.

Rand Paul unveils $500B in cuts - David Rogers - POLITICO.com

Rand Paul unveils $500B in cuts - David Rogers - POLITICO.com: "Not to be outdone, Republican freshman Sen. Rand Paul introduced legislation Tuesday that seeks to cut $500 billion from government spending in one year alone, wiping out three cabinet departments and the entire foreign aid budget while sparing neither the Pentagon nor 2011 war-related funding for overseas military operations.

“This is not a satire,” Moira Bagley, Paul’s communicati"