DALLAS — For all his tough talk of protecting the $9.4 billion in the state's Rainy Day Fund, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday would not commit to blocking a bill to spend some of that money.
Before lawmakers resolve the next budget, they've got to cover the $4.3 billion deficit in the current budget.
Some Republican leaders in the House want to use the Rainy Day Fund to save jobs and services. Speaking Tuesday in Dallas, Perry declined to promise he would stop them.
Those trying to protect health care for the poor say it's raining.
Parents, teachers and students who see that state school funding would be reduced by billions say it's raining.
But Perry still claimed at a news conference it is not raining. “We also need to balance the budget without raiding that Rainy Day Fund,” he said.
Perry appeared with anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist urging state lawmakers to keep cutting — and to keep their hands off the fund.
Norquist leads Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that sponsors a "no tax increase" pledge that Perry signed in 2009.
But some lawmakers in Austin actually trying to balance the budget with no tax increase or Rainy Day Fund money say they believe it can't be done.
House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts of Waxahachie wants $4.3 billion of Rainy Day money to balance the current budget and free up that amount for the next budget.
But despite his opposition, Perry — who was given several opportunities — declined to say he would veto it if the bill comes to him.
“I'm making it pretty clear I don't want people to spend the Rainy Day Fund,” he said.
Asked if that should be taken as a "no," Perry replied: “No, I take it as what I said. I have made it a fairly good practice of not saying I'm not going to sign a piece of legislation or veto a piece of legislation until it comes to my desk in its final form. I don't think it's fair to the process this far out.”
Despite Perry's current opposition, he signed budget bills in 2003 and 2005 spending billions from the Rainy Day Fund.
The House Appropriations Committee could take up using some of the money for this year's budget this week.
E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com
