“While I think Beto is making the race competitive, actually winning is going to be a tall order,” Murray said. “There has to be a further shift in the national prospects for Democrats for a win to be possible.”
He added: “That’s not an indictment of Beto as a candidate. He is the best candidate Democrats in Texas have had for a generation. It’s just that those headwinds look very hard to overcome.”
A proposal to extend equal rights protections to gay and transgender Houston residents, which had been swiftly advancing to a City Council vote, stalled Wednesday as council members voted for a two-week delay to allow more public input on the increasingly divisive measure.
Mayor Annise Parker, the first openly lesbian mayor of a major American city, said she had the votes to pass the ordinance Wednesday but hopes to pick up even more before the council’s May 28 meeting. The 12-5 vote in favor of delay reflected not an erosion of support, she said, but the council’s desire to address constituents’ questions.
“There were several council members who fully intend to vote for the item who asked for an opportunity, in the interest of complete transparency and openness on this issue, to have another round of conversations with their various constituent groups,” Parker said. “This has never been about getting something rushed through. It is about getting something right.”
Most opposition has come from clergy, from conservative megachurch leaders to black ministers. Opponents said they, too, plan to continue rallying votes; council offices have been deluged with calls and emails now numbering in the thousands.
The proposal, already delayed one week amid tearful cries of support and angry protestations, has been the subject of intense debate for nearly a month.
Houston political consultant Keir Murray said the delay is driven in part by some council members’ desire to address concerns from community leaders, particularly elderly black pastors, who may be uncomfortable with gay and transgender issues.
“They’ve got the votes,” Murray said. “The mayor and others are just trying to cut colleagues some slack, give them a little time and go back to constituencies and say, ‘We gave you more time to make your voices heard.’ ”
Similar to federal law
The measure would, as federal laws do, ban discrimination based on sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status. Parker’s proposal also would cover sexual orientation and gender identity.
The item would apply to businesses that serve the public, housing, city employment, city contracting and private employers. Religious institutions would be exempt. Violators could be fined up to $5,000.
As drafted, the ordinance would have covered private firms employing 50 or more workers, but one of five amendments approved Wednesday dropped that threshold: After one year, firms with 25 or more employees would be covered; two years from passage, firms with 15 or more. The other approved amendments were technical.
Supporters and opponents of the measure gathered outside the chamber after the Wednesday vote in favor of delay.
“I wanted to walk out of here today feeling that I was equal in this city that I call home, and I wasn’t allowed to do that,” said transgender resident Lou Weaver, “but I have great faith that this will happen in two weeks.”
Steve Riggle, senior pastor of Grace Community Church, said neither his megachurch brethren nor influential ministers of color were engaged in the drafting of the law, saying, “We’re willing to sit down at the table and talk.”
Process was not secret
Asked whether there were any protections for gay and transgender residents he could support, Riggle said only, “Let’s sit at the table and see.” But he added, “Gender identity is a term that is a problem.”
Councilwoman Ellen Cohen noted that scores of faith, nonprofit and community leaders have announced their backing for the proposal.
“The idea that somehow this was a secret process, particularly after how many countless hours of public hearings we’ve had over the last few weeks, is interesting,” Parker said.
Councilman Dwight Boykins pushed for the delay, saying he hopes to convene a meeting for pastors and business owners in his south Houston district: “Within the next two weeks, I think we will come to some conclusion where this city will heal this divisiveness in this city today.
“The people in this city, the ones that have questions about this ordinance, have questions that can be dealt with.”
Councilman Jerry Davis held a similar meeting in his north Houston district, and said many pastors left with a better understanding of the measure even if they remained opposed.
After the meeting Wednesday, Davis said that he has experienced discrimination at a bar on Washington Avenue.
“For those who say discrimination doesn’t exist, this ordinance isn’t necessary: Just because you haven’t personally experienced it doesn’t mean it does not exist,” Davis said. “I’m a little bit upset with some of the ministers because they’re overshadowing some of the parts; they’re not telling the entire story.
“In the next few weeks, I’m going to get on my soapbox and let the people really understand the entire ordinance.”
In other action Wednesday, the City Council:
& Set a public hearing for the fiscal year 2015 budget, June 3 at 1:30 p.m.
& Delayed for two weeks consideration of a tax break for a high-end residential and commercial development in Clear Lake.
& Delayed for two weeks a vote on the formation of a new historic district in the First Ward area.
At City Hall
In other action Wednesday, the City Council:
1 Set a public hearing for the fiscal year 2015 budget, June 3 at 1:30 p.m.
1 Delayed for two weeks consideration of a tax break for a high-end development in Clear Lake.
1 Delayed for two weeks a vote on the formation of a new historic district in the First Ward area.
The White House on Tuesday panned the release of the Republican budget plan, a departure from recent efforts by President Obama to make inroads with conservatives on Capitol Hill for a bipartisan deficit deal.
Administration officials had a clear goal: Framing Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget blueprint as a handout to the wealthy at the expense of everybody else.
The GOP budget calls for the elimination of Obamacare and a balanced budget within 10 years. It also calls for an overhaul of the tax code, recommending just two tax rates, a top rate of 25 percent while setting the other rate at 10 percent.
“We’re not gonna balance the budget in 10 years because if you look at what Paul Ryan does to balance the budget, it means that you have to voucherize Medicare, you have to slash deeply into programs like Medicaid, you’ve essentially got to either tax middle class families a lot higher than you currently are or you can’t lower rates the way he’s promised,” the president told ABC News in an interview Tuesday.
It was similar rhetoric to that used by Obama on the campaign trail — and administration officials invoked the name of Mitt Romney repeatedly Tuesday in attempting to attach the new budget blueprint to the vanquished presidential candidate.
But even some Democrats questioned that strategy.
“I don’t think the White House should view the Ryan budget as a gift,” Democratic strategist Keir Murray cautioned. “It might not be useful to trash it right out of the gate. They’re caught in between a rock and a hard place with their own caucus and Republicans and the president has to proceed carefully.”
Added GOP strategist Patrick Griffin, “It’s not the easiest way to forge a path forward on a grand bargain, especially when the president’s budget hasn’t even showed up yet.”
Democratic lawmakers are eager to use the Ryan budget against vulnerable Republicans, accusing them of gutting programs like Medicare in an attempt to balance the budget. Ryan’s proposal would revamp Medicare by giving those under 55 a government subsidy to buy health insurance on the open market.
But the GOP plan also magnifies an inconvenient reality for the White House: They don’t have their own budget. And though he called for a “balanced approach” on Tuesday — meaning a combination of tax increases and trims to entitlement programs — Jay Carney, Obama’s spokesman, conceded the White House budget to be released in early April would not balance revenues with spending.
“It’s understandable that the president would be embarrassed to release a budget that never balances, but there is no excuse for this unprecedented delay and failure of leadership,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
With a Democratic Senate, Ryan’s blueprint is dead on arrival. And the Democratic budget to be released Wednesday, which calls for nearly a trillion dollars in higher taxes and few cuts to entitlement programs, has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled House.
The end game for the White House is positioning itself favorably ahead of the real negotiations with congressional leadership, a task some said was aided by using Ryan as a foil.
“Democrats don’t think [entitlements] are a problem — and another budget from Paul Ryan isn’t going to change that,” Lincoln Mitchell, of Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, said. “The White House feels like it’s a good conversation for them, an argument they’ll keep winning.”
bhughes@washingtonexaminer.com
http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-pauses-charm-offensive-to-blast-gop-budget/article/2524141
Days after a politically divisive vote on how Metro should allocate the cash it sends to local governments for road projects, city of Houston and Harris County leaders have hashed out a compromise proposal.
The new agreement comes as the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority prepares to meet Friday to approve language for a November ballot item asking voters whether to extend these payments, known as the “general mobility” program.
The program, in place formally since 1988, gives a fourth of Metro’s 1 percent sales tax revenues to Houston, Harris County and the 14 small cities in the transit agency’s service area for road, bridge, sidewalk and other such projects.
The Metro board on Aug. 3 approved a ballot proposal that would have shifted tens of millions of dollars more in mobility payments to Houston at the expense of the county and small cities by basing the payments on where sales taxes are collected.
Monday’s tentative deal – reached in a meeting among Houston Mayor Annise Parker, County Commissioner Steve Radack, Metro chairman Gilbert Garcia and Greater Houston Partnership chairman Tony Chase – scrapped that approach, participants said.
The county and cities’ current mobility contracts expire in 2014. Under the new proposal, any increases in sales tax revenues above 2014 levels would be split half-and-half between Metro and its member governments, sources said.
‘Far better deal’
That formula would continue until Metro had collected about $400 million under the arrangement, County Judge Ed Emmett said. Sources differed on whether that was projected to occur in 2024 or 2026.
Radack and Emmett stressed that the proposed deal would require Metro to spend its share of the tax revenue increase on buses, bus shelters and paying down debt, not on light rail lines.
“I’m optimistic that this will be a far better deal for the county and, at the same time, what’s being discussed will be a mechanism for Metro to be able to increase the amount of buses,” Radack said.
‘Back to basics’
Parker said she, too, is glad a compromise could be reached to improve the bus system and keep road funds flowing.
“I have always supported and recognized the transit needs of our growing city,” Parker said. “My goal throughout this process was to make more funding available to Metro for this critical need.”
Garcia, who made it clear when the Metro board voted Aug. 3 that he was not thrilled with that day’s proposal, said Monday’s compromise would facilitate a “back-to-basics” approach for the agency.
“I’m trying to find a solution that I think is a better balance,” Garcia said. “I’m trying to find a way to balance the needs of our member partners but in some way get more resources over time for Metro.”
Advocacy groups that have called for the continuation of or the end of mobility payments said they needed more information about the proposal before commenting on it. However, Citizens Transportation Coalition board member Rebecca Tapick said she hoped the Metro board would follow through on its commitment to transparency in discussing the referendum.
If approved by the Metro board, the new proposal will require a public education campaign on why a “yes” vote is important, Emmett said.
If the measure fails, he noted, the mobility program ends and Metro keeps all the sales tax revenues, likely prompting a fight in the Legislature that he said neither he nor Metro wants.
Working things out
Metro had no motivation to turn other agencies against it, Houston political consultant Keir Murray said, just as Parker had no interest in making new political enemies a year before a reelection bid. County leaders, meanwhile, wanted to be seen as delivering for their constituents.
“You don’t often see Commissioners Court and the city of Houston getting together to work something out,” Murray said. “It speaks to the seriousness of the issue for all parties. We’re talking about a lot of money for all the players here.”
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Mayor Annise Parker on Wednesday scored the endorsements of her 2009 opponent Gene Locke and former Mayor Bob Lanier, two of Houston’s most prominent power brokers, as she prepares to ask voters for a second two-year term in November. Continue Reading »
AUSTIN, TX — Gov. Rick Perry and Texas House leaders ended a stalemate Tuesday by agreeing to use about one-third of the state’s reserve fund to plug a budget deficit in the current fiscal year and to make $800 million in spending cuts to state agencies. Continue Reading »