{"id":402,"date":"2013-04-01T23:42:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T23:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2013\/04\/01\/texas-already-is-hostage-to-feds"},"modified":"2013-04-01T23:42:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T23:42:00","slug":"texas-already-is-hostage-to-feds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Texas already is \u2018hostage\u2019 to feds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p>I cannot help but snicker whenever I read about Texas Gov. Rick Perry\u2019s rants at an alleged federal takeover of Texas matters.<\/p>\n<p>He now is saying he\u2019ll oppose Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act because he doesn\u2019t want Texas to be held hostage by Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/healthwatch\/medicaid\/291257-perry-doubles-down-against-medicaid-expansion\" href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/healthwatch\/medicaid\/291257-perry-doubles-down-against-medicaid-expansion\">http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/healthwatch\/medicaid\/291257-perry-doubles-down-against-medicaid-expansion<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oh really, governor?<\/p>\n<p>Maybe he should explain how he and the 2009 and 2011 legislatures \u2013 when faced with declining state revenue caused by the recession \u2013 had their hands out when the feds handed them stimulus money to help jumpstart the state economy. Perry and his allies in the Legislature haven\u2019t yet acknowledged fully that the stimulus funds played a big part in helping the state balance its budget \u2013 which the Texas Constitution requires of them.<\/p>\n<p>We heard little talk then about federal government \u201chostage taking\u201d when money flowed in for infrastructure improvements. It was that same stimulus dough that helped Amarillo City Hall, for example, pay for the Third and Grand overpass that has helped relieve traffic congestion.<\/p>\n<p>Now the governor is on a tirade against the Medicaid expansion, which the Affordable Care Act allows for the states to use to help pay the medical bills of the poor. Perry and other governors \u2013 namely Republicans \u2013 want no part of it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s that \u201csocialized medicine\u201d thing that gives them heartburn. Maybe they\u2019ll want to get rid of Medicare, too. Let\u2019s see how far that one flies.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I cannot help but snicker whenever I read about Texas Gov. Rick Perry\u2019s rants at an alleged federal takeover of Texas matters. He now is saying he\u2019ll oppose Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act because he doesn\u2019t want Texas to be held hostage by Washington, D.C. http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/healthwatch\/medicaid\/291257-perry-doubles-down-against-medicaid-expansion Oh really, governor? Maybe he &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=402\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Texas already is \u2018hostage\u2019 to feds<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}