Spotlight on state spending

Rainy Day fund

Regarding “Tapping our savings will help balance budget” (Page A15, Wednesday), Texas House Speaker Joe Straus makes a good case for balancing the state budget by dipping into the Rainy Day Fund. With Gov Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick busy chasing imaginary problems, Straus appears to be the only top state official behaving like a grown-up and actually working on our real issues.

Reading Straus’ summary of our state’s overwhelming budgetary shortfalls, my first impulse was a desire to hold accountable the previous and present officials who allowed our finances to get this dismally unbalanced. Stockholders of a business run this badly would remove the top executives and consider prosecuting them. But as in any business, the first step for our state is to “stem the bleeding” and chart a course to get back on the right path.

Dipping into the Rainy Day Fund should never be an easy choice; doing so carelessly would find it quickly depleted. However, Straus makes a strong case for utilizing some of our state’s savings now. It does no good to continue to sink while sitting on a savings account that could get us back on track. Perhaps a non-partisan committee of accountants could help unravel this mess, see that the funds are utilized for maximum benefit, and ensure that we don’t need “bailing out” again any time soon.

Who knows what great things could be accomplished if our leaders put their time, and our money, toward our state’s true needs? Many of us are sick and tired of paying for fights against imaginary bathroom issues, deploying the state guard to protect us from our own army, and duplicitous politicians on “Jesus shot” trips. Whether or not the Rainy Day Fund gets used, I applaud Speaker Straus for his sane and earnest attempts to do his job. Susan Ellis Brittain,

Houston