Texas
Related: About this forumGreg Abbott: 'We don’t need Barack Obama’s Promise Zones'
Attorney General Greg Abbott Friday dismissed the Obama administrations new Promise Zone program, which has targeted five communities, including San Antonios Eastside neighborhood, for revitalization.
The truth is, we dont need Barack Obamas Promise Zones; we already have Promise Zones and they are called entrepreneurs, Abbott told the closing luncheon of the Texas Public Policy Foundations three-day Policy Orientation for the Texas Legislature.
Entrepreneurs and free markets have created far more jobs than any government program ever has or ever will and Texas will continue to be the Promise Zone, the land of opportunity, because we will maintain our focus on policies that promote real job growth, policies that limit the size of government, that keep taxes low, that ensure that regulations remain smart and ensure we maintain the right to work laws that have enabled Texas to avoid the disasters of places like Detroit, said Abbott.
As described by Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will administer the Promise Zone program, Federal agencies will be working with each other, and local leaders, like never before to give distressed communities urban, rural and tribal the assets they need to succeed, like good schools, safe streets and quality housing.
More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/greg-abbott-we-dont-need-barack-obamas-promise-zon/ncjbX/ .
[font color=green]After reading the comments to this article, I wonder whether anyone is going to vote for Greg.[/font]
Still Sensible
(2,870 posts)already solved the problem, Mr. Abbott? Why not? Because they can't figure out a way to make money off poor people that can't pay for it. Entrepreneurs won't "...give distressed communities urban, rural and tribal the assets they need to succeed..." because they can't/won't give anything.
stg81
(351 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,214 posts)Texas is one of the few red states that is a donor state. Texans pay more federal taxes than they get back in federal benefits. So when the GOP in one state turns down federal dollars, they don't get refunded, they just go to another state. Rick Perry turned down almost $40 million PER YEAR in federal funding for family planning, cancer screenings and general health care for low income women because he didn't want any of it going to Planned Parenthood. He refused refused to extend Medicaid under the ACA - more millions that Texans have paid in that they will not get back. You wouldn't think it could be possible, but some think Greg Abbott is even more conservative than Rick Perry.
TexasTowelie
(112,431 posts)However, it is actually more billions that it will cost Texans because Perry refused to expand Medicaid under the ACA ($9 billion according to recent estimates).
TexasBushwhacker
(20,214 posts)Eventually, after they have refused tens of BILLIONS of federal dollars, they will accept the Medicaid expansion. Arizona was the last state to participate in Medicaid, finally starting their program 17 years after it started at the federal level.
I love this quote from Greg Abbott:
"AUSTIN Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott likes to brag about fighting the Obama administration, memorably describing his workday this way: I go into the office, I sue the federal government and then I go home.
http://www.expressnews.com/news/politics/article/AG-office-s-suits-against-feds-cost-taxpayers-4742001.php
It doesn't matter to him that, like the dozens of votes in the House to overturn Obamacare, his efforts are nothing but a waste of time and money. It's cost the state of Texas $4 million for his Tea Bagger snipe hunts, and of course there's the millions it cost at the federal level to deal with this bullshit. All this from a guy who says he's against frivolous lawsuits!