Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

We all like to think of Texas as a place of natural beauty—from the plains of Amarillo to the ranches of West Texas, from the Texas coast to the Hill Country. We also like to think of ourselves as hardy and healthy a people as Pecos Bill tackling a tornado.

THE fallout of this long, ragged recession might well dampen the toasts at today's Thanksgiving dinners. Jobs lost, health-care benefits vanished, lifestyles rolled back, the daily latte habit eliminated.

"I am very excited today to endorse Bill White as the next Governor of the great state of Texas. Under his proven, responsible leadership, our great state can finally deal with the challenges of our times."

Today in Texas, robbing Peter to pay Paul is official state policy. Just how does that work?

First, let’s take your family budget. For most of us, we see how much we make-then we pay for the basics. Food, housing, kids come first. If ‘la suegra’ needs to move in during tough times—we make do. If you take from the kids to buy a new plasma TV, something won’t add up. Sounds like family finances 101—right? So how does it work in Austin?

Texas' public universities live and die by how many students show up for the new school year. More students bring more money, even if they later drop their classes or fail to graduate.

While millions of Texas households prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with a hearty family meal, millions of their fellow Texans aren't sure when or how they'll get their next meal.

LETTER TO HARRY; COUNT US IN

EL PASO - State Senator Eliot Shapleigh (D- El Paso) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on November 16, 2009 as the U.S. Senate prepares to debate health reform. The text of the letter is included below:

The Honorable Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader
United States Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
Facsimile: (202) 224-7327

VIA U.S. MAIL & FACSIMILE

RE: "Count Us In"

Dear Majority Leader Reid:

“Just say no.” That was Nancy Reagan’s slogan all though the 1980s in her fight against drugs. Today, it’s the mantra of Texas’ Republican Party. What it means in Texas, due to flat refusal to solve problems, is that more and more agencies are run by lawsuit. Here’s how that works.

In the custom of modern political campaigns, invitations to a September fundraiser for Governor Rick Perry prominently displayed the names of major contributors. At the pinnacle of the gilded ladder were those who had earned “Lone Star Council Gold,” for giving at least $50,000 to the governor’s reelection effort. There, perched alongside the usual suspects (political heavyweights like the AT&T Texas Political Action Committee, the Texas Association of Realtors, and the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas), was an emerging powerhouse in Texas politics: the Border Health PAC, a group closely aligned with Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, a sleek physician-owned health care facility in Edinburg.

Preston White's daughter needed a little cash a couple of months ago to relocate her family when she got back from Iraq. “We needed to get them some money really quick,” he said. He tried to get a loan from his regular bank to help the returning U.S. Army veteran, but was denied. So he picked up a phone book, flipped through the pages and saw an ad for a company that guaranteed fast loans. That’s when his "real horror story" started.

If you follow the debate around the energy/climate bills working through Congress you will notice that the drill-baby-drill opponents of this legislation are now making two claims. One is that the globe has been cooling lately, not warming, and the other is that America simply can’t afford any kind of cap-and-trade/carbon tax.

The first Texas Hispanic legislators didn't want to go public when they organized some 40 years ago out of fear they might be considered “un-American.

Joaquin Espinoza is one of about 1.5 million homeowners in the United States who are younger than 25, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Espinoza, 21, never thought he would own a home only three years after graduating from high school. He is married to Mayela, 20, and the couple have two children -- Joaquin Sunny, 1, and Elsie Vianey, 2.

Democratic leaders in the Senate on Wednesday unveiled their proposal for overhauling the health care system, outlining legislation that they said would cover most of the uninsured while reducing the federal budget deficit.

Texas' low-income residents bear heavier tax burdens than their counterparts in all but four other states, a new study shows.

America's hard times have made their way to the dinner tables, where 1.4 million Texas households face imminent hunger, according to a study released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Jo Anne Bernal needed three votes to become El Paso County attorney, and that was exactly what she got.

Fresh off a trip from New York, a group of officials with the City of Austin, the Austin school district, the University of Texas and various area nonprofits has announced a joint effort to try to replicate a Harlem program that President Barack Obama has called an "all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck, anti-poverty effort."

THE CLAIM: In his campaign stump speech, Gov. Rick Perry states that when Texas faced with a budget shortfall in 2003, he and the Legislature cut spending instead of raising taxes but were able to put more money into priorities. "When we cut $10 billion out of our budget -- out of our spending -- we also increased funding for public schools. We put $1.8 billion more into public schools," he says.

“Money Talks”

When Jesus chased the money changers from the temple he was protecting the poor from usury—something prohibited by most of the world’s major religions. Since the founding of the Republic, Texas wrote this value into the Constitution with strict anti-usury laws. Then came Rick Perry and legions of predatory lenders.