I really enjoyed watching the video recordings of The Texas Tribune Symposium Previewing the 85th Texas Legislature. Throughout the symposium, the lawmakers discussed the impacts that this year’s State budget will have on the issues brought up during the 85th legislature. Among the major topics discussed include mental health care, foster care and child protective services, public education, sanctuary cities, transportation, and taxes.
During the first session of the symposium, the lawmakers discussed the issue of foster care reform. Most of the lawmakers seemed to advocate for better pay, more caseworkers, and more accountability. On this issue, Joe Straus argued that the $350 million cut to children’s therapy services ordered by State lawmakers in 2015 had good intentions but later failed. Due to its failure, he suggested that it should be addressed in the supplemental budget.
The issue of higher education formed a large part of the discussion during the second session of the symposium. The lawmakers agreed that higher education is one of the major sectors that compete for State funding. Sarah Davis put the task on lawmakers to decide on whether to invest money into financial aid or into research. Still, on the matter of higher education, Patrick Burke made a controversial statement implying that tuition grants should be eliminated.
During the third part of the symposium, the lawmakers raised crucial concerns on the 2017 budget. During this part of the symposium, lawmakers Drew Darby, Donna Howard, Kirk Watson, and Paul Bettencourt convened to discuss taxes, the economy, and spending. It also became clear that all the lawmakers, regardless of their parties, agreed that the tight budget will not make things easy. In the fourth part of the symposium, the lawmakers, Jose Rodriguez, Todd Hunter, and Konni Burton discussed the future of the U.S. politics under the presidency of Donald Trump. This topic sparked a very heated discussion among the lawmakers. Some of the lawmakers said they would rather wait and see what happens rather than making any predictions. However, Konni Burton stated that she did not like Trump’s flip- flopping opinions.
During the last part of the symposium, the lawmakers also discussed the issue of the role of the federal government in education. In this matter, Konni Burton was booed by the crowd when the suggested the removal of the federal government from education.
