OPEC+ made a surprise announcement Sunday night, April 2, to cut oil production by more than 1.1 million barrels per day – about 1% of global production. Crude oil prices immediately shot up, presaging pain at the pump for Americans already struggling with inflation. The move by 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries...
The House began debating the budget on Thursday. Unfortunately, the last version of the budget contains spending growth that exceeds fiscal conservative standards for a limited state government. Things started reasonably well at the beginning of the session. The first version of HB1 showed spending growth under the Conservative Texas Budget (CTB). However, the House...
Here’s what progressive liberals, led by President Joe Biden, get wrong about the push in Texas, Florida, and other red states to keep life-changing decisions from being made on children: nearly everything. From their misleading verbiage, such as “gender-affirming care,” to their cultish acceptance of the idea that 12-year-olds’ self-diagnoses are not only reliable but sacrosanct, to...
Texas is in great shape to become the national leader in protecting children online. It couldn’t come too soon. Excessive social media use and spending time online has been linked in numerous studies to disastrous physical, emotional, and mental health issues for kids. At a recent hearing in the Texas State House, a dozen witnesses...
When Walter Wendler, president of West Texas A&M University, blocked a drag show performance on his campus, likening it to blackface, he was excoriated by the organized LBGTQ+ community, which launched a petition calling it a “gross and abhorrent comparison of two completely different topics. It claimed Wendler was using an “incorrect definition of drag...
In Austin, Texas, in a 24-hour period in March less than a mile apart, a woman was punched several times and sexually assaulted, suffering a split lower jaw and bruises over her body; then a building was burned down, damaging adjacent buildings, causing about $1.5 million in damage. The common thread: Homeless men living on the street...
The debate over what is arguably the most important issue of the legislative session is in full swing. The Senate Education Committee has debated a handful of bills that to varying degrees would give parents greater control over their child’s education. While each bill would be a dramatic improvement over the status quo, the key...
After the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank failures, lawmakers in Texas should take these events as warning signs and proceed with caution when planning the 2024-25 budget. Unfortunately, instead of doing this, the House Committee Substitute for House Bill 1 (CSHB1) will boost spending even more and tap resources from the Rainy Day...
Empowering parents in rural communities with Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) will give them the freedom to choose the best school for their children, according to Mandy Drogin, campaign director for Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Next Generation Initiative. Drogin cites examples from other states that have introduced school choice programs and seen an improvement in education...
Another day, another high-ranking school official attacking parents – this time with racial overtones. In a recent House Public Education hearing, the vice president of the Pflugerville ISD school board suggested that parents of “black and brown kids” are manipulated into sending their children to charter schools. She did not reference white or Asian parents,...
Reduced competition, shortages, and unaffordable options in healthcare are symptoms of middlemen running amok. These middlemen are the healthcare administrators, who rarely touch the product or interface with patients, yet control significant healthcare dollars behind the scenes. Lawmakers must keep these middlemen in mind as they seek to address the inflation of drug prices. A proposal by...
It’s hard to imagine the same barbaric cartel activity that has ravaged Mexico spreading across the border we share, but make no mistake—cartel activity is no longer confined to Mexico. It is present in all of our communities. Drug cartels are ruthless, strategic, highly organized money-making entities that continue to evolve in strength and sophistication....