How can Texas reduce expenditures for the new public school employee health program while protecting and improving benefits? The Texas 78th Legislature faces this key question as members confront a $9.9 billion revenue shortfall. The health care program is targeted for legislative cuts. Funded for its first year only, the program was financed by revenues taken from a “one time” source; additional blows were delivered by a sagging state economy and rising insurance costs, estimated in the range of $2.5 billion for the 2004-2005 fiscal year.
The simple reform Congress can make to move millions from welfare to work
Congress has a chance to help millions of Americans move from welfare to work while fixing one of the country’s most broken federal programs. Lawmakers are preparing to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which controls the vast and failed federal workforce-development system. Instead of doubling down on the longstanding approach of wasting money...