We Could Have Told You That
What to know: Texas taxpayers are spending millions of dollars on lobbyists who fight against their interests, Real Clear Investigations reports.
The TPPF take: RCI based its report on a TPPF study.
“Taxpayer-funded lobbyists consistently opposed legislation involving property tax reform, local regulatory preemption, and school choice,” says TPPF’s Ben Crockett. “Taxpayer-funded lobbyists also engaged on highly controversial social issues such as abortion, gun control, men and women’s spaces (bathroom bill).”
For more on taxpayer-funded lobbying, watch this.
Wise Words
What to know: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently gave a speech at the University of Texas at Austin.
The TPPF take: Thomas gave a vigorous defense of the American founding.
“Clarence Thomas is an American icon — a man who rose from poverty in the Jim Crow South and turned to the law because he understood the simple truth that segregation violated the Constitution and the promise of the Declaration of Independence,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester. “Speaking at the University of Texas at Austin this week in what will undoubtedly go down as an historic address, Thomas made clear the same clarity of purpose that shaped his upbringing also shapes his jurisprudence — he remains grounded in the enduring principles of the nation’s founding documents.”
For more on Clarence Thomas, click here.
More Homelessness
What to know: Despite spending billions of dollars each year, the U.S. continues to see homelessness increase.
The TPPF take: Those dollars don’t confer the dignity that human beings deserve.
“Too often, approaches to poverty reflect this shift: systems designed to support end up maintaining the status quo, rather than moving people forward,” says TPPF’s Hannah Bruck. “Yet dignity requires something more. It demands recognition of individual agency, potential, and the capacity for growth. When dignity is overlooked, policy can unintentionally reinforce dependency. When it is recognized, policy can become a pathway to self-sufficiency.”
For more on homelessness, click here.