Texas Democratic Party: Moving Texas Forward

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is besieged by partisan politics, mismanagement and reckless use of taxpayer dollars.  Under the direction of Tom Pauken, a former Texas GOP chairman hand-picked by Rick Perry to head the agency, the TWC has served the Governor’s political agenda while burdening Texas taxpayers and businesses with debt.  When Rick Perry refused half a billion dollars in federal unemployment insurance funds, the TWC covered his political tracks by taking on a massive federal loan to keep the state unemployment fund solvent, as required by law.  But the fallout from this Republican-ruled state agency doesn’t end there – and will continue to burden Texas taxpayers and businesses for years to come.

• After Rick Perry’s refusal of $555 million in federal unemployment insurance money – a play to compete with Sen. Hutchison for the extreme partisans who control the Republican primary – the TWC took out a $1.5 billion loan from the federal government, burdening Texas employers who will be subject to much higher taxes to repay the loan. (Source: Dallas Morning News)

• Officials at the TWC failed to make adequate preparations to deliver extended unemployment benefits for hardworking Texans put out of work by the recession.  After state legislators approved the benefits in May 2009, TWC officials stalled and failed to deliver the benefits for months, attempting to push the blame off their own ineptitude while thousands of out-of-work Texans struggled to make ends meet. (Source: Dallas Morning News)

• Texas businesses will pay the price for Rick Perry’s TWC appointees playing along with the Governor’s political stunts instead of doing what’s right for Texans. The TWC will spend $2 billion in bonds to repay the federal government loan before interest kicks in, and repayment of the bonds may take until 2019, forcing the TWC to institute the highest increase in business tax in 2012. (Source: Dallas Morning News)

The Texas Workforce Commission is tasked with serving our state by making sure out-of-work Texans receive the benefits they are allowed by law. However, under Republican rule, this state agency has not only failed its primary task, it has also burdened Texans with long-term debt that, were it not for Republican politics, could have been avoided.

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To read more about Republican mismanagement, corruption, and  pay-to-play politics, visit the TDP’s “Top Ten State Agency Scandals” campaign by clicking here.