Governor Rick Perry, Lt Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus recently ordered state agencies to make a 5 percent cut in their budgets, as the state is staring at a potentially huge budget gap when the Legislature returns next session. For the Department of Public Safety, that will mean almost $15 million in cuts, with more than $10 million of that chunk coming out of border security operations. Luckily, Recovery Act funds allocated to prevent such cuts in law enforcement operations will save jobs and keep supporting the work of local sheriffs working along the border.

Meanwhile, the budget gap is looming large on the minds of state and local government officials, and some groups are calling on the federal government to continue the Recovery Act aid that is keeping many states afloat. The Center for Public Policy Priorities, a think tank based in Austin, has sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to provide more of the Medicaid and education funding that closed 98 percent of Texas' budget gap last session. That gap could be as much as $17 billion when the Legislature returns in January of 2011.