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The Republicans in the Texas Lege stomped on every social program in the state of Texas.  They slashed  their budgets thin as hen’s skin rather than use the rainy day fund.  After all, what’s a hungry kid when Rick Perry’s Republican presidential stingy cred is on the line?

Not satisfied at hurting the least, the lost, and the last by cutting state programs, the Republicans have now gone after charities with a vengeance known only to the devil and old men who sit in lawn chairs and throw rocks at little children when they pass by on the sidewalk.

In Texas you can buy specialty license tags for your car.  They cost $30 extra.  Of that, $22 goes to nonprofits or state agencies, $7.50 goes to the state highway fund, and 50 cents goes to the county in which the vehicle is registered.  Texas charities earn $22.5 million dollars this way.

In a move designed to give smoke and mirrors a bad name, there’s now a proposal to defer half of the payment for two years.  In other words, the Girl Scouts or other non-profits could not access the money raised this year until 2013.  This will help  “balance the budget by turning it into state income,” Republicans contend.

“On paper.  Sure,” Juanita stomped when she heard this.  “Letting Rick Perry say he balanced the budget when he didn’t is so much more important than the Girl Scouts, Special Olympics, Big Brothers / Big Sisters, Texas Parks and Wildlife, UT and A&M scholarships, and Cancer Support.”

Nonprofits say the deferred payments will hurt them because they use that money to operate programs and leverage other sources of income, such as federal grants. They also worry that the state could come back in two years and pass another bill directing that money somewhere else.

“Nobody’s taking much comfort in that we’re supposed to get that money in two years,” Stallings said. “The longer it sits there, the more attractive it becomes for the state to want to keep it for some other purpose.”

“I swear,” Juanita mumbles, “these Republicans are so cold that you could get frostbite taking their pulse.”