[Prokopton]

Through the second quarter of this year, Texas has used $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money — including $8 billion of the one-time dollars to fund state expenses that recur over and over. In fact, Texas used the federal stimulus to balance its last two budgets.

I don't have any problem with accepting the money after the bill passed, but I wouldn't be bragging about balancing the states budget if it was done primarily because of large influxes of federal stimulus funds.

[orinoco]

The article discusses that Perry would have used the “Rainy Day Fund” to balance the budget. But since the stimulus money was available Perry and the Texas legislature decided to use that money instead.