Rick Perry criticized for vetoing bills to help low-income families

Dallas Morning News 8/25/09

Gov. Rick Perry criticized for vetoing bills to help low-income families

AUSTIN — A children’s advocacy group today criticized Gov. Rick Perry for vetoing bills it said would have helped struggling families and called for a concerted push to reduce child poverty.

The group, begun by the late Phil Strickland of Dallas, a long-time Capitol lobbyist for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, cited a Census Bureau estimate that some 1.6 million Texas children, or nearly 1 out of every 4, lived in households below the federal poverty line. To be considered poor, a family of four can make no more than $22,050.

High unemployment could drive the state’s child poverty rate to 27 percent this year, although federal and state lawmakers’ actions may mitigate the surge, said Eileen Garcia-Matthews, the group’s executive director.

"Texas children are disproportionately harmed during economic downturns like the one we’re experiencing now," she said.