The Senate Democrats have signed a letter to the Lt. Gov., asking he call as Committee of the Whole (what they did with the Voter ID debate) to take up the issue of accepting stimulus dollars. This comes after Governor Perry publicly rejected the $555 million that would have gone to unemployment insurance.  The letter states that the legislature must override the Governor on his decision, considering the chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission has even recommended they take the money, saying the fund will be facing a $750 million shortfall by September.

As of now, the TWC is paying out $60 million a week in unemployment benefits.

We have Sen. Ogden (Chair of Senate Finance) on our show this week and we’ll be talking about that stimulus money and the role it will play in getting a budget out on time (in addition to other issues).