Free Republic

The federal government will phase out funding to Texas for a key women's health program, calling a transition period necessary to ensure that low-income clients don't abruptly lose access to screenings and contraceptives. Money for the Medicaid Women's Health Program is cut off because the state exclude clinics affiliated with abortion, even if the clinics "don't provide abortions." The federal government says that's not allowed. The ban notably affects Planned Parenthood. Gov. Rick Perry promised anew that the state will pick up the cost of the program, in which nearly 130,000 Texas women are enrolled. Where that money will come...

The Justice Department is objecting to a new photo ID law in Texas for voters, saying the state has failed to demonstrate that the the law is not discriminatory by design against Hispanic voters. The department's head of the civil rights division, Tom Perez, wrote a a six-page letter to Texas' director of elections saying that Texas has not "sustained its burden" under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to show that the new law will not have a discriminatory effect on minority voters. About 11 percent of Hispanic voters reportedly lack state-issued identification. Perez wrote that while the...

The federal government will stop funding a Texas health program that serves 130,000 low-income women because of a state law that bars abortion-affiliated clinics from getting public money, a top U.S. health official said Friday. The federal money, which covers 90 percent of the state's $40 million program, will be phased out between May and September because the law violates federal regulations requiring that women have a choice in medical care, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during a trip to Houston.

Texas energy company Luminant announced on Monday new burdensome Environmental Protection Agency regulations are forcing it to close several facilities, which will result in about 500 job losses. The company will be idling — stopping the usage of — two energy generating units. It will also cease extracting lignite from three different Texas mines. The EPA regulation Luminant cites as too burdensome is the new Cross-State Air Pollution rule, which requires Texas power generators to make “dramatic reductions” in emissions beginning on January 1, 2012. “We have hundreds of employees who have spent their entire professional careers at Luminant and...