Gov.-elect Greg Abbott said Monday that his administration's top priorities will be bolstering early education, securing the Texas-Mexico border, cutting taxes and pumping $4 billion annually into the state's overloaded road and water infrastructure networks -- goals that may be more exciting to policy wonks than his conservative base.
Abbott, who takes office Jan. 20, met with the media to discuss his primary agenda but offered little beyond campaign promises. Perhaps most surprising was what Abbott left off his top to-do list: divisive issues such as abortion and his past calls for open carry of handguns.
Following his predecessor Rick Perry's lead, Abbott has said that he'd like a "continuous surge" of security along the nearly 2,000-mile Texas-Mexico border, including hiring 500 new Department of Public Safety troopers. He offered no new details, declaring only that while border security is a federal responsibility, "Texas is not going to stand idly by and wait for Washington."
Abbott has been attorney general since 2002 and is leading a coalition of 20 states that have sued the Obama administration over the president's recently announced executive action on immigration.
The governor-elect was at the White House on Friday as part of a group of newly elected leaders and said he mentioned to two Cabinet members and a member of the president's staff that Texas would like the federal government to reimburse it for the $500-plus million it has spent securing the border since an influx of people began crossing into Texas without legal permission this summer.
"None of them had any answers at that time," Abbott said Monday.
Abbott also renewed promises to offer expanded, higher-quality pre-kindergarten programs, saying he'd like every Texas student to read and do math at grade level by third grade.
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When it came to tax cuts, Abbott said he'd push for breaks for businesses and property taxes, but didn't offer specifics. He added that he wants to see which proposals "the greatest number of legislators will agree with." The Texas Legislature reconvenes Jan. 13.
Abbott also called for $4 billion per year in spending for water infrastructure -- a concern after a yearslong drought in much of the state -- and improving roads clogged by a booming population.
As he did during the campaign, Abbott promised to do both without raising taxes, fees or tolls.
That's possible since voters each of the last two years have approved state constitutional amendments taking billions from Texas' cash reserves for water and road improvements.
The governor-elect didn't mention gay marriage until he was asked about the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which next month will hear a case in which a judge in February struck down Texas' ban.
Some advocates have asked other Texas judges to begin performing gay marriages pending the appeal, but Abbott said that would be "deeply offensive" since it "would be a clear rebuke of the 5th Circuit's jurisdiction."
