Says Department Of Agriculture “Didn’t Single Out” Any Program For Cuts

TYLER—Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staple was caught lying about cuts to programs to feed elderly and disabled Texans during a recent interview with a Tyler television station.

During an interview on “East Texas Live,” the morning show on Tyler NBC affiliate KETK-TV last Thursday, Staples was asked about specific budget cuts proposed by the Department of Agriculture to the Legislative Budget Board. Staples lied and claimed no specific programs were singled out for cuts. In the interview, when asked about cuts to programs affecting senior citizens, Staples noted:

STAPLES: At the Department Of Agriculture, we looked internally and came up with about half of those necessary reductions to propose to the LBB to consider, and then we didn’t single any program out; we just went across the board, because the grant programs are so diverse and so broad and we do have many needs in this state, and our stakeholders do understand that.

“Todd Staples is lying,” said Hank Gilbert, the Democratic Party’s nominee for Agriculture Commissioner. “He says his department didn’t single out any program for cuts, yet his Department’s February 15 letter to the Legislative Budget Board singled out more than 15 separate and distinct cuts to Department of Agriculture programs—including home delivered meals,” Gilbert noted.

Of these more than 15 proposed cuts, cuts to the Department’s Home Delivered Meals program were the largest. According to documents submitted to the Legislative Budget Board, Staples’ agency proposed cutting $2 million from the program.

“The Home Delivered Meals program is a vital service provided to the neediest Texans among us who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and not as a number in a spreadsheet during the worst economic crisis in 70 years,” said Gilbert.

Later in the same interview, Staples actually claimed he was working to expand the Meals on Wheels program.

“How can Todd Staples make this claim? In one breath, Staples is talking about expanding the program, and in the next he is talking about the cuts that his agency is making while claiming that they were not directed at any specific program, which isn’t even true. That is double-speak and obfuscation at its finest, and Texans are sick and tired of this kind of this kind of weak-kneed phony fiscal conservatism from their elected officials,” said Vince Leibowitz, spokesperson for the Gilbert campaign.

FACT SHEET

Todd Staple: From Both Sides Of His Mouth

FACT: Todd Staples claimed that his department didn’t single out any specific programs for budget cuts in a TV interview last week. [SOURCE]

FACT: The Department of Agriculture submitted more than 15 proposed cuts to the Legislative Budget Board on February 15. Those cuts included $2 million from the Home Delivered Meals Program. [SOURCE]

FACT: The largest proposed cut was to the Home Delivered Meals Program. [SOURCE]