In response to the worst state budget crisis since World War II, the Texas House has proposed slashing $27 billion from the budget, including huge cuts to education, nursing homes, and health care for the poor. Yet last Friday, the Texas House Ways and Means Committee approved a tax break for those who want to buy yachts costing $250,000 or more.

The bill, HB 2187, was proposed by Houston Republican Rep. John Davis, and would cap the sales tax the state could collect on the sale of a personal boat. According to AP, Davis authored the bill out of fear that yacht owners would start buying their boats in Florida, which has a similar law. Davis described it as “economic development,” while Ways and Means Chairman Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) said it was “one of those things you have to do.”

The bill was originally estimated to cost Texas $1.4 million annually in lost revenue. It will now move on to be considered by the full House, where several top Republicans have expressed confidence it will pass.

Meanwhile, Democrats are expressing outrage that their GOP counterparts would even consider the bill at a time when they are cutting essential state services:

Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, voted against the measure and lambasted it as wrongheaded at a time when cuts are threatened in areas including education and Medicaid reimbursement rates for health care providers

“With all due respect, sometimes I’m not sure what planet my Republican colleagues live on,” Villarreal said in a statement. “How can they say tax breaks for yachts are a higher priority than supporting our children’s classrooms or keeping nursing homes open?”

Texas faces one of the worst budget outlooks in the country, and amazingly, only about a third of it was caused by the economic downturn. The state has had a chronic shortage of revenue after years of slashing property and business taxes and creating numerous tax breaks and exemptions, just like the proposed one for yacht owners. Yet Republicans still insist on not raising taxes, and as a result have had to rely on draconian cuts to balance the budget.

Under the current proposal, $7.8 billion will be cut from Texas public schools, four community colleges will close, 60,000 students will lose college financial aid, as many as 97,000 teachers and school employees will be laid off, 9,300 government jobs will be eliminated, Medicaid will be shortchanged by nearly $14 billion, and health and human services funding will plummet by a quarter. Despite this devastating toll, Republicans have been reluctant to tap in to the state’s $9.4 billion rainy day fund to alleviate the cuts, even though the fund is one of the most flush in the country.

Conservative members of Congress have been feeling the heat all over the country, as a Main Street Movement of everyday Americans have been protesting their efforts to cut crucial services and public investment, including their vote to effectively end Medicare.

Last week, during a town hall in Schaumburg, Illinois, Walsh came face to face with this public anger. A video of the town hall posted on YouTube shows that a constituent asked why we aren’t reforming the laws that give tax dollars to oil companies that are making huge profits. Walsh replied by saying that he “absolutely” wants to get rid of subsidies for oil companies:

CONSTITUENT: You say you want reform, how about reforming the banking system that got us into this mess? How about reforming the laws that give away our tax dollars to giant oil companies making record-breaking profits? And gives tax breaks to multi-millionaires. Your constituency wants Social Security, Medicare, and universal health care including the right to women’s health. [...]

WALSH: The tax code is a convoluted, complicated mess that members of both parties have created, and the only ones who make out like bandits are big corporations and wealthy Americans because they can pay high-priced support from Congress and high-priced lawyers to find every loophole and they end up like GE not paying any taxes. Give me a simple flat low tax. (mix of booing and cheering) Hold on, hold on, raise your hand you can go at it. Energy subsidies. Absolutely. Absolutely. Get rid of subsidies for oil companies.

Watch it:

Unfortunately, the House Republican caucus voted unanimously last month to protect these very subsidies. Joining Walsh in now condemning the subsidies is Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), who now says we should end them. The question is whether these members of Congress are really serious about ending these giveaways to the oil industry and would change their positions if they once again came up for a vote. (h/t: McGonagleProductions YouTube account)

On the tails of being the brunt of many jokes at the White House Corresspondents’ Dinner, Donald Trump offers a new collection of jocular political positions in a New York Times profile. Among them is a new explanation for his opposition to marriage equality for same-sex couples. Declaring himself a “traditionalist,” Trump compares same-sex marriage to long golf putters:

TRUMP: It’s like in golf. A lot of people — I don’t want this to sound trivial — but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive. It’s weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can’t sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist.

This is what he thinks makes for a “conservative with a big heart“? Generally, individuals who demonstrate that they have values — even billionaires — actually bother to consider the lives other people live. There are severe long-term consequences for same-sex couples deprived of the rights and protections of marriage equality, but Trump thinks a golf metaphor does justice to the issue despite the fact he took two mulligans on marriage himself.

Trump can only see things in the world as attractive or unattractive, and he has no time for anything he finds “very unattractive.” Just ask the many girls he objectifies and humiliates when they enter the Miss USA pageant. His taste is a minefield of sexism bunkers and LGBT sand traps that have little to do with improving other people’s lives. Trump’s campaign hasn’t even teed off yet, but he’s already shanking his approach.

If anything, Trump should see long putters as an enticing investment opportunity, considering a majority of the population now supports marriage equality. But then again, who is really praising Trump for his business sense anyway?

Cross-posted from The Wonk Room.