Texas’ new U.S. senator-elect, Ted Cruz, has repeatedly taken a cautious approach when asked about how he’ll fill Kay Bailey Hutchison’s shoes when it comes to Texas’ share of federal funding.

Cruz said while campaigning that he’ll work to see Texas gets a fair portion of “legitimate and important” federal spending but added, “I have yet to talk to a single voter who says the problem in Washington is that our elected officials are not bringing enough bacon home. I think if you get 435 members of Congress and all 100 members of the U.S. Senate viewing their job as just feeding at the trough… that is how you bankrupt the country.”

Voters may not specifically clamor for bringing home the bacon, but when military base realignment happens or a program like NASA faces challenges, federal funding can affect their jobs and Texas’ economy.

Read more: http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2012/11/will-texas-lose-federal-bacon-as-cruz-replaces-hutchison/