AUSTIN -- Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick expects this session's budget shortfalls – possibly up to $6 billion – to be covered by cuts to the spending plan's two biggest drivers: health care and education.

That's not going to be a message that's well received by either set of stakeholders, but Patrick's assessment won applause from the crowd at the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Policy Orientation.

Patrick told the group gathered in downtown Austin that education and health care – all told, 90 percent of the budget – are ripe for cost containment rather than increases in revenue.

"We're going to find ways in those two big areas of the budget – which are billions and billions and billions and billions, like the stars, of dollars -- to find areas that we can save money in and make sure we focus on all the needs and necessities of our education system and our health care system," Patrick said. "So we'll do it. We'll do it."

This is not simply the difference between entertaining funding – or no funding – between the House and Senate. Nor is it forcing state agencies to take a 4 percent cut to their budgets. No, Patrick expects the Senate budget to be balanced by cuts to existing expenditures.

The full story can be found in the Quorum Report. Copyright 2017, Harvey Kronberg,http://quorumreport.com/index.cfm, All rights are reserved. This story is presented as part of the Houston Chronicle's collaboration with Quorum Report. For inside information on Texas politics and government and to sign up for real-time updates, go here.