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AUSTIN, Texas – For the first time in nearly six weeks, the Texas House had enough members in attendance Thursday to do business and move forward. A stalemate over new election restrictions stalled the Chamber for 38 days after the Democrats fled the state to Washington, DC to block the passage of the GOP-backed bill.
What you need to know
- Some Democrats returned Thursday, paving the way for Republicans to push electoral laws and other issues further
- The Democrats disagreed, and some hit their colleagues for “edge breaking”.
- The Democrats had hoped to urge federal lawmakers to pass voting protections with their exodus to DC, but the legislature still faces great opportunity
But some of those Democrats returned Thursday, paving the way for Republicans to reintroduce electoral legislation and a host of other issues at the special session. The Democrats disagreed, and some hit their colleagues for “edge breaking”.
“I am devastated. I am devastated because I can tell you with absolute certainty that my Democratic counterparts have just injured all of Texas,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, in an interview with Capital on Thursday Tonight, “I have no intention of returning this session because I’ve been through an entire session with my co-workers and every time we tried to have a logical conversation, a logical argument, we couldn’t.”
The quorum in the House of Representatives is still tight as only three new Democrats show up on Thursday. Still, House spokesman Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said there was enough there to start work again.
“It was a very long summer. Been through a lot. I appreciate that you are all here, ”Phelan said. “It’s time to get back to business in Texas.”
The three Democrats who returned to the Texas house defended their decision, saying in a statement that they had successfully pushed Congress on proxy legislation and warned of the growing urgency of increasing COVID-19 cases in Texas. One of them, Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, did not travel to Washington because he was recovering from a leg amputation due to infection.
“One of the things in life is that we have to know our responsibilities and work to make things go the way we want them to,” Coleman said from a wheelchair as he said the prayer on the floor of the house.
The Democrats had hoped to urge federal lawmakers to pass voting protections with their exodus to DC, but the legislature still faces great opportunity.
Texas Republicans are now on their way to passing new electoral laws before the current special session ends on September 5th.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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