UPDATE:
STATEMENT FROM THE TEXAS HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS
Today, [Monday, July 12] Texas House Democrats left the state and broke quorum to fight back against state Republicans’ continued attacks on Texans’ freedom to vote.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner, Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Rafael Anchía, Texas Legislative Black Caucus Chair Nicole Collier, Legislative Study Group Caucus Chair Garnet Coleman and Dean Senfronia Thompson released the following statement on the decision to break quorum:
“Today, Texas House Democrats stand united in our decision to break quorum and refuse to let the Republican-led legislature force through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans’ freedom to vote.
“We are now taking the fight to our nation’s Capitol. We are living on borrowed time in Texas. We need Congress to act now to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to protect Texans — and all Americans — from the Trump Republicans’ nationwide war on democracy.”
ORIGINAL POST: NBC News is reporting that at least 58 Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives will be leaving the state at some point today (Monday, July 12) to break quorum in the House and delay, at least, any action on ongoing efforts by Republicans in the Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott to force through voting “reforms” that Democrats say are, in essence, voter suppression bills intended to keep minority voters — who tend to vote Democratic — away from the polls.
By leaving the state, the Democrats would “would paralyze the chamber, stopping business until the lawmakers return to town or the session ends,” according to NBC News, which also is reporting that the majority of those leaving the state intend to fly to Washington, D.C., on two private jets charted specifically for this purpose. Others are expected to “make their own way” to D.C. While in the nation’s capital, the Texas Democrats plan to “ally support for federal voting legislation.”
Democrats’ plan, however, could not stop a hearing set today on yet another Republican bill — two of them, actually, SB2 abd SB 32 — attacking transgender youth, Both of these measures are intended to keep trans youth from playing sports on teams based on their actual gender identity. Republicans in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee were able to keep a quorum in their committee, so the hearing continues,
— Tammye Nash, James Russell
Issue warrants for their arrest and have them extradited back to Austin.
So they need to be fired. They don’t work for the Democratic Party they work for the Texans they represent and they should be asking their constituents how they should vote on the bills.
Hooray ! Republicans don’t believe in Democracy and are trying to make it harder and harder for “We the People” to express our Sovereignty via the Ballot box as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
I applaud our courageous Democrats for protecting Texans.