Texas Democrats and Texas For All, in conjunction with 17 other organizations including Equality Texas and Transgender Education Network of Texas, held a press conference today (Monday, July 21) to “sound the alarm on [Gov. Greg Abbott’s] cruel special session” of the Texas Legislature that convened today.
Among the items listed on Abbott’s agenda for the session are measures to promote redistricting, to ban transgender Texans’ access to public restrooms and to further restrict abortion access.
Drucilla Tigner, executive director of Texas For All, accused Abbott of “letting Donald Trump take over Texas.” She said that instead of focusing on addressing the recent devastating floods that hit Central Texas or preparing for the next natural disaster that “we all know is coming,” Abbott is “focused on bringing Trump-style politics into Texas and pushing an extreme agenda.”
But she pledged, while the organizations represented at the press conference have different issues, constituencies and organizations, “We all have one thing in common: We aren’t gonna let that happen … We are not gonna let Gov. Abbott or President Trump or anyone else steal our rights from us.”
Tigner added, “We want to make one thing very clear: Texans deserve leaders that will put us first and who will not bend the knee to Donald Trump or anyone else at the national level.”
Transgender Education Network of Texas Executive Director Emmett Schelling said at the press conference, “When we start legislating around bathrooms and public accommodations, it’s never in service of the people. I’m forced to be here to beg for such a basic right — to be able to use public accommodations my tax money pays for.”
Texas State Rep. Gene Wu said, “If Republicans and Trump are allowed to cheat our democracy — to cheat us — without repercussions or resistance, then there is no hope for us anywhere in this nation. We are not just defending Texas’ we are defending America as well.”
Also speaking at the press conference were U.S. Rep. Greg Casar of Texas District 35, state Rep. Ron Reynolds, Government Relations and Political Director Darcy Caballero with Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy, Common Cause Texas Policy Director Emily French and Texas State Lead Denisce Palacious of the Climate Cabinet Action Fund.
Video of the press conference in its entirety is on YouTube.com, linked below.
Also today, 48 Democrats in the Texas House of Repsentatives signed a letter to House Speaker Dustin Barrows, a Republican, demanding that the Legislature not pass, work on or even consider any other legislation in the special session “until both adequate flood relief and disaster mitigation legislation are passed and signed by the governor,” according to a press release.
Recent flooding in Kerr County and Central Texas that claimed the lives of at least 135 people and left millions of dollars’ worth of damages in its wake. But, the House Democrats’ letter said, “Instead of prioritizing flood recovery and real solutions, Gov. Abbott has filled the special session agenda with partisan distractions: criminalizing abortion, banning bathroom access and redrawing voting maps to lock in power for himself and his allies.
“Texans are still picking up the pieces after historic flooding, but Abbott is letting Trump take over Texas, using our state as a testing ground for extreme, divisive politics,” the letter continues. “He is more focused on playing political games than delivering the relief and support our communities desperately need.”
While flood relief was listed as the top prority for this special session, it has instead “been buried in a sea of culture war legislation, including an abortion ban, THC ban and a trans bathroom ban bill that will not help Texans put food on their tables, roofs over their heads or rebuild their lives after disaster,” the Democrats charge.
“We cannot bring back those lost, but we can stand with these families and shield our children and neighbors from future devastation — if we act with a singular purpose to protect life,” the letter stresses. “In this special session, flood relief must come first.”
Read the full text of the letter here.
— Tammye Nash