What you should know
- House Democrats left Austin for Washington, DC on Monday to break the quorum and prevent votes on proposed laws.
- Republican leaders said lawmakers gave up their duties by taking comfortable private jets to the country’s capital.
- The House Democrats, threatened with arrest, stand ready to stay in Washington throughout the session to stop voting on an electoral law.
Texas House of Representatives Speaker Dade Phelan (R) has urged House Democrats to return to Austin and resume the special session and he’s got a jet ready to expedite their return.
House Democrats left the special session earlier this week to break the quorum and prevent a vote on what they say is a veiled voter suppression, not just a bill to make Texas elections safer.
The strike has stalled legislative activity in front of the Austin House of Representatives. The Texas Senators are still busy passing laws on their side, but without a quorum in the House of Representatives, the approved Senate laws will languish and die by the end of the session.
On Thursday, Phelan issued a statement saying he was not only urging House Democrats to return to Austin to get back to work, but he was chartering a plane to help them get home on Saturday .
“To further compel the House Democrats to return to Texas, I’m chartering a plane that will be ready in Washington, DC on Saturday,” Phelan said in a statement. “I urge all of our DC colleagues to contact my co-workers immediately to secure their seat on the plane and return to Austin to do the business of the state. The state of Texas is waiting.”
Texas Democrats, who were threatened with arrest on their return to the state and who were also willing to spend the entire session in the country’s capital earlier this week, tweeted Thursday afternoon that Phelan should save his money.
Explainer: Texas Democrats fled the state. Here’s why
“The spokesman should save his money. We won’t need a plane any time soon as our work to save democracy from the Trump Republicans is just beginning,” Texas Democrats said on Twitter.
In apparent retaliation for the strike, Phelan withdrew his leadership position in the House of Representatives on Thursday from a top Democrat, spokesperson pro Joe Moody.
For the second year in a row, Phelan is also demanding that House Democrats absent from the Capitol get their legislative daily allowances back.
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It’s not clear if Phelan has authority to seek repayment, but Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie, District 101), the chairman of the House Democratic House of Representatives, told NBC 5 on Wednesday that the $ 221 a day will be paid at the end of the month and he expected members to decline the payments.
At least one lawmaker, Rep. Michelle Beckley (D-Carrollton, District 65), issued a statement Wednesday saying that all subsistence allowances paid outside of Austin will be returned or rejected.
NBC 5’s Scott Gordon contributed to this report.
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