Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will STRIP state lawmakers of their pay and block their budget after Dems 'abandoned their duties' by walking out on the voting rights bill
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to veto the state legislature's budget after Democrats blocked the GOP's new voting rights bill by walking out of the House chamber in the middle of the night.
'I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature. Article 10 funds the legislative branch. No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities. Stay tuned', Abbott tweeted on Monday.
He made the announcement after the Democrats staged the dramatic walkout pass Sunday night that stopped the new bill from reaching his desk for approval.
Ted Cruz also urged Texas legislators to hold a special session to pass the new bill which would 'protect the integrity of our elections' and get around the 'scheming' Democrats.
The bill known as Senate Bill 7 would have imposed a raft of changes that Republicans in the state see as a sensible approach to securing election integrity.
It would eliminate drive-thru voting, empower partisan poll watchers and impose new requirements in order to cast a ballot by mail in Texas.
But about two hours before a midnight deadline to pass the bill, Democrats began filing out of the chamber in greater and greater numbers, denying Republicans the quorum necessary to hold a final vote.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to veto the state legislature's budget after Democrats blocked the GOP's new voting rights bill by walking out of the House chamber in the middle of the night
'I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature. Article 10 funds the legislative branch. No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities. Stay tuned', Abbott tweeted on Monday
Abbott swiftly said on Sunday night he would call a special session to try passing a voting bill again but did not say when.
'Election Integrity & Bail Reform were emergency items for this legislative session. They STILL must pass. They will be added to the special session agenda. Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session,' Abbott tweeted late Sunday night.
Top Republican negotiators, Sen. Bryan Hughes and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, have called the bill 'one of the most comprehensive and sensible election reform bills' in Texas' history.
But Democrats have argued that the bill would suppress voters and have a detrimental effect on access - especially for marginalized voters.
'We've said for so many years that we want more people to participate in our democracy. And it just seems that's not the case,' Democratic state Rep. Carl Sherman said.
A voting bill in Texas that was on the verge of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott´s desk failed to pass Sunday night after Democrats walked out of the House chamber before a midnight deadline. Pictured, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, emerges from a closed-door meeting with Democratic members of the Texas House
'It's Jim Crow 2.0,' said Democratic Sen. Carol Alvarado. 'From the beginning, this was a rushed process.'
The walkout handed Republicans a rare defeat in the Texas Capitol where they control every lever of power and wield overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate.
'I am disappointed that some members decided to break quorum,' said Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, who carried the bill in the House. 'We all know what that meant. I understand why they were doing it, but we all took an oath to Texans that we would be here to do our jobs.'
The move was reminiscent of 2003 when outnumbered Democrats twice broke quorum to stop Republican efforts to redraw voting maps.
House Democrats first left the state en masse for Ardmore, Oklahoma only to return several days later. Senate Democrats delayed a special session that summer by going as a group to Albuquerque, New Mexico for several weeks.
Ted Cruz also urged the Texas legislature to hold a special session to pass the bill and 'protect the integrity of our elections'
A group opposing new voter legislation gather outside the House Chamber at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas. Texas Republicans on May 29
State Rep. Nicole Collier, D- Fort Worth, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, speaks at a news conference at the Capitol on Sunday against Senate Bill 7, known as the Election Integrity Protection Act
Ultimately, neither effort worked as the Democrats eventually returned to the Capitol and Republicans passed the bill.
Under revisions during closed-door negotiations, Republicans added language that could make it easier for a judge to overturn an election and pushed back the start of Sunday voting, when many Black churchgoers head to the polls.
A judge would be able to void an outcome of an election if the number of fraudulent votes cast could change the result, regardless of whether it was proved that fraud affected the outcome.
The 67-page measure would eliminate drive-thru voting and 24-hour polling centers, both of which Harris County, the state's largest Democratic stronghold, introduced last year.
The bill would also newly empower partisan poll watchers by allowing them more access inside polling places and threatening criminal penalties against elections officials who restrict their movement.
Republicans originally proposed giving poll watchers the right to take photos, but that language was removed from the final bill that lawmakers were set to vote on this weekend.
State Rep. Nicole Collier, D- Fort Worth, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, speaks at a news conference at the Capitol on Sunday against Senate Bill 7. Republicans in the Texas Senate early Sunday attempted to muscle through a sweeping measure that would eliminate drive-thru voting and empower partisan poll watchers
Texas is the last big battleground in the GOP´s nationwide efforts to tighten voting laws, driven by former President Donald Trump´s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Georgia and Florida have also passed new voting restrictions, and President Joe Biden on Saturday unfavorably compared Texas´ bill to election changes in those states as 'an assault on democracy.'
The vote in the Texas Senate came just a short time after a final version of the bill had been made public Saturday. Around midnight, Republicans wielded their majority to suspend rules that would normally prohibit taking a vote on a bill that had not been posted for 24 hours, which Democrats protested as a breach of protocol that denied them and the public time to review the language first.
Even before the final House vote, Democrats said they would try to block the measure in court.
'It's an awful bill,' said Democratic state Rep. Jessica Gonzalez, the vice chairwoman of the House Elections Committee. 'But I'm hopeful that this underhanded behavior, the way they undercut the process, will help us when we litigate this.'
Pressed on the Senate floor over why Sunday voting couldn't begin sooner, Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes said, 'Election workers want to go to church, too.'
Pressed on the Senate floor over why Sunday voting couldn't begin sooner, Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes said, 'Election workers want to go to church, too.'
Major corporations, including Texas-based American Airlines and Dell, have warned that the measures could harm democracy and the economic climate. But Republicans shrugged off their objections, and in some cases, ripped business leaders for speaking out.
The top Republican negotiators, Hughes and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, called the bill 'one of the most comprehensive and sensible election reform bills' in Texas´ history.
'Even as the national media minimizes the importance of election integrity, the Texas Legislature has not bent to headlines or corporate virtue signaling,' they said in a joint statement.
Republican lawmakers in Texas have insisted that the changes are not a response to Trump´s false claims of widespread fraud but are needed to restore confidence in the voting process.
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