Texas Republicans are pressuring House Democrats to return to Austin

As Texas House Democrats wrap up the first week of their quorum break in Washington, DC, to block Republican-backed voting bills, colleagues across the way step up efforts to force them to return in Lone Star State.

Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan on Thursday announced he would charter a plane on Saturday to bring absent Democrats from the nation’s capital to Austin.

“I demand that all of our colleagues in Washington immediately contact my staff to reserve their seat on the plane and return to Austin to do state business. The state of Texas is waiting,” he said. Phelan said in a statement.

In response, Texas Democrats said they did not intend to respond to Phelan’s request.

“The president should be saving his money. We won’t need a plane anytime soon, as our work to save democracy from Trump’s Republicans has only just begun,” they said in a joint statement, adding: ” We are not going anywhere and instead suggest that the speaker end this one-session comedy, which is nothing more than a month-long publicity campaign for Governor Abbott’s re-election. speaker should adjourn the Sine Die House. “

Beyond open demand, the Texas Speaker of the House can no longer force Democrats to return to Texas. Likewise, state law enforcement officials have no jurisdiction beyond state borders to force lawmakers back.

A group of Democrats fled Texas on Monday to break the quorum and wait until the end of their current special legislative session in a bid to block progress on two Republicans-backed bills that would revise voting and voting laws. state election. Voting rights advocates say, if passed, these bills would make it harder for Texans to get access to the ballots. By breaking the quorum, lawmakers have also blocked the advancement of a list of other bills that Republican state Governor Greg Abbott has deemed priorities for the legislature, in which his party holds a majority.

While it is not yet clear what lies in store for Democrats in the nation’s capital, Abbott says the end of the current special legislative session will not erase the slate from his priorities.

“Whenever the current special session ends, I will immediately call another special session, and I will continue to call additional special sessions so that we can resolve any issues,” Abbott said in an interview with CBS Dallas-Ft. Worth it Thursday.

In an attempt to end the possibility of another round of walkouts, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who heads the Texas Senate, wrote to Abbott on Thursday asking him to add an item in the next session that would modify the quorum rules to be established. by simple majority.

“Texans expect their legislature to function and not be held hostage by a few lawmakers who exploit the quorum requirement. The majority of other state legislatures require a simple majority plus one,” Patrick wrote in the letter. .

Current rules state that two-thirds of the elected members of each chamber must be present for the conduct of business. Abbott has yet to say whether he plans to make the addition.