Nearly 60 Texas House Democrats left the state last Monday for Washington, D.C. in an effort to stop passage of a Republican-led elections bill. This in effect blocks all legislation since the House doesn’t have a quorum present. As the Austin American Statesman and other media outlets reported, Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to arrest the absent lawmakers upon their return. While in Washington, the legislators have met with Vice President Kamala Harris and several Democratic senators to push passage of a federal elections bill that is currently stalemated.
The House Democrats have vowed to stay in Washington until the special session ends on Aug. 7. They are using private funds as well as campaign accounts to finance their decampment to the nation’s capital and are mounting fundraising campaigns. San Antonio lawmaker Trey Martinez Fischer, one of the leaders of breaking the quorum, said Democrats are spending $10,000 a day for hotel rooms and meals.
Abbott has blasted the Democrats’ absences as a “taxpayer-funded junket.”
