Texas Republicans Introduce Election Bills In House

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Less than two years after Texas Democrats  dramatically fled to Washington,DC in a failed attempt to shut down the House and prevent Republican bills relating to election integrity from reaching a vote, the Legislature is poised to once again revisit how Texas runs elections.

Entering the 2023 legislative session in January, more than 75 bills related to elections or voting had already been prefiled. Both major political parties have drafted bills. Democrats aim to expand voting access. Republicans are focused on enhancing election security.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Republicans Demand Biden Reimburse State For Border Efforts

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The Texas Republican delegation in the US House of Representatives has written to Pres. Biden calling on him to reimburse the Lone Star State for its efforts to secure its southern border – and requesting a meeting to discuss the crisis now in its third year.

(Full story HERE.)
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Abbott Brags of Education Spending, Calls For School Choice

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In a Twitter post, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragged that Texas is spending more on public schools than ever before, and then called for school choice, which would allow the money spent to follow the child, even into private schools. 

He tweeted: "Texas is spending more on public education than ever before. The money should follow each student down the educational path that works best for them. When parents have a choice, students have a better chance at success."

Their are likely to be several bills during the current season of the Republican-dominated legislative calling for school choice.

(Full story HERE.)
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Lt. Gov. Patrick Takes Aim At Foes

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is an expert at playing Texas style, hardball politics, and that was on display earlier this month as he took public aim at two fellow Republicans who crossed him, sending an early message in this year’s legislative session that anyone — friend or foe — who gets in his way will face his wrath.

One was State Rep. Steve Toth, a fellow conservative from The Woodlands, learned that lesson earlier this month when Patrick unleashed a spirited attack against him in the form of multiple press releases from his campaign that were sent to news organizations and posted on social media. Patrick criticized Toth over comments he reportedly made suggesting the Senate shared blame for the Legislature’s failure to pass a bill that would have banned gender-transitioning medical care and surgery for children. Patrick denounced Toth as a “fraud” who was using misdirection and revisionist history to cast blame on the Senate, which Patrick presides over.

(Full story HERE
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House Democrats Hoping For Bipartisanship

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Two years ago, Democrats in the Texas House dramatically absconded to Washington, D.C., for 37 days in an effort to shut down the Legislature and block Republicans from passing new restrictions on voting.

They were unsuccessful, as Republicans who held the majority were ultimately able to pass their bill that year. But it was a defining chapter for the House Democrats, who gained national attention and showed a new zeal to fight that is rippling into the next regular legislative session.

(Full story HERE.)
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State GOP Runs Radio Ads Attacking Republican Texas House Speaker

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The Republican Party of Texas launched a striking attack on one of its own this week, state House Speaker Dade Phelan, sparking a backlash from some Republicans in the chamber.

The state party began airing a radio ad that takes Phelan to task for allowing Democrats to continue chairing House committees, a longtime tradition that a small faction of House Republicans sought to end last week as the chamber crafted its rules package. But Phelan and his allies outmaneuvered them, preventing the issue — a state GOP priority — from even reaching a floor vote.

(Full story HERE.)
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Bill Would Make Murder Trials A Priority

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Proposed legislation could require Texas courts to prioritize murder and capital murder trials, even as the Harris County criminal justice system continues to recover from its crippling backlog of felony cases.

The state senate bill would thrust the county’s most violent cases to the front of the line — alongside those involving domestic violence, child abuse and jailed defendants, which state law already requires trial courts to prioritize. The legislation does not specify how cases should receive preferential treatment other than to instruct judges to “regularly and frequently set hearings.”

Gov. Greg Abbott says he supports the legislation.

(Full story HERE.)
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McCaul Refuses To Condemn Greene After She's Reinstated To Committees

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Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) deflected questions about Rep. Marjorie Greene’s (R-Ga.) committee posts on Sunday, saying that it’s not up to him to decide panel assignments.

Greene was selected to sit on the House Homeland Security Committee and House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday after being stripped of her committee assignments by Democrats in 2021. When asked on Sunday if he would prefer to see someone else on these committees, McCaul declined to take the bait, and did not condemn her.

(Full story HERE.)
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Bill Would Ban Land Ownership By Chinese, Iranians, Russians, North Koreans

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State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst has filed a bill that would ban citizens, governments and entities from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from purchasing land in the state, part of what she and other Republicans have said will help stem foreign influence in Texas.

Gov. Greg Abbott said this week that he would sign the Brenham Republican's proposed bill.

(Full story HERE
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Abbott Endorses Moves To Impeach Homeland Security Secretary

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Gov. Greg Abbott has endorsed the effort by some in the new GOP majority in the US House of Representatives tol impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, President Joe Biden’s Homeland Security secretary, over the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The facts are that Secretary Mayorkas has repeatedly told the public that the border is secure and that the border is not open," Abbott said in a national exclusive interview with Fox News Digital ahead of his inauguration Tuesday for a third four-year term steering the Lone Star State

(Full story HERE.)

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Texas Rep. Introduces Bill To Fight "White Supremacy"

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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, has introduced a new bill that hopes to fight "white supremacy" by criminalizing some forms of "hate speech."

The "Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023" seeks to "prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crime and conspiracy to commit white supremacy inspired hate crime" by amending Title 18 of the United States Code to "expand the scope of hate crimes.." Her bill is unlikely to pass the Republican dominated House, however.

(Full story HERE.)
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UT Bans Access To TikTok On Its WiFi Network

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The University of Texas at Austin has barred access to the social media platform TikTok on its Wi-Fi network after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) banned the application from use on government devices, the Hill reports.

The university told students in an email on Tuesday obtained by The Hill that it was taking the step to comply with Abbott’s December directive to “eliminate the cybersecurity risk posed by TikTok.”

(Full story HERE.)
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El Paso Police Chief Dies

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Longtime El Paso police Chief Greg Allen died Tuesday after overseeing a period when El Paso was ranked among the safest large cities in the nation during his nearly 15 years at the helm of the Police Department.

Allen's death was announced Tuesday afternoon by the city of El Paso. He was 71. A cause of death was not disclosed. But the city and the entire region has faced stress on its law enforcement and infrastructure in the past 2 years, because of an unprecedented number of llegal immigratants coming across the US/Mexico border.

(Full story HERE.)
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GOP Rep. Fallon Calls $1.6 Trillion Spending Bill "Garbage"

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Rep. Pat Fallon on Sunday deemed the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill approved last week to be “garbage.”

Speaking on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” the Texas Republican said: “It was an absolute piece of garbage, and that’s why I voted not only no, but hell no.”

(Full story HERE.)
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(Full story HERE
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Texas Republicans Score Key Congressional Committee Chairs

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Republican representatives from Texas, including one from the Austin area, will serve as chairs of four consequential committees in the new GOP-led US House of Representatives.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas GOP Votes Against Keeping National Party Chair McDaniel

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Frustrated with the outcome of the midterm elections, the executive committee of the Texas GOP voted unanimously Saturday to call for new leadership at the national party.

By a vote of 62-0, the State Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution saying it had lost confidence in the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel. The resolution said she “must be replaced” but did not endorse a challenger. with the outcome of the midterm elections, the executive committee of the Texas GOP voted unanimously Saturday to call for new leadership at the national party.

By a vote of 62-0, the State Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution saying it had lost confidence in the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel. The resolution said she “must be replaced” but did not endorse a challenger.

(Full story HERE.)
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Conroe Brewery Cancels Rittenhouse Anti-Censorship Rally

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A Conroe, Texas brewery has canceled a rally featuring Kyle Rittenhouse, claiming that the event doesn't reflect its values.

Southern Star Brewing Company will no longer host the "Rally Against Censorship" featuring Rittenhouse on Jan. 26, explaining its position Friday in a Twitter post.

"Southern star brewery is an apolitical organization. But we feel that this event doesn't reflect our own values and we could not in good faith continue to rent our space for the event on 1/26. We don't do rallies, we make beer for people who like beer," the brewery said.

On Twitter, Rittenhouse said the cancellation was "disappointing."

"It’s really disappointing to see that places continue to censor me and not allow my voice and many other voices to be heard because they bend to the woke crowd. I’ll keep you guys updated on the event on the 26th that I was supposed to speak at,"

(Full story HERE.)
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Abbott Calls For Crackdown On Errant Parolees

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With Texas' 88th Legislative Session beginning next week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is asking lawmakers to crack down on parolees who cut off their ankle monitors.

On Thursday, Abbott sent a letter to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan calling for state lawmakers to create criminal penalties for parolees who cut off their ankle monitors and prioritize their arrest.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Congressman Wants Homeland Chief Impeached

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A Texas Republican has filed articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, wasting little time in the new Congress to act on a GOP priority leadership has said would come after thorough investigation.

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) filed the paperwork for the resolution on Jan. 3, the first day of the 118th Congress, though with delays in securing a House Speaker, the document was officially filed late Monday.

(Full story HERE.)
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Abbott Hands Letter To Biden During Border Visit: "You Failed"

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hand-delivered a scathing message to President Biden Sunday as the commander-in-chief arrived in El Paso for his first visit to the US-Mexico border since taking office.

Biden spends only three hours in El Paso in first border visit as president

Letters to the Editor — Jan. 7, 2023

“Your visit to our southern border with Mexico today is $20 billion too little and two years too late,” Abbott said in a letter he handed to Biden as he stepped off Air Force One for a brief three-hour visit to El Paso, KWTX-TV reported.

“Moreover, your visit avoids the sites where mass illegal immigration occurs and sidesteps the thousands of angry Texas property owners whose lives have been destroyed by your border policies,” the letter reads.

(Full story HERE.)
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Congress Session Will Be "Rough and Rowdy" Says Texas Congressman

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The chaotic Speaker’s election was “only the beginning” of a “rough and rowdy” session in the House of Representatives, according to Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who on Sunday blasted Republicans who delayed the selection of the Speaker as the “insurgency caucus.”

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Democrat Says Immigration System Is Outdated, Border Used As "Prop"

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Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said in an interview ahead of President Biden’s planned trip to the southern border that immigration policies and infrastructure in the U.S. are “outdated.”

“What we are seeing … is an historic refugee crisis in our Western Hemisphere, and our infrastructure is outdated,” Escobar said on CBS News’s “Face The Nation.” “Our processes are outdated, and the border has for too long been used as a political prop,” Escobar said. “We all have to come together and solve this once and for all.”

(Full story HERE.)
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Rep.-Elect Hunt Returns to Texas After Son Born Prematurely

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Republican Rep.-elect Wesley Hunt will return to Texas after his son was born prematurely and needed to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Hunt and his wife Emily announced the birth of their son Monday, saying that he was born four weeks earlier than expected. Hunt, who has voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on each of the 11 ballots in the ongoing Speaker election, said he is returning to Texas on Friday to support his wife and son. McCarty finally won the speakership in a vote last night.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texan Prospective Committee Chairs Urge Colleagues To Get on With House Session

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Texans are slated to chair some of the most influential committees in this congressional session. But without a speaker of the House, they can’t take their gavels. And it’s getting on their nerves.

“Everything flows from the speaker being elected. We can’t even get sworn in. I can’t start my committee. We’re held hostage until we get this thing resolved,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who is slated to lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee and lead the party’s investigations into the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

(Full story HERE.)
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Crenshaw Calls Anti-McCarthy Holdouts "Childish"

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Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) on Tuesday dismissed the idea that a group of hard-line conservatives had a viable alternative to Speaker-hopeful Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) waiting in the wings, instead saying the lawmakers are only opposing McCarthy to gain notoriety.

“This is such a childish attempt at gaining more and more attention,” Crenshaw said on Fox News ahead of the Speaker vote on Tuesday.

Some of McCarthy’s opponents have teased this week that they have a hidden alternative candidate to McCarthy that they say will become apparent after the first vote for Speaker on Tuesday. Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) suggested on Fox News on Monday that the group had refrained from publicly naming the alternative candidate to shield them from “attacks and retaliation.”

But Crenshaw said the far-right lawmakers were floating the idea of a McCarthy alternative just to continue to garner media attention.

“They keep acting like they’ve got somebody in the wings — they’re just waiting,” Crenshaw said. “They’re like children … you know why they say it like that? Because they want you to interview them again.”

(Full story HERE.)
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