GOP Caucus Raises Specter of Issue Steal
with Foster Care Information Quest on TV

Capitol Inside
July 19, 2021

GOP lawmakers intensified efforts to bluff more than 55 Texas House Democrats back to Texas with a focus on policy in a fact-finding mission on foster care that they announced on Monday in the wake of a failed bid at high-dollar intimidation tactics this past weekend.

The Texas House Republican Caucus announced in an email this afternoon that its members will be huddling on Tuesday with state officials and private interests at a meeting complete with "B-role opportunity" for television crews to capture the event for broadcasts across the state.

While Republicans showed little interest in foster care for five months in regular session this year, they appear to be eager to make up for lost time by appropriating funds for human services and other major state needs that have received lip service at best in the GOP era here. But the Republicans have the luxury now of footing the bill for services that have gone ignored with COVID-19 stimulus funds that President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress approved earlier this year without a single GOP vote.

The foster care summit appears at first blush on paper to be more of a thinly-veiled scheme to pique the missing lawmakers' territorial instincts amid new concerns that Republicans could be stealing priorities from them in their absence throughout the past week with a quorum-crushing boycott on a controversial elections bill.

The briefing represents a shift back to a strategy based on shaming and guilt return after GOP Speaker Dade Phelan's foiled attempt to round up Democrats in Washington D.C. for a private charter flight back to Texas where he'd ordered them to return immediately the day before. The meeting on the foster care outlays are in a hurry to approve suggests that the House Republicans' foray into Tony Soprano theatrics could be done for now.

But GOP caucus leaders may be too savvy to think that they could really shame the Democrats into coming back for the sake of protecting bill sponsorship rights. The Republicans wouldn't be able to hold any hearings on the foster care bills that could be lining up to author until the Democrats come back to Texas where Governor Greg Abbott and the Republicans plan to have them arrested the moment they set foot in the state.

After giving Democrats ample incentive to prolong their return as long as possible, the House GOP Caucus is seeking now to create the appearance of Republicans working overtime in Austin while their partisan rivals lollygag in the nation's capital city as major celebrities in big demand for the past week.

The Republicans appear to be staging the foster care briefing for conservative primary voters who won't question their motives on an issue that wasn't a priority until its addition to the Abbott summer agenda on the eve of the current special session convened almost two weeks ago.

While the party faithful has been preoccupied with more sensational subjects like critical race theory, voter fraud and transgender participation in high school sports, GOP legislators plan to use the foster care funding meeting first and foremost to convey a separate message on the airways.

The informational gathering initiative will show that the Republicans are keeping their noses to the grindstone amid a collective dedication to making the world a better place for children who've been abandoned and dumped on the state. That will seem valiant compared to visions of runaway Democrats slugging Miller Lite in fancy hotel rooms before raising huge sums of donor cash on a lower floor with conference rooms.

 

 

 

GOP Voting Record Average Based on Texans for Fiscal Responsibility Index and Rice University Political Scientist Mark Jones Liberal-Conservative Scale. Ties are Broken Based on Reputations and Other Individual Factors.
CI MJ MQS REPS
1 1 2 Lyle Larson
2 2 4 Dan Huberty
4 4 2 Charle Geren
5 5 1 Kyle Kacal
6 6 4 J.M. Lozano
3 3 8 Morgan Meyer
9 9 4 Ken King
8 8 8 Todd Hunter
7 7 10 Jim Murphy
10 13 4 Chris Paddie
11 12 10 Steve Allison
12 11 12 Angie Button
13 10 13 John Raney
14 14 13 Drew Darby
15 15 15 Ernest Bailes
16 18 15 Travis Clardy
17 19 17 John Kuempel
18 16 20 Geanie Morrison
19 17 22 Phil Stephenson
20 23 17 Dustin Burrows
21 20 22 John Frullo
22 26 17 Four Price
23 22 21 Stan Lambert
24 21 22 Jacey Jetton
25 24 26 Hugh Shine
26 25 26 Ed Thompson
27 29 25 Glenn Rogers
28 27 26 Doc Anderson
29 31 26 Gary VanDeaver
30 28 34 Trent Ashby
31 35 26 John Smithee
32 32 32 Sam Harless
33 33 32 Brad Buckley
34 30 40 James Frank
35 36 34 Tom Craddick
36 34 37 Jake Ellzey
37 38 35 Lynn Stucky
38 39 37 Tan Parker
39 40 37 Gio Capriglione
40 45 33 Craig Goldman
41 41 41 Stephanie Klick
CI MJ MQS REPS
1 3 1 Bryan Slaton
2 2 4 Briscoe Cain
4 4 5 Steve Toth
5 1 8 Matt Schaefer
6 6 6 T. Tinderholt
3 11 2 Jeff Cason
9 5 10 Cody Vasut
8 9 7 M. Middleton
7 7 9 Terry Wilson
10 14 3 K. Biedermann
11 8 11 Cole Hefner
12 10 12 Jared Patterson
13 12 14 Shelby Slawson
14 13 14 V. Swanson
15 15 13 Matt Shaheen
16 16 16 Matt Krause
17 17 19 Justin Holland
18 19 17 Andrew Murr
19 18 21 Ben Leman
20 22 20 Jeff Leach
21 34 18 David Spiller
22 20 25 Will Metcalf
23 27 20 Brooks Landgraf
24 29 22 Reggie Smith
25 23 29 Candy Noble
26 26 27 Scott Sanford
27 28 25 Gary Gates
28 30 23 Dennis Paul
29 24 29 David Cook
30 25 31 Tom Oliverson
31 31 27 Cecil Bell
32 21 38 Cody Harris
33 33 34 John Cyrier
34 37 31 James White
35 32 39 Jay Dean
36 40 31 Phil King
37 36 35 Lacey Hull
38 39 36 Mike Schofield
39 35 41 Greg Bonnen
40 41 36 DeWayne Burns
41 46 36 Keith Bell

 

 

 

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