GOP Leaders Give Very Different
Reviews on Outcome of Session

Capitol Inside
September 2, 2021

The Republicans could be killing themselves in the heart of the Texas House battlefield in the wake of a special session that ended on Thursday night with legislation that will make it harder to vote in the suburbs and illegal to teach the truth about history in the public schools.

The Republicans at the Capitol failed to come to the rescue of schools that are operating in unprecedented states of chaos and confusion as a result of Governor Greg Abbott's ongoing crusade to ban school mask mandates in a move that's alienated suburban moms in areas where the number of independent voters has been on the rise in recent months.

The Legislature's top two leaders - Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan - agreed in separate statements tonight that GOP majorities had passed landmark legislation during the special session that spanned 27 days. But they weren't on the same page from that point on in two extremely different special session post-mortems tonight.

Texas voters didn't seem to be as impressed with state lawmakers as they were with themselves - however - with the release of a new University of Texas poll on Thursday that found that 49 percent disapproved of the Legislature's work in August. The Texas Politics Project survey found that a mere 28 percent of 1,200 voters in the sample gave the Legislature good marks last month.

After a sharp drop in June, the UT poll found the governor's popularity at an all time low in August with 50 percent expressing with disapproval of Abbott compared to only 41 percent who approved of the job he's been doing.

The second summer session represented the first major victory nonetheless for the far right in Texas on any front. Patrick depicted the GOP election bill, critical race theory prohibition, a border security funding infusion and an abortion ban that passed this spring as the Legislature's biggest achievements.

Patrick called the quartet of measures that passed on party line votes the "conservative cornerstones" for the foundation for the Texas future as the most significant legislation that's ever cleared the Texas Senate in his view. The Republicans put a cherry on the sundae this week when the U.S. Supreme Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade with a vote to let the so-called heartbeat abortion ban that passed in regular sessin stand.

But Phelan already appeared to be doing proactive damage control with a Twitter post that portrayed the second session in a way that voters in suburbia would want to hear - touting public education funding, retired teachers, health insurance options, criminal justice, human trafficking and bail reform as the highlights of summer.

The issues that Phelan cited actually had been afterthoughts that Abbott has loaded into the special session calls in an attempt to lure Democrats back to the House where they'd held a quorum hostage for a month while boycoting the Republican election bill while pushing Democrats for help from Congress in Washington D.C.

more to come ...

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: Statement
on Texas Senate Adjourning Sine Die

AUSTIN - Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued this statement following the Texas Senate adjourning the Second Called Special Session of the 87th Legislative Session sine die:

"At the end of the 87th Regular Legislative Session, the Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives walked out and broke quorum, killing many of my priorities, and the priorities that reflect the view of the majority of Texans statewide, including the Election Integrity Bill and Bail Reform. During the First Called Special Session, the same Democrats broke quorum again and fled to Washington, D.C., again killing the Election Integrity Bill, the Banning of Critical Race Theory, the Fair Sports for Women and Girls Act and every other item on Gov. Abbott's special session call. Throughout the regular session and First Called Special Session, the Texas Senate passed every bill on my priority list and the governor's special session call.

"The Texas Senate once again began work immediately once the Second Called Special Session was called by Gov. Abbott, and we passed these Republican priority bills during the first week of the session while we awaited the return of the House Democrats from their Washington, D.C. and European vacations. At the beginning of this week, several must-pass bills hung in the balance, including the Election Integrity Bill, the Banning of Critical Race Theory, the Fair Sports for Women and Girls Act, Bail Reform and Border Funding. We went into overdrive to be sure these bills did not fail again.

"As we finish this week, I am very proud to say that the Texas Senate completed one of the greatest weeks for Republican legislation in Texas, and perhaps, American history. Tonight, we set the foundation for conservative, common sense policy. The cornerstones of this foundation start with Senate Bill 1, the Election Integrity Bill, which makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat. Another cornerstone, Senate Bill 8, the Heartbeat Bill, has already been allowed to be enacted by the United States Supreme Court. The third cornerstone is Senate Bill 3, Banning Critical Race Theory in our schools. No student should be called an oppressor or a victim. Every student deserves to dream big in our great country. The final cornerstone was investing an additional $1.8 billion to secure our border, because the federal government is not doing their job.

"These are conservative cornerstones that will keep Texas, Texas. These tremendous victories were the result of countless hours of teamwork and collaboration by the Texas Senate. We still have unfinished business to complete on the Fair Sports for Women and Girls Act. The Senate has passed that bill 4 times, and it has failed in the House. I have asked Gov. Abbott to place it on the special session call later this month, and we will pass it again.

"As this week ends, I could not be more proud of your Texas Senators and the bills we have sent to Gov. Abbott to be signed into law."