Texas Democrats arrive in Washington to push Congress for voting rights bill

Texas House Democrats joined their congressional counterparts Tuesday in Washington to lobby Congress to pass voting rights legislation.

Texas U.S. Reps. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth and Lloyd Doggett of Austin praised the state representatives for leaving the state to prevent the passage of new voting laws.

“They’re making a sacrifice so all Americans regardless of their race, their income, their party affiliation, will have equal access to the ballot. And that is what this is about,” Veasey said at a press conference.

The state representatives left Texas on Monday in order to stop the Texas House from having a quorum, preventing the passage of a Republican-backed voting bill that would ban drive-thru voting, add new voter ID requirements to absentee ballots, and prohibit local elections officials from proactively sending mail-in ballot applications to voters.

The Democrats announced they plan to stay out of Texas until the special legislative session ends in August.

“Do not make it harder to vote in Texas — yet Republicans are determined to ignore that, to promote the Big Lie that Trump won the last election. We are determined to kill this bill in this special session,” state Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie said during a press conference Monday evening.

Republicans criticized the Democrats, saying they are abandoning their duties.

“Enjoy the all expenses paid charter jet and vacation in DC. But you really should be earning your taxpayer provided income rather than running and hiding,” Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, wrote on Twitter.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday on Austin television station KVUE that in addition to House Speaker Dade Phelan’s call to have the members arrested, he as governor will “continue to call special session after special session after special session all the way up until election next year.”

The Texas Democrats also met with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. At a press conference before the meeting, Schumer called Abbott’s actions “despicable” and said “it boils my blood to even watch.”

Under the Texas Constitution, two-thirds of the House has to be in attendance in order to conduct business. Without the Texas Democrats, the House cannot reach this threshold, known as a quorum. The House can “compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide,” according to the Texas Constitution.

This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 1:45 PM.