Speaker Fears Veto Warning May Be Real
after Defending Inaction in Dem SB 7 Bolt
Capitol Inside
June 1, 2021
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan expressed concerns on Tuesday on the harm that Governor Greg Abbott would be doing to hard-working state employees who'd done nothing wrong if he follows through with a plan to veto the Legislature's entire budget as payback for the collapse of the Republican election bill in the lower chamber on Sunday night.
The Republican speaker and lieutenants on both sides of the aisle indicated today that they're taking Abbott seriously on his plans to kill the funding for Article 10 in the conference report on the new appropriations for the next two fiscal years. .
While Abbott insisted on Tuesday that he isn't bluffing, the veto vow still appears to be a bluff that the governor is using to boost the leverage that he has over lawmakers in a special session that would be needed to keep the House and Senate and critical support agencies in business beyond September 1.
Abbott and Phelan both sought to blame the collapse on SB 7 on Democrats who'd left the House without a quorum that it needed to pass the controversial voting bill and other measures that were in line behind it on the final night for votes on conference committee reports. But Patrick has defused that line of spin by acknowledging that the Democrats had been in position to derail SB 7 as a consequence of the management of time in the west wing in the session's closing days.
The speaker had softened his tone by Monday afternoon - admitting that he hadn't tried to stop the Democrats from leaving when the collective disappearing act became apparent more than two hours before midnight with the first vote on the elections bills. Phelan had a full hour to try to keep 34 Democrats in the chamber after they'd cast votes against a resolution to strengthen SB 7 at the eleventh hour.
But Phelan defended the right of Democrats and Republicans alike to use every tactic at their disposal within the rules to do what they have to do to represent their individual districts the best they can at the statehouse.
Democratic lawmakers found themselves in big demand on Tuesday - portraying Abbott's veto plans as heartless and short-sighted in national television interviews that they also used as a plea for help from President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress with the passage of voting rights legislation that would nullify a significant number of restrictions that had been contained in SB 7.
State Rep. Nicole Collier - a Fort Worth Democrat who's an influential Phelan ally - argued Tuesday in an inteview on CNN that a veto of the Legislature's budget would do the most damage to legislative staffers and other dedicated state employees who would be out of work if Abbott backs up his words on a red pen kill.
Phelan reminded the governor today that the state would still be required to pay the salaries and per diem for state legislators as a right that's guaranted in the Texas Constitution.
more to come ... |
