TEXAS – The mass exodus by Texas House Democrats continues in Washington D.C.
“We intend to be back on the hill Monday morning,” said southwest Houston-area Representative, Ron Reynolds, the Vice-Chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus.
The strategy is not complex. Democrats are outnumbered in the House at the capitol in Austin. Therefore, they are focused on convincing U.S Senate Democrats to pass new federal legislation, which will result in Texas conform.
Reynolds said they will be speaking, not only with Democratic Senators, but also representatives who were not in Washington this week.
“We have daily meetings on the hill next week and we look forward to trying to get this done before the August 6 recess,” said Reynolds.
With no quorum in the House, no legislation is being passed. Republicans are pointing to one key fact.
“All the Democrats didn’t leave, and some of the Democrats who left are returning,” said Representative Jim Murphy, the GOP Chair in the House.
Republican Speaker Dade Phelan did extend an olive branch on Friday. In a statement to KPRC 2 Investigates he wrote:
“I have offered a plane to state representatives who want to return back to Texas, and thus far, there are no members who want to get back to work,” the statement read.
The House Democrats responded with the following statement:
“The House Democratic Caucus, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, and the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus sent a response to the speaker that we were not interested in that,” said Reynolds.
Texas House Speaker offers Democrats free plane ride home to return to state
When asked what he had to say to those Democratic supporters who are in favor of what they are attempting to accomplish but do not like the approach of flying to D.C., Reynolds admitted, “There are some Democrats that say I don’t like the strategy. Our response to all of them has been, ‘What I am doing is working in D.C. to try to do what I can’t do in Texas right now.’”