AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the Texas primary runoffs
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton are looking to settle political scores within their own party in the upcoming primary runoff elections, in which voters will decide nearly three dozen unresolved races from the stateโs March 5 primary.
Some Democrats are already warning of a government shutdown as budget battle with GOP takes shape
House Speaker Kevin McCarthyโs bid to appease hardliners in his caucus and get the House moving again has some Democratic worried about the road ahead when it comes time to passing legislation to keep the government running.
Texas congressman Kevin Brady says heโs tested positive for COVID-19
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, has tested positive for the coronavirus, he said on Twitter on Tuesday evening. Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, a high-ranking member of Texasโ congressional delegation, tested positive for the coronavirus. The first statewide elected official to publicly confirm a positive coronavirus test was Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lehrmann in May. Other state lawmakers, including Rep. Tony Tinderholt, Sen. Kel Seliger and outgoing House Speaker Dennis Bonnen have tested positive. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also tested positive in early December.
Texas on brink of record 13K in hospitals as virus surges
FORT WORTH, Texas โ Texas was on the brink Monday of surpassing a record 13,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 as the number of new cases after the Christmas holiday continued surging, including Rep. Kay Granger, who said she tested positive upon returning to Washington for the new Congress. She had been scheduled to receive the second dose Wednesday but will now wait until she is through quarantining, said Michelle Koepp, a spokeswoman for Granger. People are expected to get some level of protection within a couple of weeks after the first shot, but full protection may not happen until a couple of weeks after the second shot. Texas has set new highs for hospitalized COVID-19 patients seven times in the past eight days. Nearly 16,000 new cases were reported Monday, and along the U.S- Mexico border, the small Texas city of Roma announced that longtime Police Chief Jose Garcia had died after contracting COVID-19.
Texas Congresswoman Kay Granger tests positive for coronavirus
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, a high-ranking member of Texasโ congressional delegation, has tested positive for the coronavirus, her office announced Monday afternoon. Granger tested positive for the respiratory disease after arriving in Washington, D.C. and is โasymptomatic and feeling great,โ her office said in a statement. The first statewide elected official to publicly confirm a positive coronavirus test was Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lehrmann in May. Other state lawmakers, including Rep. Tony Tinderholt, Sen. Kel Seliger and outgoing House Speaker Dennis Bonnen have tested positive. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also tested positive in early December.
Arizona congressman tests positive for virus; 2nd this week
(Bonnie Cash/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee said Saturday he tested positive for the coronavirus days after he sat close to another member of the panel, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who also tested positive. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said in a statement that he has the virus but, like Gohmert, has no symptoms. He is at least the 11th member of Congress known to have tested positive for the coronavirus. Grijalva went into isolation after Gohmert tested positive on Wednesday, since the two had sat close to each other at a Natural Resources hearing the day before. The White House tests anyone who will be in close proximity to the president, which is how Gohmert found out he had the virus.
Despite COVID crisis, Congress seeks to do its day job
On Friday, the House passed a $259 billion funding bill for foreign aid and the Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs departments along party lines. The measure is the first annual spending measure to pass either the House or Senate this year, but it has scant chance of becoming law, serving instead as a springboard for negotiations down the line. And if Trump loses the election, Democrats are likely to wait until the Biden administration is in place before wrapping up the annual bills, which fund the annual operations of federal Cabinet agencies. The Senate Appropriations panel canceled plans for drafting its 12 annual bills after Democrats served notice they would offer amendments on COVID relief and policing reform that Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., deemed too politically troublesome. As a result, Congress is likely to return to Washington in September to handle a stopgap funding bill that would last until December to prevent a campaign season government shutdown.
In two of Texas' hottest primaries, it's congressional clout versus ideological purity
WORTH โ U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, is the leading Republican on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Whether these districtsโ voters opt to keep them in office or throw out their seniority, favoring ideological purity over congressional clout, will have sweeping consequences for Texans across the state. They are two of the four Texans on the House Appropriations Committee, arguably the most exclusive committee in all of Congress. Senior members who chair subcommittees are known around the Hill as โcardinals,โ a title which Cuellar is close to achieving. If Granger and Cuellar find trouble on Tuesday night, incumbents in states to come will likely be on edge.