Table Of Content
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says foreign aid bills will allow department "to surge lifesaving security assistance"
- House Speaker Dade Phelan, enemy of the far-right, faces toughest reelection yet
- Here’s how to vote in Texas’ May 28 runoff elections
- Palestinian official condemns vote by US House for aid package to Israel
- The House just voted on a potential TikTok ban (again). Now what?
- Two House Republicans repent for voting to impeach Ken Paxton
In the Senate, Patrick, who won reelection in November for another four-year term, welcomed senators back to the chamber cheerily. Lozano of Kingsville, Morgan Meyer of University Park, Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi, Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, John Raney of College Station and Janie Lopez of San Benito. Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont by custom does not ordinarily vote and is not included in the analysis here, nor is Bryan Slaton of Royse City, who was expelled from the House in early May. Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says foreign aid bills will allow department "to surge lifesaving security assistance"
Club for Growth wades into Texas primary battles - The Texas Tribune
Club for Growth wades into Texas primary battles.
Posted: Wed, 03 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Twenty-five Republicans voted against the fourth bill, which included measures that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the United States and that would redirect funds from seized Russian assets to help aid Ukraine. Democrats put up a big vote — 174 — in favor of this bill, which was intended to sweeten the overall package for conservatives. Not only had Paxton and Patrick publicly called on Phelan to resign last year, but the speaker also earned the ire of Gov. Greg Abbott when the House sunk the governor’s school voucher proposal. Abbott did not endorse anyone in this race, appearing indifferent to Phelan’s political survival. Locally, he touted his record delivering funding for district priorities like Lamar University and flood control over his decade in office.
House Speaker Dade Phelan, enemy of the far-right, faces toughest reelection yet
A registered voter without a valid photo ID or any of the supporting documents can also cast a provisional ballot. The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Interfaith Alliance and Texas Impact, an interfaith grassroots network, sent school districts across Texas a letter signed by more than 100 Texas chaplains urging school leaders to reject the chaplain law. But Texas lawmakers who voted to approve the bill said the measure was a way to support school districts facing a shortage of school counselors.
Here’s how to vote in Texas’ May 28 runoff elections
The House of Representatives on Saturday passed a more than $60 billion bill to provide military and economic aid to Ukraine. The following is an alphabetical list of members of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Texas. For chronological tables of members of both houses of the United States Congress from the state (through the present day), see United States congressional delegations from Texas. The list of names should be complete as of January 3, 2023, but other data may be incomplete. Phelan had cruised to victory in previous contests, and no incumbent House speaker has lost a primary since Rayford Price in 1972, but this was the most difficult reelection he has faced.
House Republicans who blocked McCarthy’s leadership for more than a dozen votes, grinding Congressional business to a halt for four days last week. Phelan also cited recent reporting by The Texas Tribune about an increase in rural hospitals no longer delivering babies and committed to reversing that trend. He said the record $32.7 billion budget surplus should allow lawmakers to make a “down payment on the future of Texas,” citing additional needs including roads, clean water, flood mitigation and high-speed internet. This ranking of the Texas House members does the same thing, by drawing on the 2,769 non-lopsided roll-call votes taken during the 2023 regular session. The package consists of four bills that were voted on separately and will be combined into one before being sent to the Senate. The first three bills include $60.8 billion to help Ukraine in its war with Russia; $26.4 billion to support Israel, which is fighting Hamas and Iran; and $8.1 billion to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.
The candidates who advance to the general election and are elected in November will have the opportunity to affect public policy and Texans’ lives in areas such as education, health care and immigration. There are also a few runoffs for seats in the Texas Senate, the Texas State Board of Education, which is responsible for determining curriculum standards for Texas’ 5.5 million public school students, and the U.S. Here’s who’s facing runoffs and how to vote if there’s one in your district.
Citing classified briefings he's received, Johnson called the aid "critically important" in pushing back on Russian aggression. "No matter how you slice it, allowing them to serve in an official capacity in the school, cloaks them in the authority of the school, and that's going to be a violation of the Establishment Clause," he said. Waldron said as a former school teacher, he is concerned that the bill would violate students' privacy rights and become a "massive liability." He also said he thought it would violate the principle of separation of church and state. It would still require chaplains to pass a background check and they would need no certification from the Oklahoma Department of Education. Rep. Jen Kiggans, a vulnerable Republican from Virginia, also praised the speaker. “I'm pretty sure one will come to the floor, if he doesn't resign at some point, but we're trying to avoid that,” he said.
Two House Republicans repent for voting to impeach Ken Paxton
“If we had the vote today in our conference, he would not be speaker today. He's already a lame duck, he can't raise money, everyone knows it,” Greene claimed. Ukrainian servicemen told CNN the US House vote to approve military aid provides a much-needed shot in the arm. In March, House lawmakers approved a bill that would give TikTok roughly six months to sell or the app would be prohibited from US app stores and from “internet hosting services” that support it. As a result of his move, Johnson could face a vote on his ouster in the coming weeks. The GOP speaker, however, has grown more willing to confront the threat from the right, and Democrats have suggested that they're willing to protect him from an ouster effort if he allowed a vote on Ukraine aid.
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Instead of a six-month deadline, TikTok would have roughly nine months, which could be extended by President Joe Biden by 90 days if he determines there’s been progress toward a sale. Also, the bill has now been inserted into a larger foreign aid package, which makes it much harder for lawmakers to oppose the measure. Still, 37 “no” votes, while a break from Washington’s ironclad support for the Jewish state, fell short of the opposition bloc progressives had hoped to muster.
Humanitarian aid for Gaza, which Democrats said was necessary for their support, is also included. Chaplains in public schools became a hot button topic in Texas this spring because school districts across the state had until February 28 to decide whether or not they would opt in on the chaplain program created by SB 763. Authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, with Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, as its House sponsor, the bill would authorize public school districts to welcome chaplains as hired staff or as volunteers to provide support, services and programs for students. A bill that will allow public schools to hire faith-based chaplains or accept them as volunteers is advancing through the Legislature with some major additions. Several swing-district House Republicans praised Speaker Mike Johnson for pushing forward with the foreign aid bills and attacked his detractors.
A foreign aid package passed by the US House of Representatives will “exacerbate global crises,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement to CNN on Saturday. An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the political party of a group of representatives who notably voted “no” on new aid for Israel. "This runoff is not just another race, it's the frontline of the battle for the soul of our district," Phelan said in a statement Tuesday evening. "While my opponent hides behind empty rhetoric, dishonest advertising and surrogate voices, I stand before voters with a clear record of service and conservative success." Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is facing a runoff election after he failed to secure a majority of votes in primary voting, the clearest sign to date of his precarious position within the Republican Party.
At the most liberal end of the Democratic ideological spectrum, nine representatives stand out, with Lib-Con Scores that are significantly more liberal than those of more than one-half of their Democratic colleagues. They range from Ramos, who is significantly more liberal than 62 of her 63 (98%) fellow Democrats, to Ron Reynolds of Missouri City, who is significantly more liberal than 32 out of 63 (51%) fellow Democrats. Along those lines, West, in a House debate over the bill, said he envisioned school chaplains operating similar to military chaplains under the new measure. The House passed a long-stalled foreign aid package on Saturday that gives funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, with a majority of lawmakers backing money for American allies across the globe. The package, which now goes to the Senate, is almost certain to become law.
Congress to map their places on the Liberal-Conservative scale along which most legislative politics now takes place. This ranking of the Texas House members, which has been conducted biennially since 2011, does the same thing, by drawing on the 1,558 non-lopsided roll-call votes taken during the 2023 regular session and four special sessions held during 2023. Non-lopsided votes are those where at least 2.5% of the representatives casting a vote are on the losing side. The 64-member Democratic House delegation also reflects a diverse set of ideological positions, albeit one that is somewhat less polarized than the Republican delegation. The Democratic delegation is anchored at its liberal end by Christina Morales of Houston, Gene Wu of Houston, Ana-Maria Ramos of Richardson, Jessica González of Dallas, Vikki Goodwin of Austin and Erin Zwiener of Driftwood. The Democratic delegation is anchored at its least liberal end by Richard Peña Raymond of Laredo, Terry Canales of Edinburg, Tracy King of Uvalde, Sergio Muñoz Jr. of Palmview, Bobby Guerra of Mission and Oscar Longoria of Mission.
GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie railed on House Speaker Mike Johnson and his handling of the foreign aid bills, despite deciding not to move to oust the speaker Saturday. The bill is widely expected to pass the Senate in the coming days, as it generally mirrors a $95.3 billion national security bill passed by the upper chamber in February. While all Democrats voted in favor of aid to Ukraine and all but Ms. Tlaib supported funding to Taiwan, 37 left-leaning Democrats defected to vote against the Israel aid bill. They said before the vote that they opposed unfettered aid to Israel that could be used in its offensive in Gaza. The opposition to the Israel aid represented a minority of Democrats, but reflected the deep resistance to unconditional aid and the divisions in the party on Gaza.
At the other end of the Democratic ideological spectrum are 19 Democrats whose Lib-Con Scores are significantly less liberal than that of more than one-half of their fellow Democrats. They range from Peña Raymond, who is significantly less liberal than 61 of his 63 (97%) Democratic colleagues, to Mary Ann Perez of Houston, who is significantly less liberal than 32 of her 63 (51%) fellow Democrats. Johnson said earlier this week that if he hadn't moved forward with his plan, an effort to bypass him and force a vote on the Senate bill would have gained more support.
