In Texas, the governor has the sole authority to call a special session and the legislative topics are of the governor’s choosing. Governor Greg Abbott called for a special session because Republican majorities in both the executive and legislative branches failed to pass legislative priorities.
Among the bills considered was a basic voter integrity bill that would penalize behavior consistent with voter fraud. But for the House or Senate to remain open, the Texas Constitution requires two-thirds of the lawmakers to be present. Texas Democrats, romanticizing themselves as La Résistance, fled the state on three private jets from Austin to DC. But it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.
The Corpus Christi Caller Times reported that freshman Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan stated, “If they (Democrats) felt like walking out was representing their districts, I was not going to force them to vote on a piece of legislation that was offensive to their district."
What kind of leadership is that? Does this sound like a man who is confident in his conservative values? Unfortunately, Phelan’s behavior has been consistent with other high-ranking Texas Republicans.
Director of Advocacy for the Texas Freedom Coalition Sarah J. Fields points out that,
"Every single bill that would ban pediatric gender modification died in legislative session and was not brought up again in special session. This issue of protecting children was completely ignored by governor Abbott. It was later discovered that governor Abbott had accepted $1.6 million from Border Health PAC that owns a string transgender clinics on the border that allegedly cater to illegals and experiment on children. He also accepted $250,000 from a clinic known to chemically castrate children. Speaker of the House Phelan also took over $100,000 in donations from the Border Health PAC."
The same people who refused to force quorum also scheduled bills restricting gender modifications on minors at a time when the leadership knew they wouldn’t be heard. They had the benefit of saying they wrote the legislation, but could tell their Silicon Valley partners it would not pass. If self-styled conservatives won’t even conserve something as sacred as gender, what use are they?When Governor Abbott refuses to meet the basic expectations of cultural and religious conservatives, yet he accommodates Silicon Valley giants whose bizarre culture contradicts Texan values, he spits in the eyes of the Texans that make Texas, Texas. But that’s what happens when your governor accepts millions of dollars in donations from big tech tycoons and Chamber of Commerce Republicans- your state gets flooded with cheap labor and degenerate values.
Governor Greg Abbott was oddly absent from last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in his own state. Abbott, who garnered 0 percent in the CPAC Presidential Straw Poll in February and 1% last weekend, explained his absence claiming that he had the special session to attend in Austin. Well now you see the fruits of his labor, a failed special session to match a failed regular session. Abbott is threatening to arrest the Democrats returning to Texas. Let’s hope he does a better job arresting Democrats than illegal aliens.
