Texas House Speaker signs civil arrest warrants to return absent Democrats to chamber

[Bodakane]

Link

AUSTIN, Texas — House Speaker Dade Phelan late Tuesday signed 52 arrest warrants for Democrats who left the state for Washington D.C. in July and have yet to return to the House chamber for the second special legislative session of the year.

The warrants came after Texas House Republicans voted to direct state law enforcement to track down and compel the attendance of absent Democrats by a vote of 80-12, the second time such a vote has been taken during this quorum-bust.

Sigh

[Belize]

Late Roman Senate flashback intensifies

[Mihalik]

It boggles the mind just how much of a fucking shithole Texas really is.

Slowly, but surely, they are starting to make Florida look normal.

[gondrin]

It boggles the mind just how much of a fucking shithole Texas really is.

Slowly, but surely, they are starting to make Florida look normal.

Don't worry, Florida will sure do something so dumb or terrible that everything will be right in the universe, or is that wrong in the universe in that case?

[Yadryonych]

I wonder if they are still paid for blatantly not attending their workplace

[crewskater]

If they don't want to show up and do their job, either arrest them or replace them.

[Machismo]

If they don't want to show up and do their job, either arrest them or replace them.

Well, vote them out next election.

There's your solution. Until then, they are doing their jobs.

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I wonder if they are still paid for blatantly not attending their workplace

They would argue that they are doing as their constituents want.

[bladeXcrasher]

Imagine when all the concern trolls find out TX hardly pays legislators anything. The question would be are they getting per diem which I would assume is no since they aren't in Austin.

[Benggaul]

Why are they not returning to the Texas chamber? Can we get some context please?

They went to DC to protest the restrictive voting bill. Without them there was no quorum to pass it.

As a reminder, Oregon GOP pulled this stunt a couple years ago and the rest of the GOP seemed perfectly fine with it.

[Bodakane]

I wonder if they are still paid for blatantly not attending their workplace

What if they are playing golf in Mar Largo?

[Ivanstone]

I wonder if they are still paid for blatantly not attending their workplace

It’s Texas. Legislators are a poorly paid part time job. They’re barely being paid in the first place.

[cubby]

If they don't want to show up and do their job, either arrest them or replace them.

I wonder if they are still paid for blatantly not attending their workplace

Some people doesn't know what a quorum is nor how politics work. But it's adorable you have these uninformed opinions that you spew around.

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They went to DC to protest the restrictive voting bill. Without them there was no quorum to pass it.

As a reminder, Oregon GOP pulled this stunt a couple years ago and the rest of the GOP seemed perfectly fine with it.

Hey @Yadryonych and @crewskater - can you link us your concern for when the GOP did this in Oregon? We'll wait.

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What if they are playing golf in Mar Largo?

Well played, sir. Well played.

[Yadryonych]

can you link us your concern for when the GOP did this in Oregon?

What GOP did in Oregon surely is the same immature bullshit, nice whataboutism though

[Bodakane]

What GOP did in Oregon surely is the same immature bullshit, nice whataboutism though

Its not whataboutism.

Its trying to get some moral consistency from you.

And since you weren't outraged when the GOP did the same thing, then it shows you're a political sycophant.

On last thing, please don't misconstrue cubby's attempt or my explanation as ignorance or shock that your morals are essentially a whore bending into whatever position the GOP tells them to. Cubby knew the answer when before he asked, and I knew I'd have to explain it to you once I saw his question. Not because we're smart, but because your ilk is predictable.

[cubby]

What GOP did in Oregon surely is the same immature bullshit, nice whataboutism though

And I'm sure you were just as concerned then as you are now, right? Got that post link for us yet?

[PACOX]

They went to DC to protest the restrictive voting bill. Without them there was no quorum to pass it.

As a reminder, Oregon GOP pulled this stunt couple of le years ago and the rest of the GOP seemed perfectly fine with it.

It was shit when they did it too. The only hill that Texas can stand on is that they aren't Oregon, so what happened in Oregon had nothing to do with them.

I like what the Texas Dems were standing for when they left. I think it was fine for a few days, but they need to return. politicians go AWOL and refuse to do their job then they should be removed. They still have a job to do. If the represensitives are really about their principles, they will say they are willing to be arrested and removed for their cause. Or they return to represent their base and plan retake and reform Texas through the government process. LARPING as Republicans isn't it, They are signaling to Republican's that you can just go rogue when you don't like when legislation doesn't go your way while still holding your see (doesn't matter if they got it from Republicans, Republicans will do it better and say 'who cares, the Dems do it too").

Are we going to argue reps shouldn't be at the very least automatically removed from office if they fail to show up after a certain amount of time?

[Egomaniac]

And I'm sure you were just as concerned then as you are now, right? Got that post link for us yet?

That's a pointless go-around. You come at him for not condemning the Republicans when they did, he comes back at you for not condemning the Democrats now.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Why are they not returning to the Texas chamber? Can we get some context please?

Abbott is trying to kill voting rights for a significant portion of the Texas population, breaking quorum prevents the legislative from moving any legislation onto the Governor's desk to be signed.

It is quite a lot to get into, but the link below has a decent summary of the situation and I'll go ahead and give my take on it as well.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07...ecial-session/

The short of it is that the GOP in Texas is citing non-existent voter fraud as reasons for restricting access to voting while claiming it is in the name of "protecting election security" when all it does is add additional barriers to voting. It doesn't improve election security, it just allows them to more easily suppress minority voters. It also includes a subsection for permitting partisan poll watchers (who are pretty much guaranteed to engage in voter intimidation, though I'd argue allowing partisan poll watchers already constitutes voter intimidation).

Among other restrictions, a restriction on drive-through voting and mail-in ballots is being added to cut down on people's ability to vote and forcing them to choose between voting and risking exposing themselves or others to COVID-19. It is draconian and fucked up beyond belief, hence why the legislators are staying out of the state to break the quorum because Texas is fucked if this shit gets through.

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I wonder if they are still paid for blatantly not attending their workplace

They haven't been paid for weeks at this point, why do you ponder this shit instead of just googling it?

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06...ure-democrats/

[Zan15]

If they don't want to show up and do their job, either arrest them or replace them.

its not a requirement otherwise there would be legislative rules around them being replaced/arrested if they didn't show up.

instead he had to make a separate order.

Also they can do their job outside the state except for voting, but they are not required under their job to vote on anything.

[Endus]

That's a pointless go-around. You come at him for not condemning the Republicans when they did, he comes back at you for not condemning the Democrats now.

The real issue to be talked about, there is why they were using that tactic.

The issue isn't the tactic, it's the motive. What laws were they trying to prevent the passage of, and for what reason(s)?

Because for the Democrats, here, it's opposition to a law that attacks the principle of a fair and equitable election.