USA: Texas Democrats escape state to block Republican-backed bill

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A group of 57 Texas House Democrats escaped the state to block a second attempt by Republicans to pass a voting bill, as seen at the Capitol, Washington DC, on Tuesday.

The group had flown in on private jets the day before, and held a press conference in front of the Capitol building, with several journalists in attendance.

“There are a hundred and fifty members of the Texas House, it takes two-thirds of the body present to constitute a quorum, so a hundred members,” explained Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner.

Turner went on to explain how the lawmakers had each mailed letters to the House general clerk, ordering for their voting machines to be locked, and to remain locked until further notice was given.

Texas representative Senfronia Thompson expressed how she was not in Washington DC to ‘take a vacation,’ but because she wanted to stand up for the ‘sacred’ right of Texans to be able to vote.

“I am not going to be a hostage, that my constituent’s rights will be stripped from them. We fought too long and too hard in this country,” said Thompson. “And those rights are not going to be infringed upon.”

The group will spend the next few days lobbying for the ‘For the People ‘Act’, a bill that aims to expand people’s voting rights.

Following the walkout, Texas House Republicans voted to track down the absent Democrats and arrest them if necessary, despite lacking the two-thirds quorum to do so.

SOT, Chris Turner, Democratic Caucus chair: “There are a hundred and fifty members of the Texas House, it takes two thirds of the body present to constitute a quorum, so a hundred members. We vote in Texas and we register attendance by use of voting machines on our desks. And minutes ago at least fifty seven letters were delivered to the House general clerk directing the house to lock our voting machines and not unlock them until we provide expressed permission to do so upon our return.”

SOT, Rafael Anchia, Texas representative: “We are not here smiling, we are not spiking the ball, we are not saying that we are happy. In fact we are very sad for democracy in the state of Texas. And we took our solemn oath to protect the Constitution of the United States and to protect the constitution of the State of Texas and that is why we stand united before you here today in preserving not only the democracy in Texas but the Democracy of the United States.”

SOT, Rhetta Bowers, Texas representative: “We were quite literally forced to move and leave the State of Texas. We also know that we are living right now on borrowed time in Texas. And we cannot stay here indefinitely to run out the clock to stop republican anti-voter bills. That’s why we need congress to act now and pass the ‘For the People act’. Texas democrats will use everything in our power to fight back but we need the Congress to act now.”

SOT, Senfronia Thompson, Texas representative: “I am not up here to take a vacation in Washington DC. When I looked at the African-American museum I thought about the struggle my people fought in this country to get the right to vote. And that right is sacred to my constituency that I represent back in Houston Texas. And I am up here because I don’t plan to be a sitting person in that legislature. I am not going to be a hostage, that my constituent’s rights will be stripped from them. We fought too long and too hard in this country and that was a Texan called President Linden Johnson, August 6 1965, that made sure that we had the right to vote, and those rights are not going to be infringed upon. But this legislature may have, these Republicans may have changed the Messiah Jesus to Trump but I haven’t. And I am going to make sure that I do everything that I can do, that my constituents’ rights will not be stripped from them because of what they believe. And it’s a lie, Trump lost the election and they need to tell the people of this country the truth. And if they won’t I am going to.”

#USA #Texas #Democrats #WashingtonDC

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