Texas Democrats say Republicans cheated to get a quorum in the House

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Republicans in the Texas House finally got their much-sought-after quorum Thursday, by the skin of their teeth.

There were 99 members registered as of Thursday evening, the exact number needed to end the 38-day Democratic quorum break on the Republican Party’s priority election bill. But it quickly became apparent that some of the 99 members were not physically on the ground, but were marked by their colleagues.

That means the House could be running at a weak quorum in the coming days, even if more Democrats start to return, though no one gave any indication this Friday.

While some Democrats admitted Thursday night that the quorum was over, others were less willing to admit defeat.

“Based on numerous media reports, it seems clear that there was no real quorum present – ironically, given that this entire session is based on Republicans preaching about so-called voter integrity,” he said. Representative Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chairman of the Democratic Caucus House, said in a statement.

A group of 34 House Democrats issued a statement Friday calling it a “questionable quorum” and warning Republicans “will lie about the number of lawmakers present at the Capitol to set the quorum, keep jeans in the dark and bend the rules to get in your way “.

In a follow-up interview, Turner said the apparent lack of a real quorum was “of great concern.” He declined to speculate on whether the Democratic presence on the floor would increase when House nexts meet on Monday.

Publicly, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beamont, shows no concern for the durability of the quorum in the future.

“President Phelan is grateful for the growing number of members fighting for their districts at the State Capitol,” Phelan spokesman Enrique Márquez said in a one-sentence statement for that story.

There is no doubt that there will be enough Democrats in the near future to put an end to any uncertainty about the threshold. The next opportunity for any returning Democrat to show up is when the House meets at 4 p.m. Monday.

The first bust of the Democratic quorum came in the last hours of the May regular session, when members presented themselves in the House to block final approval of a Republican Party voting bill. They increased the lead in July when more than 50 members boarded a plane and fled to Washington, DC, during the first special session and continued to refuse to appear at the Capitol during the first weeks of the second session. special, which began on August 7th.

The Republican Party election bill would ban, among other things, local voting options aimed at expanding access to voting and strengthening access for partisan observers to the vote. Democrats and voting rights advocates say it restricts voting rights in the state. Republicans, who control both houses of the legislature, say the proposal is intended to ensure “electoral integrity.”

One of the Democrats still in Washington, DC, Representative Ron Reynolds of Missouri City said he predicts that “maybe half” of the remaining Democrats will speak again in the coming days while he and others stay in Washington to continue. their struggle for federal legislation on voting rights.

“I’m very disappointed,” Reynolds said. “We are disappointed that some members of the Democratic group are returning without consensus, without a unified front.”

Reynolds said he intends to remain in the country’s capital until at least next week, when the U.S. House is expected to vote on John Lewis’s Voting Rights Advancement Act. He is still deciding what to do next.

If the quorum margin continues to stand on the edge of the razor, Republicans cannot afford to have absences and should continue to show unanimity or closeness. They showed they were willing to do it all Thursday with the assistance of San Antonio Rep. Steve Allison, who recently tested positive for COVID-19 and registered as present while isolated in an adjacent room.

Allison tested negative on Thursday and plans to be in the courtroom on Monday and the following days when lawmakers are in session, according to her chief of staff, Rocky Gage.

The House cannot do business without a quorum, which is two-thirds of the House, a threshold that stands at 100 when the 150 seats are charged. With two vacant seats pending special elections to replace former state MPs Jake Ellzey, R-Waxahachie, who is now in Congress, and Leo Pacheco, D-San Antonio, who resigned effective Thursday to work at San Antonio College, the quorum threshold is currently 99.

Special elections for Ellzey’s seat will be held on August 31, although they could reach a second round at a later date. And special elections for Pacheco’s seat have not yet been scheduled.

The 99 members who effectively make up the current quorum include the 82 Republicans; 14 Democrats who, before Thursday, had never broken the quorum or had already chosen to return to the floor; and three new Democratic defectors who announced their arrival shortly before the quorum met Thursday evening: Houston representatives Armando Walle, Ana Hernandez and Garnet Coleman.

Without a massive return from the remaining Democrats, reaching a quorum in the next few days could still be a difficult proposition.

That is, of course, if the House leaders really count how many members are physically present, which they have no incentive to do while trying to put the quorum in the past. Any member present can request a “strict execution” of a vote, which would force a more accurate attendance count, but that didn’t happen on Thursday.

“Who asks for a strict application?” one of the Democrats still breaking the quorum, Representative Michelle Beckley of Carrollton, he tweeted briefly before the House meets and a quorum is constituted.

It is not clear what incentive members who apply to demand strict application must ask for: they are mostly Republicans who want to get back to work and get over the quorum break. The same could be said about the Democrats who have been present.

Reynolds said he is optimistic that as Democratic figures continue to grow, there will be more possibilities for strict enforcement.

“We were disappointed that it didn’t happen yesterday,” Reynolds said. “But hopefully, as we move forward as a group, some of the returning members will agree to do so. I think there has already been consensus among the returning members and they are willing to do that.”

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