The Blast - April 11, 2025

35 days for the House to pass legislation that originated in the House
52 days until sine die

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• Budget night spins aimlessly

• Will Paxton get his back pay?

• No friend of Brian Harrison

• Meanwhile, Chip Roy falls in line on the federal budget

BUDGET NIGHT SPINS AIMLESSLY

For those looking for fireworks, budget night fizzled into a dud.

The House’s budget debate is always a protracted affair, with hours packed full of points of order, legislative maneuvering, and plenty of fights to rile up the members. This time, it felt like the wheels kept spinning aimlessly, stuck in the muck of parliamentary procedure with few changes to show for it and lots of dead air. Thanks to the tit-for-tat points of order that blew up between the leadership bloc and the House’s right flank, the chamber went until 3:13 a.m., the third latest budget night in recent memory.

The biggest takeaway of the night may be that Democrats remain a key part of Speaker Dustin Burrows’ governing majority.

Democrats didn’t put up much of a show of force, apart from Rep. John Bucy’s perennial amendment to expand Medicaid, Rep. Joe Moody’s Department of Public Safety report on gun casualties amendment or Republican Reps. Tom Oliverson and Caroline Harris Davila’s successful effort to boost anti-abortion crisis center funding by $70 million. They floated none of their trial balloons attacking education savings accounts, and Democrats only recorded seven “nays” against a budget that included $1 billion for the program — the first time the Texas House has given the green light to a voucher program since the 1950s.

It might just be the calm before the ESA storm next week. But in many ways, Democrats were leadership’s bushwhackers, quashing debate on some of the right-flank’s talking points and saving Republican leadership from taking some unsavory votes.

It was Democrats who:

• Killed several of conservatives’ amendments, including the Paxton back pay plan (more on that later)

• Killed a vote on defunding some of Texas’ public universities, including UT-Austin, for having LGBTQ- and DEI-related programs

• Banded together with most Burrows-voting Republicans to vote down rerouting millions in corrections facilities funding to private jails, 93-53.

It was on that jails vote that Democratic Leader Gene Wu yelled out from the back rows something along the lines of a “you’re welcome” to leadership, which you can barely see happen in silence on the muted House feed.

And former longtime Democratic Rep. Tracy King, now a Burrows adviser, spent the day and night working the room, even corralling a pack of ticked-off rabble rousers, including Republican Reps. Shelley Luther, Brent Money and Nate Schatzline, in the early morning hours.

By the end of the night, conservatives’ main gripe was that the budget didn’t do enough to reduce property taxes.

“What the average Texan needs to understand is that the Texas budget is carefully crafted by a handful of men in a secret star chamber following eighteen hours of meaningless deliberation,” Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, submitted to the journal. “May God forgive us; I fear Texans will not.”

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WILL PAXTON GET HIS BACK PAY?

The main thing a lot of people were waiting to witness was the effort to award Attorney General Ken Paxton his back pay from the time he was impeached and suspended. Yet, what many people didn’t realize was that the effort had been effectively dead for hours.

When Democratic Reps. Mary González and Erin Zwiener pulled their discovered check “chess move” yesterday to kill dozens of conservatives’ amendments, they also dealt a blow to the back pay effort.

Freshman Republican Rep. Mitch Little’s budget amendment to give Paxton $63,750 to recoup lost wages from when he was impeached was swept into Article XI, the trash bin of the budget. So, he and his band of amendment backers planned to add the back pay as an amendment to Little’s OAG pay raise amendment — an amendment to the amendment. But thanks to González’s move, Democrats and House leadership killed two birds with one stone.

That wasn’t the end of the Paxton back pay effort, however. Freshman Republican Rep. Andy Hopper had an amendment to the supplemental budget, House Bill 500, to give the attorney general unexpended funds from the current fiscal biennium as back pay in the coming biennium.

The last stand came shortly after 3 a.m., when freshman Republican Rep. Brent Money took to the back mic to advocate against mass-approving all supplemental budget amendments into their designated place or Article 9a. Article 9a is a bit more concrete than the Article XI “wish list” in the budget, which is to say that if the supplemental was approved as currently written, those articles would take effect.

The more important point is that House leadership and Democrats denied Paxton’s supporters a forum to debate the merits of giving him his lost $63,750.

Support for giving Paxton his lost wages extends beyond the core two-dozen or so Burrows critics. At least Republican Reps. Tom Oliverson and Carrie Isaac signed on to Little’s amendment along with the hardliners. Republican Paxton impeachment manager Jeff Leach’s House Bill 3067 would let officials collect their salary throughout their suspension. Without a vote, we may never know the extent of the support.

The back pay effort has two paths forward.

The first would be for the House and Senate to approve it in their conference committee. Without an up or down vote showing the House’s support for it, House leadership could wave away the issue. However, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said a week ago that “I do think that the House owes Ken Paxton that back pay,” as Little’s amendment would’ve directly done.

The other option would be to get the attorney general his wages back through the Legislature’s claims bill, the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committee measures to pay miscellaneous claims and judgments with state funds. The two vehicles this session are House Bill 4486 and Senate Bill 2193.

HB 4486 is slated for a hearing on Tuesday. Oliverson and pro-Paxton Republican members Brian Harrison and J.M. Lozano serve on Appropriations.

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NO FRIEND OF BRIAN HARRISON

Rep. Brian Harrison was on the phone for much of the budget day and night. It’s not unusual for Harrison — or other members — to be on the phone, but he was on so much it caught the attention of plenty of people on the floor. He was even taking calls past 2 a.m.

It was a back-to-back display of how isolated the Midlothian Republican has become in the House after his attempt to oust Speaker Dustin Burrows fizzled out with only one other supporter on Wednesday. That followed Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggesting last week that Harrison “just wants to make news.”

In one final juxtaposition at the end of the night, freshman Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Fort Worth, was the first at the front mic to speak in opposition of the budget.

“There’s probably no member in this Texas House that has worked harder to put together a bill than Dr. Bonnen,” Olcott began, commending Appropriations Committee Chair Greg Bonnen.

Reps. Brent Money of Greenville, Wes Virdell of Brady, David Lowe of North Richland Hills and Andy Hopper of Decatur, all Republican freshmen, flanked Olcott as he critiqued the budget for not giving more of Texas’ $24 billion surplus back to property owners. Then, Harrison took to the mic.

“This is the most liberal, bloated, reckless budget in the history of Texas,” Harrison began.

The group all cleared out. Even Lowe — who backed the attempt to oust Burrows and is usually by Harrison’s side during his parliamentary questioning — backed away.

And when it came time to share the clips, who did second-term Rep. Nate Schatzline highlight?

“My friend and colleague [Mike Olcott] said it best,” Schatzline began his post.

MEANWHILE, CHIP ROY FALLS IN LINE ON THE FEDERAL BUDGET

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, fell in line with Republican leadership Thursday after pushing for more spending cuts during a tumultuous week of federal budget resolution discussions.

Roy had argued that the budget resolution, made by Senate Republicans, did not cut enough government spending. He was one of the Republican holdouts invited to the White House on Tuesday to hear President Donald Trump make his case for the budget.

The budget vote — that framework for the budget process — was initially scheduled for Wednesday night, but Roy and other holdouts, like Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, forced Speaker Mike Johnson to push the vote to Thursday morning.

The congressman was coy about his intentions on the bill — even minutes before the vote — until he joined most Republicans in passing the budget resolution. He told reporters afterward that he changed his mind after last-minute promises by the White House, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

These promises included a goal to cut $1.5 trillion from the federal deficit. Other cuts promised to Roy, he said, would include dealing with the Inflation Reduction Act and “the waste, fraud and abuse with Medicaid, making sure that we’re delivering to the American people with actual spending reduction.”

— Katharine Wilson

Maternal health care in Texas presents a stark contrast: the state has world-class medical facilities and specialists, but Texas women are more likely to be uninsured, miss routine check-ups and die during pregnancy and childbirth than in almost any other state.

How can state leaders respond to these growing gaps and ensure all Texas women have access to maternal health care?

Eleanor Klibanoff, The Tribune’s women’s health reporter, will moderate a conversation focused on strategies to strengthen maternal health in rural Texas communities and why improving women’s health outcomes helps all Texans. Confirmed speakers include:

• Lisa Dillard, March of Dimes West Texas, director, Maternal & Infant Health Initiative

• Jill Shanklin, vice president for nursing excellence, UMC Health System, Lubbock

• Dr. Lauren Swartz, family physician at Covenant Health Plainview

The Tribune’s Lubbock-based reporter, Jayme Lozano Carver, will host the event.

Doors open for lunch at University Medical Center in Lubbock at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 22, and the one-hour event begins at noon. Lunch is provided.

RSVP today

• The Senate yesterday passed its squatters bill, Senate Bill 38, 21-8.

House plans for next week:

• While laying out the budget, House Appropriations Committee Chair Greg Bonnen announced that the public school finance bill, House Bill 2, will be on the floor next week. Senate Bill 2, the education savings accounts bill, is expected to appear the same day — likely Wednesday, in order to get members home in time for Good Friday.

• The House’s proposed constitutional amendments to ban capital gains taxes and “death taxes” were postponed in that chamber until Tuesday, Tax Day, at noon.

The House will convene at 2 p.m. on Monday.

Some eligible items from the Senate’s intent calendar on Monday:

• Senate Bill 22, the film incentives program

• Senate Bill 33, stopping taxpayer-funded abortion travel

The Senate is recessed until 11 a.m. on Monday.

Highlights for next week’s committee hearings:

• The House Appropriations Committee will meet at 8 a.m. on Tuesday to consider its claims bill and other proposals.

• The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will meet at 1 p.m. on Monday or upon adjournment or recess to take up 11 bills, including Senate Bill 2653 by Sen. Bob Hall to ban the fluoridation of public water.

View the full list of upcoming committee notices here and here.

TX-SEN: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn raised nearly $2.5 million in his various campaign entities in Q1 of 2025, according to a source familiar with Cornyn’s political operation. That brings his total cash on hand to $5.7 million at the end of the quarter.

TX-SEN, cont.: Cornyn’s campaign, in a fundraising pitch obtained by The Blast, called on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sever ties with one of his impeachment defense attorneys, Dan Cogdell, because he is representing EPIC City. In an interview this week with Glenn Beck, Paxton said he’d only recently learned that Cogdell was representing EPIC City. “It’s obviously a little concerning that I wasn’t made aware of that. And there definitely could be an argument that there’s a conflict, because I’m still being represented by him and he’s representing clients that we are investigating. So, yeah, a little conflict-y to me.”

LT. GOV.: President Donald Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for reelection yesterday, and Patrick made his reelection bid official this morning.

• U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz introduced the Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act, which would return the retired Space Shuttle Discovery from Virginia to its “rightful home” with a nonprofit near the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

• Courageous Conservatives PAC filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by state Rep. Pat Curry in which the Waco Republican accuses the PAC and Chair Chris Ekstrom of doxxing his phone number during the speaker’s race.

“Federal judge rules against Trump, halts deportation of Venezuelans held in Texas under wartime act” by Berenice Garcia of The Texas Tribune

“Texas Republican lawmakers unwilling to change abortion laws to address doomed pregnancies” by Eleanor Klibanoff of The Texas Tribune

“Mexico to send water to Texas farmers as US treaty threat grows” by Cassandra Garrison and Raul Cortes of Reuters

“These charts reveal the daunting challenge facing the ERCOT power grid in the next five years” by Claire Hao of the Houston Chronicle

“A message from our CEO, Sonal Shah” in The Texas Tribune

Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.

(April 11) Former Texas Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira
(April 13) Former state Rep. Ernest Bailes, R-Shepherd
(April 13) State Rep. Christina Morales, D-Houston

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