The Blast - April 17, 2025

29 days for the House to pass legislation that originated in the House
46 days until sine die

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• “Show the speaker voting aye.”

• What happens next?

• Richards memorial resolutions blows up the calendar

• Cruz defends Trump over man wrongfully deported

“SHOW THE SPEAKER VOTING AYE.”

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows must have a crystal ball, because his predictions this session have been dead on.

Yesterday, he guessed the House would end its day at 2:30 a.m. They ultimately wrapped at 2:34 a.m.

But he was also spot on with a more consequential prediction earlier this session.

“There will be more votes on the House floor for school choice when it passes than there are coauthors,” Burrows said three weeks ago, during his press conference with Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

In the end, despite the band of Republican holdouts against the education savings account plan, all but two GOP members voted in favor of Senate Bill 2. That exceeded the 76 House sponsors and authors who signed on to the voucher legislation.

Burrows helped make it happen, in part because he was the first speaker to openly support the measure. (Former Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, was one of the two to vote against the bill.) However, the final push came from above.

In public statements and posts, members — and their families — have started to peel back the layers on the pressure they received and what would happen if they didn’t play along.

Up until at least Wednesday morning, freshman Rep. Jeff Barry, R-Pearland, was firmly against the bill. He had campaigned against vouchers in a primary against Abbott-backed Alex Kamkar.

“If I voted against it I would have had every statewide and national political AI figure against me. Not to mention all of my bills vetoed,” Barry wrote in a Facebook reply to his statement. “The consequences were dire with no upside at all.”

Clarisa Darby, the wife of Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, defended her husband in his replies with a since-deleted comment, outlining that school funding, oil and gas, water and higher education institutions in the district are issues too important to be vetoed.

She also touched on a key difference between the anti-voucher effort this session and last session.

“In talking to district superintendents before the vote, they made it clear that it was imperative to have school funding,” Clarisa Darby said. “They understood the choice … and school funding was more important to them. Cannot go another two years without it.”

Every flip who has gone public has noted that if they voted no, the Legislature would’ve passed a worse bill.

“If we did not pass it last night with a super majority republican support … the Senate had stated explicitly they would strip the amendments and send it to the governor as it was originally written,” said Rep. Jay Dean, R-Longview, in several Facebook replies. “We watered it down to where it will not affect [House District 7], gives more money to local schools and the voucher program now only has a two year lifespan.”

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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

What comes next largely depends on how Democrats respond.

Killing school vouchers was one of the top issues for the caucus, and Democrats proceeded to drag out the night after Republicans voted down the amendment that would have put the education savings account question on the ballot in November. However, there’s still the Democrats’ plan to kill every single constitutional amendment.

Although The Blast first reported the strategy this week, Democrats threw down the gauntlet weeks ago. Part of the reason why the referendum measure got as far as it did is because Speaker Dustin Burrows promised to be neutral on the amendment, according to anti-voucher Republican and Democratic sources familiar with the negotiations. Burrows’ office has not responded to The Blast’s inquiry on the matter.

A major test will take place when the House reconvenes on Tuesday. Four resolutions are on the calendar as postponed business, and a fifth was just scheduled for the first time this morning.

Then on Wednesday, the House agenda contains the Senate joint resolution to create the Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas, a priority project of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Another proposed constitutional amendment from the House appears later on the calendar. That could be the true test of Democrats’ resolve — sticking it to Patrick.

Democrats weren’t immediately clear what their plan would be in the aftermath of yesterday’s floor votes. Although they had threatened to kill constitutional amendments, Republicans are calling their bluff, and Gov. Greg Abbott will hold them responsible if property tax and bail measures don’t pass.

Additionally, Democrats still appear to be a crucial part of Burrows’ governing majority. Although Burrows easily survived the motion to remove him last week, there’s a core group of 16 or so Republicans who consistently buck leadership. That’s enough for Burrows to fall below 76 supporters if every Democrat banded against him.

Realistically, many in the right flank wouldn’t currently support a mid-session speaker’s race, as we saw last week. However, Burrows needs to keep it in mind.

The other question is, once the House and Senate formalize their consensus on the ESA plan, what issues do the hardliners latch onto next.

During budget night, several of their amendments would have increased the amount of property tax relief. Freshman Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Fort Worth, mentioned property taxes as his reason for opposing the budget.

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RICHARDS MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS BLOWS UP THE CALENDAR

Today, the hardliners snuffed out a memorial resolution honoring the late Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood and daughter of Gov. Ann Richards — and took down a lot more with it.

Hardliner Republicans took aim at the Richards resolution, refusing to support someone who made their career off supporting abortions — but leadership said all the memorial resolutions being considered by the House today had to be voted on together. Voting against Richards, meant voting against a resolution for Jill Glover, a conservative activist who died last year.

After an hourlong break in the action, the House returned and leadership pulled down the entire memorial resolutions calendar, the one that included Richards, and the entirety of the local and consent calendar after the warring right-wing and Democratic caucuses sniped each bill.

What that means is that all the measures that were on the local and consent calendar return to the committee. The committee and Chair Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, can try to get those bills placed on the local and consent calendar again, although they must wait until not the next calendar, but the one after that to do so. Alternatively, the committee could send the bills to the regular Calendars Committee.

Similarly, the measures that were on the memorial resolutions calendar are not dead and can get a second chance, probably without the resolutions that caused today’s blowup. Today’s list of frozen memorials includes:

• Trump assassination attempt victim Corey Comperatore (HR 17)

• U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston (HR 247)

• Former state Comptroller and Austin Mayor Carole Keeton (HR 785)

This was only possible because the far-right side of the Republican caucus has grown to the point that they have sufficient numbers to kill the generally uncontroversial local and consent bills. The Freedom Caucus had enough when they killed more than 100 bills during the “Mother’s Day Massacre.”

“T’was the Maundy Thursday Massacre,” one Republican member told The Blast.

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CRUZ DEFENDS TRUMP OVER MAN WRONGFULLY DEPORTED

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz dismissed due process concerns about a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in March after what the Trump administration has admitted was an “administrative error.”

“He’s an El Salvadorian national that’s being held in an El Salvadorian prison,” Cruz said in an interview on Spectrum News’ Capital Tonight, hosted by former Tribune reporter James Barragán. “He has no entitlement to be in the United States.”

The man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, had a protective order preventing him from deportation to El Salvador. He came to the United States without a protected legal status in 2011 but since married to an American citizen, had three children and worked as a sheet metal apprentice.

The Trump administration and Cruz have accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, which Abrego Garcia’s family and lawyers deny.

“Democrats are saying what you and your family want is more illegal aliens and gang members living in your neighborhood,” Cruz said. “I think that’s not what the people of Texas or America want.”

Multiple Democratic members of Congress have announced trips to El Salvador regarding Abrego Garcia, which Cruz called “astonishing.”

Cruz also did not comment directly on possible cuts to Medicaid in upcoming budget negotiations. Instead, the senator pushed for broad funding cuts.

“We have to cut government spending, period, the end,” Cruz said. “We’re bankrupting our country.”

Congress passed their budget framework last week before their two-week-long Easter recess. When lawmakers return to Washington on April 28, they are set to start on the budget reconciliation process.

In the final budget bill, Cruz said he wants funding to go toward border security and to rebuild the military.

— Katharine Wilson

• Next Tuesday is Searsucker Day. Dress accordingly.

• The Senate stayed busy while everyone’s attention was on the House. The Senate passed its bills on tort reform (Senate Bill 30), “taxpayer-funded abortion travel” (Senate Bill 33), writing “noncitizen” on noncitizens’ IDs (Senate Bill 964), removing Ashe juniper trees (Senate Bill 1927) and overriding the governor’s veto (Senate Joint Resolution 39).

Committee highlights next week:

• The House Ways and Means Committee will meet at 1 p.m. on Monday to consider a couple dozen bills, including measures to clamp down on Project Connect.

• The House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee will meet at 8 a.m. on Wednesday to consider the film incentives program proposal (House Bill 4568) and five other measures.

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

The House and Senate will convene at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

View the House and Senate floor calendars here and here.

Pooja’s last day: “Texas Senate approves $500 million infusion for film incentives” by Pooja Salhotra of The Texas Tribune

“Texas law students warn that bill to quash ‘terrorist activity’ in universities could trample free speech rights” by Jessica Priest of The Texas Tribune

“Texas Central says Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail project is still alive” by Kim Roberts of The Texan

“Late Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to be namesake of Bush Airport terminal” by Dominic Anthony Walsh of Houston Public Media

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Former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes

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