U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced this week that the FBI has granted his request to investigate and locate the Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state in an attempt to stop the passage of new GOP-favored congressional maps. The Democratic walkout is meant to deny Republicans the quorum needed to bring the House redistricting efforts to a standstill.
Cornyn previously sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel asking for the agency’s help in tracking down the House Democrats, who traveled to Illinois and are known to be staying at a hotel in the Chicago suburbs and other locations. Cornyn also asked Patel to investigate the legislators for alleged bribery by accepting funds to cover their costs associated with the trip.
In response to the letter, Cornyn said on a local radio show that Patel “had assigned agents,” but he did not specify what role those agents would play. The move by the FBI would draw federal agents into the battle between Texas Republicans and the Democrats.
At the same time, Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have both initiated efforts to remove absent lawmakers from their elected offices, asking both the Supreme Count and local District Courts to declare that the lawmakers have “vacated” their offices by breaking quorum. Legal experts have said that this legal theory flies in the face of Texas’ own founding documents, centuries of legal precedent and a recent Supreme Court of Texas ruling.
And in a further action announced yesterday, Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows and Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock declared that the state will suspend direct deposit of salaries and per diem payments into the absent members’ bank accounts.
The national news is covering both sides of the state’s infighting and many Texans are disappointed to see that a political initiative has all but stopped efforts to get disaster relief out to communities impacted by the historic flooding event.
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