In another play for approval from the Trump Republicans now controlling his party, Greg Abbott vetoed funding for the legislative branch of the Texas government. Abbott’s veto is petty and another example of trying to appear strong while unintentionally exposing his own weakness.
Abbott wants the public and media to think he’s taking the wood to Democratic legislators who had the audacity to stand up to him while he and other Republican leaders attempted to cram discriminatory vote suppression down the throats of Texans. However, Abbott’s move does no harm to the legislators he pretends to threaten and he knows it. The Constitution guarantees Members of the Legislature will receive their pay. Instead, the people Abbott is hurting most are legislative staff of both parties and the thousands of non-partisan public employees who dutifully serve all members and all Texans. It’s Abbott being his most petty, passive-aggressive, pathetic self.
Further, Abbott may well have violated the separation of powers between the branches of the government laid out by the Texas Constitution.
Democrat Chris Turner and Colleagues File Suit
On June 25th, Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner (HD101 – Arlington/Grand Prairie), his House colleagues, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC), the Texas Legislative Black Caucus (TLBC), the Legislative Study Group (LSG), and the AFL-CIO filed a complaint with the Texas State Supreme Court asking them to block Abbott’s veto. Since then, he has been joined by dozens of others who filed amicus briefs, including former House Speakers Pete Laney and Joe Straus and former Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff. Many other organizations have also filed briefs supporting the effort to block Abbott’s attack on Texas governance.
Here is a list of the briefs filed in the case so far with links:
