March 9, 2025
NEWS DIGEST
by Brandon Waltens
Good morning,
Nearly a year and half after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for an audit of impeachment-related spending by the Texas House and Senate, Speaker Dustin Burrows has finally handed over the long-withheld House records—which former Speaker Dade Phelan refused to release.
In a post [[link removed]] on X, Patrick announced that Burrows had provided him with two boxes of detailed expenditure records related to the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“It has been 1 year, 5 months, and 16 days since I called for an audit of all impeachment spending by the Texas House and Senate,” Patrick wrote. “I promptly turned over the Senate’s records to the State Auditor right after the trial. Former Speaker Dade Phelan failed to comply with the audit and refused to release the House’s expenses to the State Auditor despite multiple calls for him to do so on behalf of taxpayers.”
Patrick noted that even after Phelan officially left office two months ago, the records remained concealed.
“I asked the new Speaker [Dustin Burrows] to release the documents. Yesterday, he handed me 2 boxes of detailed expenditures, which I turned over to the State Auditor today,” Patrick stated.
A video of Patrick handing the documents over to State Auditor Lisa Collier accompanied his post.
The spending figures reveal a stark contrast between the Senate and the House in their handling of taxpayer dollars during the impeachment proceedings. According to Patrick, the Senate spent approximately $435,000, including $135,000 to print the entire impeachment trial record in the Senate journal, a requirement under the rules.
Meanwhile, the Texas House—under Phelan’s leadership—spent more than $4.4 million on the failed impeachment, according to Patrick, with a significant portion going to outside attorneys. The audit could reveal even more spending.
“As I suspected, former Speaker Phelan was hiding the millions of dollars he wasted on outside attorneys to avoid this issue from being brought up in his bid for re-election. I want to thank [Speaker Burrows] for releasing the Texas House’s impeachment costs and for his commitment to transparency, unlike the former speaker,” wrote Patrick.
With the records now in the hands of State Auditor Lisa Collier, the full details of how the Texas House under Phelan managed impeachment spending will soon come to light.
“What a total waste of taxpayer money!” Patrick concluded.
The release of these records adds yet another layer to the ongoing scrutiny of Phelan’s tenure as speaker, particularly regarding the rushed and ultimately unsuccessful effort to remove Paxton from office.
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