John,

Gov. Abbott gets to dictate what is on the agenda for a special legislative session. And today the governor announced that when lawmakers return to the Capitol on Thursday for the start of a 30-day special session, they are only allowed to consider legislation that:

• Would make it harder to vote
• Ban transgender kids from school sports
• Further restrict abortion access
• Censor instruction on topics like racism and inequality in Texas classrooms

There's more but, overall, Abbott's agenda is largely a laundry list of divisiveness and far-right culture-war grievance. It is Abbott vs. the people of Texas.

The governor could have asked lawmakers for legislation that would actually help Texas, like truly fixing our state’s vulnerable power grid or expanding Medicaid so that more Texans have access to affordable health care. Instead, he chose another round of extreme legislation and misplaced priorities. He is, once again, failing Texans.

This follows the regular legislative session in which banning abortion, pushing voter suppression, censoring history in our classrooms and allowing the unlicensed carrying of guns got priority over what is best for the people of Texas.

This isn’t the agenda the majority of Texans want, and the TFN team and our partners are ready to fight back.

I know that with your continued advocacy and support, progressive values will have their say at the Capitol.

A gift to TFN’s Rapid Response Fund ensures that we are able to respond quickly to urgent threats and whatever Gov. Abbott throws our way. With your support, you will make sure attacks on our values and our democracy don’t go unanswered.

In the fight,

Carisa Lopez
TFN Political Director