Good morning,

Texas Minute readers are ready to declare an invasion at the southern border, and they cannot understand why Gov. Greg Abbott hasn’t done so. Get the details below.

Today is Thursday, July 7, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

We always put corrections up front. In yesterday’s Texas Minute, the student organization to which Travis Gant belongs was misidentified; he is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I apologize for the error!

Among Texans, Cornyn Has Lower Job Approval Than Biden

• A new poll of Texas voters finds John Cornyn’s approval numbers far below those of any other statewide officeholder polled. Worse, he now has lower job approval numbers than Joe Biden – among Texas voters.
   

• While basking in accolades from inside the Washington, D.C. beltway, Cornyn was sternly rebuked in June by an official statement approved by delegates to the Republican Party of Texas’ biennial convention. And then, to double down on that sentiment, his speech to the convention was greeted by a deafening chorus of jeers and boos, which didn’t let up during his address.

     
• Cornyn’s job approval numbers came in at a dismal 24 percent—markedly lower than Biden’s 35 percent.
     
• U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Greg Abbott had the highest approval numbers at 41 percent and 43 percent, respectively, with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at 25 percent and Attorney General Ken Paxton at 34 percent.
    
• It seems Cornyn has been so busy seeking the love of D.C. Democrats and inside-the-beltway pundits that he’s lost the admiration and affection of Texans.
     
• While Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton face re-election in November, Cruz and Biden don’t face voters again until 2024. Sen. Cornyn has until 2026 to rehabilitate his image with voters.

$105.5 Million Diverted By State To ‘Safety’ And ‘Mental Health’ Programs

• The Legislative Budget Board is transferring $105.5 million from the state surplus into “school safety and mental health initiatives.” Sydnie Henry has the story. 
        
• The Legislative Budget Board—composed of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan, Senate Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman, and House Appropriations Chair Dr. Greg Bonnen—is empowered to redirect state spending when the Legislature is not in session.
     
• Almost $90 million is heading toward school safety, including bullet-resistant shields, silent panic technology, training, and research, while $15 million will go toward mental health initiatives.
      
• The controversial “Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium” is getting a portion of those dollars. Created in 2019, the Consortium has been under fire by family rights activists and others concerned that it “puts Texas children at risk of dangerous psychotropic drugging, data mining, and profiling based on family values, religious beliefs, and economic circumstances.”

Kambree Is Here! 📺

• Yesterday, Texas Scorecard officially welcomed Kambree Nelson to the Texas Scorecard family of programming!

Playing Politics With Power 🎧

• Texas politicians are playing politics with the reliability of the Texas grid. On this week’s Liberty Cafe podcast, Bill Peacock explains how state policymakers are covering up their support for renewable energy by making electricity more expensive.

Border Patrol Council VP Urges Abbott: Declare An Invasion

• The vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, Art Del Cueto, is calling out Gov. Greg Abbott for his hesitancy to declare the humanitarian crisis at Texas’ southern border an invasion. Katy Drollinger has the details.
     
• “I’m not sure what he’s planning or what they’re going to do, but I’m going to tell you right now, the National Border Patrol Council has been seeing the numbers—they’re overwhelming. A lot of the holding cells have been overflowing,” said Del Cueto. “So, they should’ve declared an invasion a long time ago.”

Harris County Hires New Scandal-Plagued Election Boss

• Harris County has hired a new administrator to oversee elections in the most populous county in the state, which has been plagued with problems since Democrats took control of the county government in 2018. Clifford Tatum will be the fourth Democrat in four years to manage the county’s elections.
       
• As Erin Anderson reports, Tatum is not new to controversy. He served as executive director of the District of Columbia Board of Elections, where he came under fire for mismanaging the district’s November 2012 election. One person at the time compared that election’s long lines, ballot errors, poorly trained staff, and malfunctioning equipment to “voting in a Third World country.”
      

• At least he won't be the county's first elections administrator with experience screwing up elections...

Biden Blames Republicans For Rising Inflation

• According to President Joe Biden, the U.S. has been able to tackle the inflation problem from a “place of strength” due to his economic plans. As Emily Wilkerson reports, Biden blames the record-high inflation on Republicans in Congress and their refusal to accept his Build Back Better Plan. 
      

• “The subject of inflation is a bit more complicated than President Biden would have you believe. The main reason we are experiencing inflation is a flawed monetary policy from the Federal Reserve. Eighty percent of all U.S. dollars in existence were printed in the last 22 months (from $4 trillion in January 2020 to $20 trillion in October 2021). This is the main driver behind the record inflation we are seeing.” – Tim Hardin, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

Y’All Answered

Several Texas border counties say an invasion is underway, and they want Gov. Greg Abbott to likewise acknowledge it – triggering the state’s constitutional authority to defend itself. We asked readers if the governor should do so.

Overwhelmingly, Texas Minute readers believe the governor should declare an invasion; 98.9 percent answered “yes,” and only 1.1 percent responded “no.”

• “It’s time to call it what it is: an invasion.  If it’s challenged in the courts, so be it.” – Kathleen Wazny
      
• “If that’s not an invasion, I don’t know what is.” – Andra Haney

      

• “[Abbott] needs to declare an invasion and turn Ken Paxton loose on Biden.” – Jeff Kroyer
     
• “The border is no longer an illegal immigration problem.  It is a security and criminal problem.” – Fran Rhodes
     
• “We spent the last two years giving politicians a pass to exercise emergency powers under flimsy, bad faith pretenses. Repeating that on another issue would be foolish and violates conservative principles of limited government.” – David Johnson
      
• “I've lost faith in Gov. Abbott. He doesn't seem to be the conservative fighter we need in this battle for our state and nation. God bless the Texas sheriffs that are showing the bravery we should see in the state capitol.” – Patricia Forsythe
     
• “It is an invasion!” – Dawn Gerstenberger
      

• “We should stop all traffic either way across the legal entry ports. The elephant in the room is the drug cartels who facilitate this invasion as they flood our country with enough fentanyl to kill every human in the United States. We have to figure out a way to take out these drug cartels. They control the border, the local governments in Mexico, and I suspect a lot of the federal government there also.” – Rick Perry

       
• “One rancher I know personally returned to his home in remote West Texas only to find 20-illegals occupying his ranch house.  He strongly encouraged & convinced them to leave.” – A.F. Cieszkiewicz

     

• “Billions for Ukraine but zero for our border.” – Bob Davis
     

• “If it looks like an invasion and it smells like an invasion…. The border crisis is definitely an invasion of illegal aliens.” – Karen Breazeale
      

• “The first role of government: protect the citizenry. The State must take responsibility in the short-term and bill the federal government for all money spent.” – Thomas Camardo
     
• “He should have done it over a year ago! Why is he not looking out for the people of Texas?” – Melynda Caudle
   
• “There are more incursions against our border than there are Russians in Ukraine!” – John Cavenah
     
• “Abbott should have declared an invasion a long time ago. Once the Feds abdicated their duty to protect citizens, the governor has the right to do so.” – Dawn Martin
     
• “Yes, absolutely. The question of the century is why didn’t we do it years ago?” – Eleanor Bigbie
       
• “A real governor would have made such a declaration months ago.” – Alan Smith

Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts displayed here should reflect those recently redrawn by the Legislature. Though the new lines do not take representational effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. Please note that your incumbent legislator and/or district numbers may have changed.