Good morning, 

Dade Phelan was re-elected as speaker of the Texas House... and immediately went to work snubbing the Republican Party's grassroots activists.

Learn more about that in this edition of the Texas Minute, and then find out what readers think of a county's resolution demanding John Cornyn resign from the U.S. Senate.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023

Patrick Promises 'Productive' Session In Senate

• Historically considered the more conservative chamber of the Texas Legislature, the Senate moved even further to the right during the 2022 election cycle with a 19-12 Republican majority. Sydnie Henry has the story.

     

• With the House expected to debate the merits of awarding valuable committee chairmanships to Democrats later this week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who serves as president of the Senate and determines committee appointments, has said that only one Democrat will chair a committee in the Senate this cycle.

     
• The Senate appointed State Sen. Kelly Hancock (R–North Richland Hills) as president pro tempore, a position second in command to Patrick in the Senate and third in line to serve as Texas governor.

Phelan Easily Wins Re-election As House Speaker

• In a 145-3-2 vote, State Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) was re-elected as speaker of the Texas House on Tuesday. Tinderholt received three votes, while two members registered themselves as “present not voting.”
      
• Tinderholt framed his race for the speakership as being in opposition to Democrats holding committee chairmanships.
      
• “Our speaker courted the Democrats to get his position, gave them chairmanships, protected them from being punished when they fled to D.C. … and today, every single one of our Democrat colleagues will be voting for his leadership in this chamber,” said State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) in his nomination of Tinderholt. “Some will claim this is good bipartisanship. But it’s actually just a powerful consolation prize for losing elections.”
     

• The resounding message from both Phelan’s nominators and his own acceptance speech was clear: Establishment Republicans will share power in the lower chamber with Democrats. Phelan’s supporters painted him as a “good” speaker who would prioritize cooperation and bipartisanship above all else.
      

• State Rep. Cody Harris (R–Palestine) explained that Phelan’s decision to continue awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats is the “perfect example of how a representative government is supposed to work.” Meanwhile, State Rep. Tracy King (D–Uvalde) said he was supporting Phelan because “Phelan gets it.”
      

• Check out the articles by Katy Drollinger and Soli Rice for more details.

Phelan's First Act? Snub Texas GOP Activists

• In his first move as Texas House Speaker, Dade Phelan accelerated the debate on House Rules to 10 a.m. today, spurning the Republican Party of Texas and many grassroots activists who are convoying to Austin on Thursday to voice their opinions on the House Rules.
      
• Among other things, the Rules debate will determine if the Republican-controlled House will continue to allow Democrats to chair chairmanships. Banning the practice is one of eight priorities of the Texas GOP and was approved by more than 80 percent of Republican primary voters in the March 2022 election.
     

• Here's how Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi described the move: “Reprehensible, but not surprising. House Republicans too often show contempt for their voting base, and they will twice [on Wednesday]. The first will be when they take the unusual step of debating House rules a day early to avoid visiting constituents; the second, when many House Republicans will vote to award powerful leadership positions to Democrats.”

Activists Disappointed By Speaker Vote

• While the Republican establishment was pleased with Phelan's re-election as speaker, grassroots activists who went to the Capitol for the vote were less enthusiastic.
   
• “I’m not real happy,” said Al Highfield, president of the Republican Club of Comal County.
     
• “We’re very disappointed,” agreed Angela Smith of the Fredericksburg Tea Party. “We have already seen Dade Phelan in a position of power. We know what he will do. Last session was extremely disappointing, especially for our kids.”
      

• Now the question remains as to whether or not the Republican-controlled House will ban Democrats from chairing committees. The majority of grassroots activists Texas Scorecard interviewed at the Capitol on Tuesday expressed strong disapproval about Speaker Phelan giving such power to the Democrats.

     
• “Why elect Republicans if you’re going to have Democrats run things?” asked Jeannine Owen of San Antonio.

Parental Rights Advocates Hopeful As Session Starts

• A strong push for parental rights legislation is expected in this year’s legislative session, reports Darrell Frost. Leading the charge is the Family Freedom Project, an offshoot of the Texas Homeschool Coalition.

Abortions Have Plummeted In Texas

• Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, new data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission shows that the number of abortions in Texas began plummeting in August. Emily Wilkerson reports as many as 50,000 babies' lives have been saved.

      

• State Rep. Jared Patterson (R–Frisco) has introduced legislation that would prohibit tax incentives for business entities that assist employees in obtaining abortions.

Library Conference Pushes Critical Race Theory

• The American Library Association will feature critical race theory proponent Ibram X. Kendi as the opening speaker at their annual LibLearnX conference later this month. Katy Drollinger has the story.
     
• The ALA is a national organization with state-level branches that claims to provide “leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services.” The group came under fire earlier this year for defending school libraries that kept sexually explicit books on their shelves.

Y'All Answered

A resolution calling for John Cornyn to resign as a member of the U.S. Senate was passed by the executive committee of a county in Northeast Texas. They cited his recent vote for the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package and “lack of fidelity” to the party’s principles. In yesterday's One Click Survey, we asked if readers thought he should step down.

Just under 94 percent of readers clicked "Yes, Cornyn should resign now," compared to 6.1 percent who clicked "No, Cornyn should stay in the job."

Here is a sampling of the responses I received in my inbox.

• “Cornyn no longer votes his constituents' beliefs.  Like Mitch McConnell, he's a man past his prime who goes along to get along and then swears he's working for us!” – Kathy Fisher
     

• “Mr. Cornyn is like a piece of chewing gum that has lost its flavor – he's been around too long and has no use.” – Arthur Potter
     

• “Cornyn sits in Washington and laughs at this survey as he votes with the deep state over and over. And Texas keeps re-electing him. So where does the problem lie??” – Katherine Kelton
     

• “No, John Cornyn should not resign. But he should be ashamed of his vote, and should be ‘primaried’ out of office by the voters of Texas and replaced by a true conservative!” – Dirk DeKoch
     

• “I don’t recollect voting for a Democrat in the Senate, but that’s what we got.” – Corey Mayo
     

• “John Cornyn has become the poster boy for why term limits have become necessary. He clearly has become a creature of the swamp. His forced resignation would send the right message to other swamp-dwellers nationwide, to never forget who you were sent there to represent….” – Chuck Breedlove
     

• “Yes, it would be a blessing if John Cornyn resigned!” – Sue Willoughby
     

• “John Cornyn does not represent his constituents.” – Dave Clark
    

• “The Texas Republican Party should vote to censure Senator Cornyn!” – Chris Danford
     

• “John Cornyn does not deserve the title of senator from Texas.” – Lane Burgess
     

• “I fear that John has lost his way. He seemed to be a real conservative. Now, just another RINO in Congress and a shining example of why we desperately need term limits for both the House and Senate.” – Rich Goncher
      

• “He consistently votes with the demonrats on the very important issues. We have a hard enough time herding the Republicans without him and his ilk siding with the Left.” – Ed Scruggs
     

• “John Cornyn needs to go. He may be the original RINO, while using the Republican label and consistently voting with the Democrats. His resignation is long overdue.” – Linda Edmondson
     

• “He does not seem to represent Texas well.” – Brent Shutt
     

• “If I’d wanted a communist to represent me I would have voted for Cornyn’s opponent. “ – Leo Whelan
     

• “Cornyn should resign! In days gone by, politicians that committed significantly more benign offenses were tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail!” – Roger Taylor
     

• “I voted yes for Cornyn to resign despite the precarious balance in the Senate and not knowing who Governor Abbott would appoint. Those concerns are far outweighed by the damage Cornyn would cause in the four years left in his current term.” – Richard Steenson
     

• “I shall not join an effort to ask Cornyn to resign. In the first place, calls for resignations are generally fruitless. And if he did resign, his replacement would be picked by Governor Abbott, with whom many people upset with Cornyn are also upset. Then there is the fact that Cornyn has been on our side at least 80 percent of the time, I'd say. If he is not perfect enough, support a primary opponent when he comes up for election.” – Greg Ripps
     

• “Time and time again, Cornyn has shown his allegiance to the Democrats and socialism.” – Cheryl Alexander

Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts and names displayed here should reflect those taking representational effect on January 1, 2023.