随着得克萨斯州众议院民主党人结束在华盛顿特区法定人数突破的第一周，以拖延共和党支持的投票法案，他们在过道对面的同事正在加紧努力，迫使他们回到孤星之州。
周四，德克萨斯州众议院议长戴德·费伦宣布，他将于周六包机将缺席的民主党人从该国首都送回奥斯汀。
“我要求我们在华盛顿特区的所有同事立即联系我的工作人员，以便在飞机上确保他们的座位，并返回奥斯汀处理该州的事务。德克萨斯州正在等待，”费伦在一份声明中说。
对此，德克萨斯州民主党人表示，他们无意接受费伦的请求。
“议长应该存钱。他们在一份联合声明中表示:“我们不会很快需要一架飞机，因为我们从特朗普共和党人手中拯救民主的工作才刚刚开始，”他们补充说，“我们哪儿也不去，而是建议议长结束这场长达一个月的会议，这只不过是艾伯特州长连任的竞选广告。议长应该无限期休会。”
除了公开提出要求，德州众议院议长无法进一步迫使民主党人返回德州。该州的执法官员同样没有跨州管辖权来迫使立法者后退。
蒙蒂尼克·门罗/盖蒂影像公司
2021年7月13日，得克萨斯州奥斯汀，得克萨斯州众议院议长戴德·费伦在众议院的一次电话会议上听取众议员摩根·迈耶的发言，试图重新获得法定人数。
一群民主党人周一逃离德克萨斯州，以打破法定人数，等待正在进行的特别立法会议结束，试图阻止共和党支持的双重法案的推进，这些法案将修订该州的投票和选举法。投票权倡导者表示，如果这些法案得以通过，德州人将更难获得选票。通过打破法定人数，立法者还阻止了该州共和党州长格雷格·艾伯特认为是立法机构优先事项的其他法案的推进，他的政党在这些法案中占多数
尽管尚不清楚民主党人在该国首都的下一步行动，但艾伯特表示，当前特别立法会议的结束不会抹去他的优先事项。
阿博特在接受CBS达拉斯-Ft采访时表示:“每当当前的特别会议结束时，我会立即召集另一次特别会议，我会继续召集额外的特别会议，以便我们能够解决问题。周四值得。
为了试图终止另一轮罢工的可能性，德克萨斯州参议院议长、德克萨斯州副州长丹·帕特里克周四致信雅培，要求他在下一次会议上增加一个项目，将法定人数规则改为基于简单多数出席。
“德州人希望他们的立法机构能够发挥作用，而不是被少数利用法定人数要求的议员挟持。其他大多数州的立法机构要求简单多数加一，”帕特里克在信中写道。
目前的规则规定，每个议院必须有三分之二的当选议员到场处理事务。雅培尚未表明他是否计划添加。
Texas Republicans pressure state's House Democrats to come back to Austin
As Texas House Democrats close the first week of their quorum break in Washington, D.C., to stall Republican-backed voting bills, their colleagues across the aisle are escalating efforts to compel them to return to the Lone Star State.
On Thursday, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced he would charter a plane on Saturday to fly the absent Democrats from the nation’s capital back to Austin.
"I am demanding all of our colleagues in D.C. to contact my staff immediately in order to secure their seat on the plane and return to Austin in order to do the state’s business. The State of Texas is waiting," Phelan said in a statement.
In response, the Texas Democrats said they have no intention of taking up Phelan on the request.
"The Speaker should save his money. We won’t be needing a plane anytime soon, as our work to save democracy from the Trump Republicans is just getting started," they said in a joint statement, adding, "We’re not going anywhere and suggest instead the speaker end this charade of a session, which is nothing more than a month long campaign commercial for Gov. Abbott’s re-election. The speaker should adjourn the House Sine Die."
Beyond making the open request, the Texas House Speaker cannot further compel the Democrats to return to Texas. The state’s law enforcement officials similarly do not have jurisdiction across state lines to force the lawmakers back.
A group of Democrats fled Texas on Monday to break quorum and wait out the end of their ongoing special legislative session in an effort to block the advancement of dual Republican-backed bills that would revise the state’s voting and election laws. Voting rights advocates say, if enacted, those bills would make it harder for Texans to have ballot access. By breaking quorum, the legislators also stalled the advancement of a slate of other bills the state’s Republican Gov. Greg Abbott deemed as priorities for the legislature, of which his party holds as a majority
While it remains unclear what comes next for the Democrats in the nation’s capital, Abbott says the end of the current special legislative session will not wipe the slate clean of his priority items.
"Whenever the current special session ends, I will immediately call another special session, and I will continue calling additional special sessions so we can address issues," Abbott said in an interview with CBS Dallas-Ft. Worth on Thursday.
In an attempt to terminate the possibility of another round of walkouts, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who heads the Texas Senate, wrote to Abbott on Thursday asking him to add an item to the next session that would change quorum rules to be based on a simple majority attendance.
"Texans expect their legislature to work and not be held hostage by a few legislators who are exploiting the quorum requirement. The majority of other state legislatures require a simple majority plus one," Patrick wrote in the letter.
The current rules stipulate that two-thirds of elected members in each chamber must be present to conduct business. Abbott has not yet indicated if he plans to make the addition.
