{"id":596816,"date":"2021-07-19T12:20:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T16:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=596816"},"modified":"2021-07-19T12:20:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T16:20:27","slug":"texas-democrats-dc-trip-to-block-election-security-bill-will-cost-nearly-1-5-million-legislators-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-democrats-dc-trip-to-block-election-security-bill-will-cost-nearly-1-5-million-legislators-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Democrats\u2019 DC Trip To Block Election Security Bill Will Cost Nearly $1.5 Million, Legislators Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-democrats-dc-trip-to-block-election-security-bill-will-cost-nearly-1-5-million-legislators-say%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=596816&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1329082638-scaled-e1626710446323.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Texas Democrats\u2019 stunt to block an election security bill by fleeing the state for Washington, D.C. is expected to cost around $1.5 million, the state lawmaker leading fundraising efforts for the Democrats said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>More than 50 Democratic members of the state House <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/12\/texas-election-law-democrats-washington-dc\/\">fled to the nation\u2019s capital<\/a> last week to prevent Republicans from advancing a sweeping election security bill during a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/23\/abbott-special-legislative-session-second-try-election-reforms\/\">special legislative session<\/a>. The state legislature <a href=\"https:\/\/statutes.capitol.texas.gov\/Docs\/CN\/htm\/CN.3.htm\">requires a quorum<\/a> of two-thirds of lawmakers to be present in order to conduct business in the chamber.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic state Rep. Armando Walle said in an interview that the cost of keeping Democrats outside the state until the special session ends Aug. 7 will cost around $1.5 million, NBC News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/texas-democrats-escape-block-voting-bill-will-cost-around-1-n1274262\">reported<\/a>. Democrats are not using taxpayer dollars for the stunt, but are instead financing the costs with personal credit cards and through fundraising efforts, lawmakers said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"11.171875\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cThe price of keeping the Democrats out of Texas through Aug. 7, when the session expires, is expected to be around $1.5 million, state Rep. Armando Walle (D) said in an interview.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vFR56MkGoQ\">https:\/\/t.co\/vFR56MkGoQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Logan Ratick (@Logan_Ratick) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Logan_Ratick\/status\/1417129285643644932?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 19, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Walle said the private charter jets the majority of lawmakers flew on to Washington, D.C. cost more than $100,000 and were paid for by a wire transfer from the state House Democratic Caucus hours before takeoff, NBC News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/texas-democrats-escape-block-voting-bill-will-cost-around-1-n1274262\">reported<\/a>. Other expenses included housing, food and other transportation costs. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/19\/texas-democrats-coronavirus-washington-dc-voting-reform\/\">(RELATED: More Texas Democrats Who Fled State Test Positive For COVID)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Texas Democrats booked a number of hotel rooms at a D.C. hotel using a member\u2019s personal American Express card, one lawmaker said, adding that members are expected to be reimbursed.<\/p>\n<p>Walle also said the state House Democratic Caucus has received around $250,000 in donations and other financial commitments, NBC News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/texas-democrats-escape-block-voting-bill-will-cost-around-1-n1274262\">reported<\/a>. Former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O\u2019Rourke said last week his voting rights group Powered by People raised more than $500,000 for the lawmakers in the first two days after they fled, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2021\/07\/14\/runaway-texas-dems-settle-in-for-long-exile-with-financial-help-from-beto-orourke-willie-nelson\/\">according<\/a> to the Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n<p>The NAACP is also raising money to support the Texas Democrats. The group\u2019s president, Derrick Johnson, promised a bail fund for the lawmakers in case they are arrested upon returning to Texas, <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/562853-naacp-offers-to-pay-bail-for-texas-democrats-who-left-state-to-block-election-bill?rl=1\">according<\/a> to The Hill.<\/p>\n<p>Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/13\/arrested-greg-abbott-democrats-texas\/\">threatened<\/a> to have the lawmakers arrested when they ultimately return to the state during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no excuse for their PR stunt, and I join thousands of Texans in demanding that these Democrats get back to work,\u201d Abbott said in a recent statement, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-health-government-and-politics-texas-coronavirus-pandemic-8568f6ec54bea942815012e8e31b6526\">according<\/a> to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Democrats\u2019 stunt to block an election security bill by fleeing the state for Washington, D.C. is expected to cost around $1.5 million, the state lawmaker leading fundraising efforts for &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-596816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}