Public Opinion in Texas and Governor Abbott’s Poke at the Congressional Delegation Over Harvey Relief

Governor Abbott made headlines in Texas over the last 24 hours after calling the Houston Chronicle’s Mike Ward to share his view that, per the story, "It appears the Texas delegation will let themselves be rolled by the House of Representatives." At issue was the absence of funds for Texas in a disaster aid bill set to reach the floor of the House today, specifically the $18.7 billion request lined out in a letter signed by the Governor, Senators Cruz and Cornyn, and all but three members of the Texas Congressional delegation. (Jonathan Tilove’s First Reading helpfully excerpts the specific line items at the Austin American Statesman, and  provides a link to the letter at Senator Cornyn’s website -- alongside the first Harvey/Harvey Weinstein play I've seen.

As recounted in the Chronicle story as well in the Dallas Morning News follow up by Katie Leslie and Caroline Kelly, members of Congress relatively politely replied that, well, it was more complicated, with explanations ranging from the point that the current bill would essentially clear up money for future use, to Congressman (and UT Government Department Ph.D.) Henry Cuellar’s response, included in Mike Ward’s story.

"I certainly understand how the governor feels about this, but we're trying to do this for all the disasters that pretty much hit at the same time," said Laredo Democrat Henry Cuellar, who co-chairs a bipartisan task force on Harvey relief efforts.

"Is this the final appropriation?" he added, "No. We're going to be doing more."

In terms of everyone’s standing back home in Texas, a look at the job approval numbers of the Governor, the Congress, and the state’s U.S. Senators finds the Governor in a pretty good position to take a shot at Congress.  The Governor’s job approval ratings are very strong among Republicans, while those of Congress remain almost comically dismal -- even among voters of the majority party.  Expect the details invoked by the members to be lost on most Texans, and Abbott to have plucked some low-hanging fruit in terms of his relative standing among the public, especially views of his sustained and high-profile response to Hurricane Harvey.

The data represented below are all from the June 2017 University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Keep an eye out for new numbers coming pretty soon.