Most of this week's focus in state politics was on the budget bill coming to the floor in the House, and the debate was filled with the usual theater, hijinks, and even a few surprises (we're looking at you, Texas Enterprise Fund). Meanwhile, the Trump administration got their man nominated to the Supreme Court and lobbed some cruise missiles at an isolated (and probably forewarned) airport, though many (especially the not-consulted U.S. Congress) wonder what the strategy in Syria is beyond some missile-based signaling.
1. Thursday’s (and into Friday morning’s) marathon-ish budget bill debate has gotten plenty of pumped up, borderline breathless coverage elsewhere. The SAUstin American Statesman and others focused on how the vote on State Rep. Abel Herrero's amendment limiting transfers of public money for private education put a number -- 103-44 -- on the balance of power between support for and opposition to using public money for private education -- and, by extension, illustrated just how dead the Lieutenant Governor’s School Voucher Bill, SB 3, is in the Texas House (as members in the House have been saying for months now). Unless Lt. Gov. Patrick is willing to turn the screws on Senators to hold up the budget in conference over the most minimal voucher bill they can agree to, a big win on this issue will elude the Lt. Governor again this session. Note that the map below is interactive -- you can zoom in take a close look at the urban districts.
2nd Reading Amendment 8 by Herrero
Democratic Yeas | Republican Yeas | Repaublican Nayes |
---|---|---|
District 22 | District 105 | District 96 |
District 74 | District 57 | District 56 |
District 39 | District 18 | District 45 |
District 131 | District 3 | District 73 |
District 145 | District 113 | District 138 |
District 103 | District 58 | District 24 |
District 144 | District 83 | District 128 |
District 116 | District 8 | District 112 |
District 123 | District 29 | District 82 |
District 76 | District 11 | District 136 |
District 79 | District 54 | District 135 |
District 40 | District 17 | District 23 |
District 147 | District 59 | District 106 |
District 95 | District 55 | District 97 |
District 117 | District 64 | District 5 |
District 41 | District 72 | District 91 |
District 139 | District 134 | District 93 |
District 111 | District 2 | District 60 |
District 75 | District 84 | District 122 |
District 148 | District 69 | District 89 |
District 120 | District 4 | District 67 |
District 109 | District 25 | District 108 |
District 31 | District 33 | District 130 |
District 119 | District 127 | District 63 |
District 143 | District 32 | District 129 |
District 34 | District 12 | District 115 |
District 49 | District 88 | District 126 |
District 48 | District 102 | District 61 |
District 50 | District 44 | District 70 |
District 100 | District 99 | District 6 |
District 140 | District 71 | District 132 |
District 35 | District 81 | District 13 |
District 38 | District 43 | District 66 |
District 46 | District 16 | District 65 |
District 124 | District 26 | District 92 |
District 78 | District 7 | District 150 |
District 36 | District 53 | District 94 |
District 107 | District 9 | District 114 |
District 80 | District 21 | District 20 |
District 37 | District 62 | District 98 |
District 77 | District 87 | District 52 |
District 42 | District 14 | District 30 |
District 104 | District 68 | District 133 |
District 27 | District 85 | District 47 |
District 51 | District 86 | |
District 125 | District 1 | |
District 90 | District 19 | |
District 110 | District 10 | |
District 146 | District 28 | |
District 101 | ||
District 118 | ||
District 142 | ||
District 149 | ||
District 137 |
category | column-1 |
---|---|
Support | 35% |
Oppose | 44% |
Don't know | 21% |
category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
---|---|---|---|
Support | 25% | 24% | 46% |
Oppose | 55% | 57% | 33% |
Don't know | 21% | 18% | 21% |
2. Your crusade (today) is inside baseball. The house also moved to de-fund the Texas Enterprise Fund, which lead to the much-covered indignation of State Representative Stickland. He didn’t affect the outcome at all, but certainly garnered some media coverage. Texans in general may not quite get what the fuss is all about, given the lack of awareness of the Texas Enterprise Fund back when it was something of an issue. To be fair, Representative Stickland’s sense of harm also encompassed the integrity of the legislative process. He’ll have to staunch the flow of a wellspring of positive views of Texas government, especially among Texas Republicans and Tea Party identifiers to get somewhere with that, but we’re sure the efforts will continue.
category | column-1 |
---|---|
A lot | 7% |
Some | 18% |
Not very much | 29% |
Nothing at all | 46% |
category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
---|---|---|---|
Very favorable | 6% | 9% | 29% |
Somewhat favorable | 16% | 21% | 46% |
Neither favorable nor unfavorable | 26% | 26% | 16% |
Somewhat unfavorable | 19% | 14% | 5% |
Very unfavorable | 30% | 24% | 2% |
Don't know/no opinion | 2% | 7% | 2% |
category | Democrat | Republican | Tea Party |
---|---|---|---|
Very favorable | 7% | 28% | 35% |
Somewhat favorable | 14% | 44% | 48% |
Neither favorable nor unfavorable | 24% | 21% | 12% |
Somewhat unfavorable | 19% | 5% | 4% |
Very unfavorable | 34% | 1% | 2% |
Don't know/no opinion | 2% | 2% | 0% |
3. The House bill did, of course, continue to assume a draw from the state’s Rainy Day fund in the wake of the Speaker’s much-covered criticism of the “Enron”-like accounting in. Here are those numbers again.
category | column-1 |
---|---|
Yes | 43% |
No | 31% |
Don't know/No opinion | 26% |
category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
---|---|---|---|
Yes | 55% | 40% | 33% |
No | 19% | 35% | 42% |
Don't know/No opinion | 26% | 25% | 26% |
4. The House interrupted its debate over the budget Thursday evening to call for a moment of prayer as the news broker of U.S. Missiles in Syria – does this mean we’ll be more open to refugees if the Trump administration escalates further? Probably not, and they probably won’t escalate further at this point anyway, based on the measured, largely inconsequential signaling that this attack represents. Congress and the rest of us await a more elaborated explanation of the strategy here, beyond characterizing it as a departure from the previous administration. Departure is good, perhaps, but intended destination is, too.
category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
---|---|---|---|
Strongly support | 8% | 33% | 65% |
Somewhat support | 15% | 22% | 18% |
Somewhat oppose | 18% | 21% | 9% |
Strongly oppose | 51% | 11% | 6% |
Don't know | 8% | 12% | 3% |
5. The U.S. Senate invoked the nuclear option and confirmed Steven Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. This is likely to continue the rehabilitation of perceptions of the SCOTUS in eyes of conservatives after a crisis of confidence caused by the Roberts' court's decisions affirming gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act, as a look at movement in Texas conservatives' approval of the court illustrates.
category | Liberals | Moderates | Conservatives |
---|---|---|---|
The U.S. Congress, the legislative branch | 0% | 4% | 21% |
The President, the executive branch | 70% | 30% | 8% |
The U.S. Supreme Court, the judicial branch | 18% | 35% | 41% |
Don't know | 11% | 31% | 31% |
category | Liberals | Moderates | Conservatives |
---|---|---|---|
The U.S. Congress, the legislative branch | 6% | 6% | 31% |
The President, the executive branch | 42% | 20% | 4% |
The U.S. Supreme Court, the judicial branch | 28% | 27% | 20% |
Don't know | 24% | 46% | 44% |
category | Liberals | Moderates | Conservatives |
---|---|---|---|
The U.S. Congress, the legislative branch | 5% | 9% | 6% |
The President, the executive branch | 6% | 18% | 47% |
The U.S. Supreme Court, the judicial branch | 65% | 36% | 20% |
Don't know | 24% | 37% | 27% |