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

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.

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.

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.  

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.