Texas House Democrats breaking in quorum in Washington D.C. recently announced that they will be testifying before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in a Thursday hearing.
The hearing will focus on the assault on voting rights in Texas and will feature three statehouse lawmakers from the Lone Star State — Reps. Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio), Nicole Collier (D-Fort Worth), and Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) — who will testify to congressional lawmakers about voter suppression in Texas.
“We are honored to have been invited to testify before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to discuss the Texas GOP’s efforts to make voting more difficult than ever in our state,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “We came to Washington, D.C. to push Congress to act now to pass sweeping voter protection legislation to defend both Texas and our country from the Trump Republicans’ continued attacks on democracy.”
“We look forward to the opportunity to be directly involved in the federal lawmaking process by making our case at Thursday’s hearing,” they said.
Texas Democrats are now entering their third week in Washington D.C., where they are staying to break quorum and disrupt Republican legislation back home that would make it more difficult to vote. Additionally, the caucus is also trying to raise awareness and support for federal legislation, For the People Act, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would roll back or prevent voter suppression if enacted.
Republicans in Texas are attempting to join 18 other state legislatures that have enacted voter suppression legislation this year, according to a roundup by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute.
The 30-day special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott ends next Friday. Democrats have committed to staying the full duration of the special session.
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
