AUSTIN, Texas – The impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton might be over, but a political fight is ramping up between the Texas House and Senate over how the trial was handled. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick fired the first shot in a speech after the senators voted to acquit Paxton.
“The speaker and his team rammed through the first impeachment of a statewide official in Texas in more than a 100 years while paying no attention to the precedent that the House set in every other impeachment before. Our founders expected better,” Lt. Gov. Patrick said Saturday.
House Speaker Dade Phelan responded to the lieutenant governor’s comments, saying in part, “I find it deeply concerning that after weeks of claiming he would preside over this trial in an impartial and honest manner, Lt. Gov. Patrick would conclude by confessing his bias and placing his contempt for the people’s House on full display. To be clear, Patrick attacked the House for standing up against corruption.”
It’s been tense between the chambers for a while. Earlier this summer, Patrick and Phelan had a months-long standoff over how best to provide property tax relief.
Even so, Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll call a special legislative session in October to pass a school choice program.
“The votes seem to be lining up. We have to solidify those votes and get them across the finish line,” Gov. Abbott said on a call with Christian pastors Tuesday.
The program, which is a priority for Abbott and Patrick, would allow parents to use public school dollars to send their child to private school. The Texas House has repeatedly rejected vouchers, with rural Republicans joining Democrats to fight against any program that would take money away from public schools.
“The question is, how can you, in essence, buy off just enough rural Republicans, or get just enough Democrats, to break ranks to get you over that finish line in the House? One or the other is going to have to be effectively bought,” said Matthew Wilson, an associate professor of political science at Southern Methodist University.
Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, championed school choice legislation during the regular session. In the Senate, a school choice program was tied to teacher raises, meaning one could not pass without the other. That legislation didn’t go anywhere.
“The Texas Senate believes that the public policy priorities should go to the highest bidder, and that’s why they’ve done the bidding of billionaire mega donors in the Ken Paxton trial, and are going to do it again on these voucher scams,” said Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin. “I hope that the Texas House stays strong, stays united, unites across party lines and stands up for our public schools.”
Rep. Talarico says even if the legislature drafts a bill that ties teacher pay to vouchers again, he wouldn’t support it.
“Obviously, I’m a big proponent of raising teacher pay,” he said. “I was a middle school teacher before I ran for office. The first bill that I introduced this past session was a bill to give every teacher a $15,000 pay raise and hopefully stop the bleeding from this historic teacher shortage. But I know that a private school voucher scam will defund and dismantle our public education system. Maybe not in the short term, but I know in the long term, it will. It will empty our school funding budget. And so I, in good conscience, can’t vote for any type of private school voucher scam, even if it’s attached to some kind of teacher pay raise.”
His Republican colleague in the House, Rep. Charles Cunningham of Humble, says the devil is in the details.
“I’ve always told everybody I’m open,” Rep. Cunningham said. “I’ve always been willing to sit down and listen, and if it does not work for my district, then you know, I mean, that answer is easy: It’s a no.”
Rep. Cunningham guesses leaders from the House and Senate have already expressed what they want to the governor. But as of now, he doesn’t know what will be on the governor’s special session call.
“It’s not about a Democrat or Republican. It’s not about me or you. It’s about the future of Texas, the next generation,” Rep. Cunningham said. “If we’re going to continue to be now the eighth largest economy in the world, and we want to continue to have businesses come to our state, we need an educated workforce.”
Abbott said Tuesday if lawmakers don’t pass a school choice program in October, he’ll call another special session to get it done.