As a way of ratcheting up the pressure on Texas Democrat representatives to return to the state to attend legislative sessions, Texas GOP state Rep. Briscoe Cain told Newsmax on Wednesday that he has filed a bill which would vacate the seats of any representative who skips seven straight legislative days without an excused absence.
This comes as 51 Democrat lawmakers have fled the state to prevent the Texas House of Representatives from carrying out a redrawing of congressional districts to be more favorable for Republicans, since state law requires a quorum of two-thirds of the representatives to be present in order to have a legislative session.
Cain, who is chair of the Texas House Freedom Caucus, told "Wake Up America" that Democrats claim their absence "is about protecting democracy all while they are really subverting it to cling to power."
He emphasized, however, that "we need some kind of mechanism to vacate their seats, and so while the governor and attorney general are seeking to have those seats vacated, we thought, Hey, why not have something statutorily, where the legislature says after this point, you are definitely out?"
When he was asked how he thought this entire saga would play out, Cain said, "I'm not sure, but I am happy we are trying everything we can."
He reiterated that "quorum breaking is a thing, but it is not really legitimate, it is actually obstructionist."
Cain pointed out that "they lost at the ballot box. We won," and stressed that in Texas "our demographics have changed. We've grown. We're more red now and our [congressional] districts should reflect that."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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