On Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives approved a redistricting plan that hands five additional U.S. House seats to Republicans, cementing the GOP’s dominance in the state delegation from 25 to a potential 30 out of 38 seats.
The Texas House of Representatives passed the congressional redistricting bill by an 88–52 partisan vote.
As reported CBS News:
The Texas House of Representatives neared final passage on Wednesday to House Bill 4, a controversial Republican-backed proposal to redraw the state’s congressional maps and potentially add up to five new GOP-leaning districts.
Entering Wednesday, the bill needed to pass two votes in the House to advance to the Senate. The first vote was 88-52. The House is expected to vote shortly for final passage.
Before the final vote, lawmakers debated a series of amendments offered by Democrats, all of which were rejected by the Republican majority. The bill was the sole item on the agenda for the day’s floor session, which began at 10 a.m.
The Texas Senate, which approved a similar version of the redistricting legislation earlier this week, is scheduled to take up the House-passed bill when it convenes this Thursday at 7 p.m.
If the Senate approves the House version without changes, the legislation could be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott by the end of the week. If not, the two chambers will need to reconcile differences in a conference committee.
Last week, the Texas House failed to achieve quorum for the sixth time since early August, stalling the GOP’s redistricting plan. Only 95 lawmakers showed up for the 10 a.m. session, once again falling short of the 100 needed to reach a quorum.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened the derelict Democrats with arrest and removal from office if they didn’t return to the Capitol.
According to the Associated Press, Texas Democrats won’t return home unless “Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal.”
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