02.18.09
Lege Bidness
It’s going to get crazy again in the Senate, very soon it seems. As Kuff says, “I hope you’ve all enjoyed the relative quiet in the Lege these past few weeks, because it will be coming to an end soon.” Postcards has the story, Voter ID bill referred to full Senate.
The controversial Voter ID bill that triggered a nasty Senate fight last month over a rules change today was referred directly to the full Senate for a vote, setting the stage for new unpleasantness.
Now that it has been referred, Senate Bill 362 could be brought up for consideration as soon as next week, several senators said.
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Today’s referral came without fanfare, one of more than 50 bills that were assigned today to various committees. While mostly symbolic, it could promises to put outnumbered Democrats who oppose it on alert against the Upper Chamber’s Republican majority.
Normally, bills are referred to Senate committees for review and approval before they come to the full Senate for debate and a vote. This bill was referred directly to the Committee of the Whole, the full Senate.
This is liable to create more animosity in the Senate but in the long run probably won’t change the eventual outcome from this chamber on voter ID. The Senate rules debate at the beginning of session signaled that the GOP was going to railroad a bill through the chamber. We’ve known since then if there’s to be a debate on this bill it will be in the House. Dewhurst likely wants it out of the Senate ASAP, so the healing can begin.
Which leads to some of the so-called bickering that Democrats have been doing about committee assignments in the House. The consternation of Democrats is being overblown. Especially when the only Democrat on record as being perturbed is Harold Dutton, a Craddick D who shouldn’t have expected much from Straus. While the Lone Star Project has a rundown [.pdf] of what they don’t like, that kind of criticism surely was expected. Burka in his peice, “Why are the Democrats complaining?“, has the unnamed “Some…Democrats”chiming in. While surely there’s been Democratic grumbling, no one ever gets everything they want, there’s surely been some on the GOP “wing nut” side too. Which the traditional media hasn’t said a word about.
Karen Brooks at KXAN probably has it about right, Double-edged sword: Straus gets blowback from D’s.
Well, first off, one of the biggest criticisms of the Straus candidacy was that he would be beholden to Ds because they helped get him elected. They were vital to his election, in fact. So getting a letter like this on the record can only help shore up his street cred with the R constituency.
The other cut, however, goes like this: Straus, who claimed that he was bipartisan, is now being accused of making hollow promises to Democrats.
Naturally, this is their job – to antagonize the Rs, no matter who is in charge. And frankly, with Craddick out, the Ds are dangerously close to being in the same position MSNBC is in without Bush in office. Totally, and completely, without purpose.
So I guess this was coming. And while it may sting, it also doesn’t do much to hurt Straus. AND, it’s mildly off base.
Shots at MSNBC aside, it’s only midly off base because Straus may have been mostly fair, but on the most partisan of issues that’s likely to come through the House this session. On that issue, voter id, he did the Democrats no favors. This type of theme will likely to occur all session long. Straus and the Democrats will play a back-and-forth all session, trying to seem like they’re working together to accomplish what Texas needs, while doing what they can to show that they’re not too close. Close but not too close.