The growing fight between the Senate and the House is appearing like an ugly divorce in the making.
After House Speaker Joe Straus suggested the Senate needed to step up its pace in writing its version of the the state's spending blueprint, the upper chamber quickly whipped out its final version.
After the Senate passed the controversial "bathroom bill" and sent it to the House for consideration, a House chairman whose committee will hear the measure said he sees 'no evidence' that Texas needs the bill at all, indicating it could be a dead issue.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate's presiding officer and no fan of Straus or the House, told a Dallas radio station that Straus' lack of interest in passing the measure showed that he was out of touch with most Texans on the issue.
Even the tough Senate-passed ban on so-called "sanctuary cities" appears headed for trouble in the House, where leaders say they are considering major changes before letting it come up for a full vote in the chamber.
Even the budget was a flash point between with the two chambers, with Straus pledging that the budget will have to pass first in the House before other issues are considered. His budget gurus are talking about taking $2 billion from the Rainy Day Funds -- the state's savings account -- to make up for a revenue shortfall, an option the Senate has said it won't consider.
In another wild week at the Legislature, battle lines were showing up on a number of fronts -- and there seemed to be no end to the increasing bickering over most every topic.
Get the lowdown on that and all the other intrigue going on beneath the state's Pink Dome on this week's Texas Take: The Podcast -- the leading political podcast in the Lone Star State -- where you get the inside scoop on the Legislature in simple language every Texan can understand -- unvarnished straight talk, as they say.
No political-speak here, y'all.
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By Houston Chronicle
4.6
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The growing fight between the Senate and the House is appearing like an ugly divorce in the making.
After House Speaker Joe Straus suggested the Senate needed to step up its pace in writing its version of the the state's spending blueprint, the upper chamber quickly whipped out its final version.
After the Senate passed the controversial "bathroom bill" and sent it to the House for consideration, a House chairman whose committee will hear the measure said he sees 'no evidence' that Texas needs the bill at all, indicating it could be a dead issue.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate's presiding officer and no fan of Straus or the House, told a Dallas radio station that Straus' lack of interest in passing the measure showed that he was out of touch with most Texans on the issue.
Even the tough Senate-passed ban on so-called "sanctuary cities" appears headed for trouble in the House, where leaders say they are considering major changes before letting it come up for a full vote in the chamber.
Even the budget was a flash point between with the two chambers, with Straus pledging that the budget will have to pass first in the House before other issues are considered. His budget gurus are talking about taking $2 billion from the Rainy Day Funds -- the state's savings account -- to make up for a revenue shortfall, an option the Senate has said it won't consider.
In another wild week at the Legislature, battle lines were showing up on a number of fronts -- and there seemed to be no end to the increasing bickering over most every topic.
Get the lowdown on that and all the other intrigue going on beneath the state's Pink Dome on this week's Texas Take: The Podcast -- the leading political podcast in the Lone Star State -- where you get the inside scoop on the Legislature in simple language every Texan can understand -- unvarnished straight talk, as they say.
No political-speak here, y'all.
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