January 26, 2018

Ep81: Harvey relief versus DACA, as sparks fly over toll roads: Plus, as primary season gets serious, the political rhetoric becomes a blow torch

33 minutes

After a three-day shutdown of the federal government, Congress is back at working trying to resolve the issue that triggered it: What to do with The Dreamers, the undocumented immigrants that were brought to this country by their parents.

Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who has been working on a compromise solution to deporting the 124,000 Dreamers in Texas, says there's another hitch: Approval of $81 billion in Hurricane Harvey relief funds, much of that headed to Texas, is stalled until a deal on Dreamers is worked out.

In a week when state leaders had to borrow $38 million from the prison system budget to keep funding housing relief programs, until the federal money arrives, nail biting continues in Houston and other communities devastated by Harvey as the political primary season gets into full swing.

The rhetoric is heating up in legislative races, over NAFTA and over toll roads, a perennial favorite for drama, as county judges call for state leaders to lighten up on the pay-as-you-drive roads they say are the only way Texas can keep up with its mushrooming traffic growth.

Texas Politics are seldom boring, always entertaining.

Our sponsor this week: The Texas Association of Counties.

With Mike Ward, the Houston Chronicle's Austin Bureau chief, and Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, it's Texas' leading online podcast about Lone Star politics -- coming to you in collaboration with Texas Public Radio.

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