[and distinct conversations] >> the texas state legislature convinced a special legislative session. during the session, texas house republicans adopted a motion concerning absentee democratic lawmakers who left the state to block the special legislative session. [gavel bangs] >> members, we recess. the rules do not require registration this morning. please raise for the invocation -- please rise for the invocation. >> thank you, mr. speaker. let's pray together. father, and a day like today, we wonder how we should pray. we are reminded about your scripture, "this is the day that the lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." so today, father, we can rejoice and we can also, as scripture tells us, to pray without ceasing, be in continual prayer for those we serve in those we love. and father, we are also reminded of you, as i am inspired by those in the chamber, and their faithfulness in serving their constituents in this great state. your faithfulness to each and everyone of us even when we are not faithful to you. you relentlessly pursue us, ultimately sending your son jesus

[laughter] [applause] [indistinct chatter] announcer: the texas state legislature convened a special legislative session to consider gop sponsor voting bills. during the session texas house republicans adopted a motion concerning absentee lawmakers who left the state to block the special session. [indistinct chatter] [gavel banging] >> the house will come to order. we came to recess friday. please rise for the honorable scott colin. >> thank you, mr. speaker. let's pray together. father, on a day like today we wonder how we should pray and we are reminded by your scripture that this is the day the lord has made. let us rejoice and be glad in it. today, father, we can rejoice and we can also, as scripture tells us, we can be in continual prayer for those we serve and to those we love. father, we are reminded -- as i am inspired by those in the chamber -- they have faithfully served their constituents in this great state. in your relentless pursuit of us and your faithfulness, even when we are not faithful to you, as you relentlessly pursue us ultimately by sending your son, jesus chris

[and distinct conversations] announcer: the texas state legislature convened a special session to consider gop sponsored boating bills. during the session, they adopted a motion concerning obscenity democratic lawmakers who left the state to block the special legislative session. speaker phelan: members, please rise for and vacation -- for invocation. >> thank you, mr. speaker. let's pray together. on a day like today, we wonder how we should pray. we are reminded about your scripture that this is the day the lord has made. let us rejoice and be glad in it. so today, father, we can rejoice , and we can also -- we can be in continual prayer for those we serve and those we love. and father, we are also reminded, as i am inspired by those in the chamber today, and your relentless pursuit of us, even when we are not faithful to you, as you relentlessly pursue us, ultimately by sending your son, jesus christ, as the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, in whose name we pray, amen. >> [indiscernible] to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states

and earlier this week the democrats in the texas state legislature fled, a loaded word, but they flew quorum, so no business could be enacted in the texas state legislature. it is because the republican majority wanted to change rules on voting and to sharply curtail the ability of people to vote, particularly african americans and people from poorer communities. a voting day is usually tuesday, but a lot of people have jobs where they actually cannot take the deal. have jobs where they actually cannot take the day off. so there were all kinds of ways that you can vote and any texas legislature is trying to cut them all back. it is voter suppression. the democrats are in the minority, they could not hope to stop this bill, so they simply remove themselves so that there would not be a quorum and no business could be conducted. that is where politics is that in america. joe biden is trying to pass a $3 trillion infrastructure bill, a bailout bill, all of these things, people should really be paying attention to what is happening in the state houses, particularly the ones controlled by t

texas joined tech system aquatic state legislators to talk about the state's special legislative session to vote on republican voting bills. texas state democrats have fled their home state to prevent a republican legislaturehaving a quorum to conduct business. this is about half an hour. republican legislation from having a quorum to conduct business. this is about half an hour. [indistinct conversation] >> good morning, everybody. thank you very much for being here this morning. first of all, i want to thank all of our friends, the democrats in the texas legislature, for doing the right thing, coming to washington, d.c. to shine the light on a very important topic in this country -- the eroding of voting rights since 19 65, since the voting rights act was passed in the mid 60's. we have not seen this level of retrogression and the rights of people casting their votes since that time period. people need to do something about it. this group that is here today is exactly doing that, something about it, they are standing up and doing the right thing. congressman doggett and i are very happy to be here today. the first person you will hear from is chris turner, the chair of the house democratic proces caucus

state of texas and defund the legislative branch, you have poisoned the entire process, and we as democrats, we were united. we said, we are going to kill any undemocratic efforts in the state legislature. you have probably [no audio] legislation that would make it harder for texans to exercise their freedom of vote and their right to vote. we are not doing this for democrats. we are doing this for republicans. we are doing this for independence. -- independents, for catholics and protestants, anybody in the state of texas who needs to exercise their right to vote should do so freely. and we are not going to buckle to the big lie in the state of texas. the big lie that has resulted -- [applause] -- that has resulted in antidemocratic legislation throughout the united states. we said, no, when the big lie came to the big n texas and darkens our door, we said no during the regular session, and we are saying no during the regular session. we are happy to work on bipartisan proposals that expand the right to vote. that make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in the state of texas, but that is not what we saw, even at the outset of this process, when none of the amendments offered by my

in the midst of that, the most difficult standoff, texas democrats from the state legislature spoke todaybers of congress from texas. they're basically begging for federal help, urging democrats and congress to carve out and amend the rules of the united states senate so the senate can pass voting rights legislation with just the democratic majority. the texas state representative you saw changing the rules for a right wing supreme court justice is true. it's something that existed since the constitution. it's a relatively recent invention, and it's changed a lot including in the recent years. there have been carve out for the recent years including judicial nominees and supreme court justices. cabinet nominees. there are all sorts of things that it used to apply to that it doesn't anymore. why not voting rights? it's within democrats power to make that change. now, you heard the name checking congressman clyde burn. this week, he called on president biden to endorse this idea, to endorse the idea of a carve out for the filibuster for voting rights so the democrats can get a bill on his d

democratic members of the texas state legislature in d.c. to push that issue, to not be in texas, to avoid a quorum on the texas law. but s1, the for the people act, all but dead in the senate? it doesn't seem to have the support to move on its own. do you see that balancing act there? guest: i wish parties would stop doing these kitchen sink bills where they put everything but the kitchen sink in so their individual aspects of individual legislation that people will hate, and rather take each one one at a time, up or down come -- up or down, each provision. and have a better chance of getting things like that through. i'm going to alienate both democrats and conservatives right here because i think the -- i think both sides have gotten a little bit over their skis. on both sides of the issue, fraught on one side, suppression on the other, that at the one hand there is very, very little voter fraud in this country. just look at the convictions under president trump and his justice department for four years. eight years under george w. bush. b

that group of texas lawmakers and you just heard the head of the democratic caucus in the texas state legislature and house talk about how they have directed the house clerk in austin to effectively lock their voting machines. the deal is this, right. the texas state legislature will gavel back into session, obviously 50-plus democrat also not be there in the house because they're standing outside the capitol as we speak. at that point, if there is not two-thirds present in the chamber, no state business can be conducted. that is why these democrats being in washington effectively block any like those restrictive voting bills. you might be asking why did they come to washington? because the next step that could happen, it is possible that texas republicans in the house could compel legislators to come back to the chamber, and if they are still in the state of texas, the republican governor could for example get the dps, the agents in texas, law enforcement in texas to seek the arrest and return of the lawmakers to the capitol, if they're in a place like washington, that's not going to happen. tha

among them are more than 50 democratic members of the texas state legislature. they fled their state to pass -- block passage of restrictive voting laws. today we learned that three members of that delegation have tested positive for covid-19, despite being fully vaccinated. that's what's known as a breakthrough infection. worth noting, covid vaccines are meant to prevent hospitalization and death. doctors say it is still possible to get the virus and even to get symptoms. this evening, not too long ago, we got a statement from texas state represent, sylvia israel, who tested positive for covid. she writes in part, quote, let this be a reminder that covid-19 is still very much among us, with infection rates on the rise and more contagious variants spreading nationwide. while i have fully complied with cdc guidelines and am fully vaccinated, this will not 100% prevent infection, unquote. this week, some of those texas lawmakers met with democratic senator joe manchin along with senate majority leader chuck schumer and vice president kamala harris. tonight, a spok

>> democrats from the texas state legislature dramatically left the state of texas yesterday to block republicans from passing another draconian anti-voting rights bill in that state. more than 50 democratic texas legislators are in washington and planning to be there for weeks out of the reach of the texas state law enforcement. the legislature can't pass anything because there aren't enough there to have a quorum. in the midst of that difficult standoff, texas democrats spoke at the u.s. capitol alongside members of the congress from texas. they are basically begging for federal help. urging democrats in congress to carve out, to amend the rules of the united states senate so the senate can pass voting rights legislation with just the democratic majority. the texas state representative you saw speaking there about changing the rules for a right wing supreme court justice, that's true. the filibuster isn't something that's existed since the constitution. it's a relatively recent invention and it has changed a lot, including recent years as there have been carve-outs for all sorts of

republicans in the texas state legislature are trying to take away that power. the suppression tactics are targeted and precise with the aim of stripping power away from black and latin voters. this is a long history of racist disenvirons franchisement by creating broad criminal penalties texas republicans have adopted a at that time guy of plate ant intimidation to suppress the vote. yes or no, for the record, do you believe expanding criminal penalties in this bill will deter people from voting? >> yes. ms. pressley: so the new criminal penalties are directed at family members and volunteers who help voters who return their ballots, people with disability are needing this type of ethical and well established accommodation to vote. how did this bill's new requirements voting by mail impede voters with disabilities from exercising their right to vote? >> one of the most interesting answers is that it requires a pen-ink signature, something that many people with disabilities cannot produce and they often use a stamp, so there is no cure for that. ms. pressley: an

now five days into a dramatic act of civil disobedience by the democratic members of the texas state legislaturestate representatives left the state to deny republican state legislatures the quorum that they would need to pass antivoting legislation. the governor of texas has said that as soon as they step foot back in the state, they will be arrested. all of this, this civil disobedience, all of this good trouble is somewhat cosmically tied. tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of john lewis whose acts of good trouble that helped bring around the voting rights act of 1965, tomorrow, the official ceremony honoring lewis will be the christening of the "uss john lewis" navy ship. speaker of the house nancy pelosi will lead a congressional delegation to san diego to participate in the christening that will honor the former congressman's legacy. proteges of lewis are calling for some more good trouble in his name on voting rights and there will be vigils around this country from georgia to new york to north carolina to texas to honor the late congressman and to carry his torch for democracy. spe

by leaving the state, they are breaking the quorum in the legislature and they could face arrest the republican governor there, greg abbott, slammed the move in that statement saying texas democrats' decision to break a quorum of the texas legislature and abandon the texas state capitol inflicts harm on the very texans who elected them to serve. at the end of may, democratic lawmakers through national attention when they staged a walkout on this very same bill priscilla, you spoke with one of these democrat lawmakers earlier. what did you hear? >> those lawmakers are expected in washington, d.c., within the

and earlier this week the democrats in the texas — earlier this week the democrats in the texas state legislature on voting and — majority wanted to change rules on voting and to sharply curtail the ability— voting and to sharply curtail the ability of— voting and to sharply curtail the ability of people to vote, particularly african americans and people _ particularly african americans and people from poorer communities. a voting _ people from poorer communities. a voting day— people from poorer communities. a voting day is usually tuesday, but a lot of— voting day is usually tuesday, but a lot of people have jobs where they actually _ lot of people have jobs where they actually cannot take the deal. so there _ actually cannot take the deal. so there were all kinds of ways that you can — there were all kinds of ways that you can vote and any texas legislature is trying to cut them all back — legislature is trying to cut them all back it _ legislature is trying to cut them all back. it is voter suppression. the democrats are in the minority, they could — the democrats are in the minority, they co

at least 51 democratic members of texas state legislature have fled the state. they are now in washington, d.c.. they met today with vice president kamala harris in the afternoon. and they said instead of texas, because republicans want to pass a bill that will make it even harder to vote in the state. now, there is no filibuster in the texas legislature which is the case in most states. it's just majority ruled there, right? and there is a minority. they don't have the luxury of that majority threshold so they're taking desperate, extraordinary measures that in some ways the filibuster, once represented by the u.s. senate, to flee the state and break quorum. you need quorum to conduct legislative business because they think that threat to voter access in their state and texas and democracy is so extreme. they flow out to d.c.. one of the members of congress doesn't function by majority rule. to go plead with congressional democrats, who do have control, majority control of the senate to use that control. think of it from their perspective. texas state representa

. >> democrats from the texas state legislature are in washington, d.c., here as we pointed out to protestat they are being roughshod over in texas, being cut down on the legislative process. the same democrats were trying to get rid of the legislative filibuster here in the united states senate. >> and a nutshell, that's the mood among g.o.p. lawmakers in washington. ranging from failed to reach into inescapable mockery. >> i think it's interesting to see the majority in the senate concerned about minority rights in the state senate in texas. i guess if you live long enough, you see almost anything around here. >> not surprisingly, the dozens of texas democrats fleeing the lone star state prevent a vote in the state legislature on proposed reforms are being hailed as heroes. just compare the glowing coverage now the democrats are getting to house uncharacterized a similar stunt by oregon republicans last year. to quote a familiar children's tune, "one of these things is not like the others." but the stakes are higher now. democrats are on the move, back home, texas republicans are authori

all of these attempts indifferent state legislatures to make it harder for people to vote, and he singled out texasnk in part because this is already the toughest state in which to register, to cast a ballot. the republican-controlled state legislatures are trying to make it harder, especially on those with disabilities, black and brown voters, voters who live in big cities. the speech was wonderful. it was a speech that the country needed to hear. the only thing missing though, lawrence, was a call to make an exception to the filibuster for voting rights legislation. he diagnosed the problem perfectly. he laid it all out for us so that we understand just how perilously close we are to losing our democracy. but then he did not provide the prescription that we have been waiting for, and we must summon the political courage to change the rules of the senate, where a pro democracy democratic majority has the votes to get voting rights legislation like the for the people act passed. that is what is missing. i hope this is just the first of many speeches the president is going to give, and in the next o

but speaker pelosi's office as her aide came into contact with democratic members of the texas state legislature last week as she shepherded them around on capitol hill. i am both officials attended the reception with the texas democrats, only six of whom who have now tested positive for covid. >> sandra: the nation's top health officials testifying before the senate committee today. there were some fireworks. republican kentucky senator rand paul and anthony fauci at one point going at it. listen here. >> it is a crime to lie to congress. do you wish to retract your statement of may 11th where you claimed that the nih never funded research in wuhan? >> senator paul, i have never lied it -- >> your microphone. >> senator paul, i have never lied before the congress, and i do not retract that statement. this paper that you are referring to was judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being of function. let me finish. >> you take an animal virus, increase the transmissibility to humans. >> that is correct. senator paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly. and i

last week, as you remember, a group of texas state legislatures decided to cast down their nets and followir consciences. they left their native lands on a kind of pilgrimage to find democracy. by leaving, ironically, they ended democracy in their own state. in their absence, texas could no longer pass laws. but they believed it was worth it. they were serving a cause bigger than themselves. so they set out on the journey of a lifetime with just thee clothes on their backs. they took nothing apart from a private jet, iphones for selfies and regular social media updates, and a case of miller lite for sustenance. they forwent even their paperle obedience masks, the ones that federal laws require the rest of us to wear when we travel by air. not these people. they traveled light.t. they were like the vietcong marching 50 miles and sleeping in trees. they were only about their mission. finally after a grueling refueling stop at an fbo en route, they arrived in washington as conquering heroes. one of the pilgrims, an enthusiastic if not especially bright legislator called jean wu posted that fa

philadelphia, a big speech on voting rights, the members of -- democratic members of the texas state legislature in d.c. to push that issue and to not be in texas to avoid a quorum on that texas law, but s-1 the for the people act all but dead in the senate, at least doesn't seem to have the support to move on its own. do you see that balancing act there? >> well, i wish parties would stop doing these kitchen sink bills where they put everything but the kitchen sink in so if there are individual aspects of any of these pieces of legislation that people will hate. rather than pick each one, one at a time, run them threw up and down each provision and i think you have a better chance of getting things like that through. now, i'm going to alienate both democrats and conservatives because i think both sides have gotten a little bit over their skis on this whole set of issues of fraud on one side, suppression on the other that on the one hand and i will talk about this more in just a second there is very, very, very, very little voter fraud in this country and just look at the convictions and preside

state legislature. no problems or the governor of texas decided to call a special session. e democrats, this time they did not stay in the state. they got on chartered flights and came to washington because, without their presence, there is no quorum in the state legislature and they cnot vote on that bill. so, right now they are in washington dc they are saying that they are not going to go back to texas until that special session is over which will last about a month. and the governor is saying, i will keep putting new sessions in place until we -- they come back. the minute they step foot on texas ground i will have them detained and bring them to the state legislature to do their jo. it is a very tense situation there, where the democrats are trying to gain time to try to prevent that law from being passed and republicans are adamant that they will in the end get it passed. >> we heard that president joe biden is angry what -- about what is happening. tell us more about what he has been saying. >> joe biden's speech toy was very symbolic. he went to pennsylvania, which i

last week, as you remember, a group of texas state legislatures decided to cast down their nets and followd of pilgrimage to find democracy. by leaving, ironically, they ended democracy in their own state. in their absence, texas could no longer pass la

. ♪ ♪ >> texas state legislatures -- legislators from both parties testified before congress about theirte's election laws. to prevent the state legislature from having a quorum and passing legislation that democrats say would restrict voting access. a maryland congressman chaired this hearing on civil rights and civil liberties. >> the committee will come to order. without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time and without objection pursuant --

sure that their caucus falls in line so that these two important pieces of legislation that texas state legislaturesre calling for, that activists across the country are calling for, that they get to his desk and become law. because this garage of voter suppression attacks from republican-led state houses is not going to stop anytime soon. >> and michael, that is saying a lot about your republicans. there's no denying that this is now part of, if not their entire brand. did they continue to continue to go deep on voter suppression, having been called out? everyone is watching now. >> question for you brian, who is going to stop them? the republican party has not paid the price for anything. even losing the presidency in 2020, republicans look at that and said that wasn't about us, that was about trump. after all we picked up seats in the house and we had a tie in the senate. so, where are the consequences? there have been no consequences for the rollback of rights and the reordering of constitutional norms and principles of using the white house as a grift palace and using the rnc as an atm. there i

. >>> also the texas state legislature had a working weekend. the members took up two voting bills. they could get a floor vote by tuesday. the bills were inspired at least partly by the claims of voter fraud that led to the riot on january 6. this week will also be pivotal for the future of president biden's agenda. the senate returns from a two-week recess to continue work on a massive infrastructure overhaul. the president is scheduled to speak on tuesday, pushing for voting rights legislation. but can he make progress on two of capitol hill's most complex and divisive issues? let's discuss all this with democratic congresswoman debbie dingell of michigan. she's a member of the house committee and it includes dearborn. congresswoman, great to be with you. >> thanks for having me approximate. >> can we start with voting rights? i wonder what your thoughts are for the future of the voting rights bill that's pending. do you think you should push for those pieces of legislation, or might there be an appetite for a narrower bill that sort of coalesces the agreement we have now across

. >>> the texas state legislature convening today for a special session where republicans will try once again to pass a bill designed to restrict voting rights. let's discuss now with a democratic member of the texas statehouse. representative, thank you for being a part of the show. i'm eager to speak with you, particularly as all eyes are again on texas. because as you know, republicans in texas, they want to band drive-through and 24-hour voting, they want to add new i.d. requirements and give new powers to partisan poll watchers and i just wonder, is any of this really about election integrity, that the governor of texas seems to say it is, but is it? >> no. what this is about, we just saw on the map that you put up with the congressman that there are states across the country that are enacting voter suppression laws. texas is 1 of 8 states currently targeted by the heritage foundation because of our changing demographic and because of our large impact on federal elections to pass these voter suppression laws. we know this is a national strategy and that's why it's so essential to h

speaking of your state legislature, hillary vaughn from fox business pressed texas state representative chris turner on why are you in d.c. but you're still getting paid to work in texas? this is what he said to hillary vaughn. reporter: are you guys going to forfeit part of your salary by spending time up here and not participateing in the business of the texas legislature which is your job? >> we're doing our jobs. we're fighting for our constituents being here. reporter: so where the press is allowed to ask questions. what your message is to texans who can't just not show up to work and still get a paycheck. do you have a message to texans?

to stop what they call a suppression session where republicans hope to pass a belt in the texas state legislature making it harder to vote in the battleground state that already has some of the toughest restrictions in the country. we will speak to one of those who left, state representative jarvis johnson, and the head of the texas democratic party. and if roe v. wade does not survive, can reproductive rights be preserved witut it? >> the right to choose reproductive freedom has never been in such dire straits. if we're going to make progress, need to quit hitting our heads agast the marble staircase and begin to depend on state legislatures, on congress, not the court because the federal courts are no longer our friend. amy: we will speak with kitty kolbert, who argued that planned parenthood versus casey before the supreme court and julie kay about their book. d we will go tel salvar to lo at the iminalizion of aborti to the credibleto ofeodora vÁsquez, who was sentced to 3years in prison after her baby was born dead in a stillbirth at nine months. >> first they said it was an abortion and the

. >>> let's go to texas, my friend, where dozens filed into the state legislature today. they're part of a public hearing on new voting legislation. the chamber is taking it up during the special session. so that legislation would ban overnight and 24-hour voting. it would require id for mail-in votes, give power to poll watchers and make some rules for transporting people to the polls. that's just a few of the restrictions. how detrimental, hayes, could this bill be and how likely is it to actually pass? >> very likely to actually pass. the only reason that the previous version didn't pass during the regular session in texas state legislature session was because the democrats walked out. they denied a quorum for a vote to take place. they probably won't be able to do it again this time during the special session. i will say there's one small bit of positivity here in that after that action republicans looked at the bill, they actually looked at it and realized how controversial some of the portions were which have been watered down or stripped out entirely. but the bill

longest serving woman and african-american in the texas state legislature, laying out what could be attake for her community as she tries to delay passage of restrictive voting rights bills in texas. texas democrats are meeting with senate majority leader chuck schumer later this afternoon. as we said, they're calling on congressional democrats to pass two voting rights bills currently called in congress. democrats in texas and washington, d.c. are against the wall, wanting to enact voting rights changes but without votes to do it. we have the latest on where that legislation stands on capitol hill, and the legal defense and educational funds. thank you for being here. let me start in terms of you have a story out outlining where we are. we talked about it with mike memoli in terms of what joe biden may or may not be willing to do. where is the conversation on capitol hill right now about the filibuster and voting rights? >> the conversation on capitol hill is simply that every debate on voting rights is ultimately debate on the filibuster. they have the votes to pass voting rights leg

count for a simple mistake. >> one of the democrats who is fighting against this bill in the texas state legislatureore because nicole jones joins me live ahead. stick around. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. replace old pipes? i can do that. install energy-efficient windows? i can do that. build an electric car? i can do that. weld the tower of a wind turbine? modernize the grid? install 10,000 solar panels? do what i've been doing my whole life? rebuild the country and protect america against climate change? we can do that. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas or abdominal discomfort? taking align every day can help. align contains a quality probiotic developed by gastroenterologists. it adds more good bacteria to your gut to naturally help soothe your occasional bloating, gas and abdominal discomfort. support your digestive health with align, the #1 doctor recommended probiotic. try align today. and try new align fast acting biotic gummies. helps soothe occasional digestive upsets in as little as 7 days. when i was diagnosed with dupuytren's co

today the texas state legislature briefly convened for the kickoff of the special session taking up 11placing limits on voting, one was passed in may that was blocked when democrats staged a walkout denying the quorum that was needed to act on the legislation. the special session is giving them another bite at the apple to push it through. nbc's priscilla thompson is in austin. what's in this bill that is concerning democrats and voting rights advocates? >> yeah, kasie. so the house version of this bill dropped overnight, and i believe the senate version has just been filed as well, but what we know is in the house version is some of the same things that we saw in that bill that democrats walked out on in may. so it is a ban on overnight voting, a ban on drive through voting. voting, also still make it a state felony to send out unsolicited vote by mail ballots, so those are a lot of things that was concern. in just a few moments, the advocates and democratic leaders are going to come out and hold a press conference i i'm here with carissa lopez with the texas freedom network, one of t

governor abbott is to basically threatening the salaries of the legislative staff in the texas state legislaturehe day, the governor said in his tweet that he wanted to punish those that left their post. article 10 is the legislative budget for 2,500 personnel and staff four all of us, republicans and democrats. had the governor had his choice, he could punish only democrats. but what he has to do is to take all of our salaries away from us. he said he wanted to punish us as democrats. but as you heard earlier in the show we make $600 a month. so at the end of the day that's not month. but it is for our staff. and the fact that he's also punished the sergeant at arms and the floor, that in a sense tells me that he is willing to de-fund not only the sergeant of arms, which are former police officers but every staff that works in the capitol simply because we as democrats did not do what he wanted us to do, and we're not here to be his delegate, we're here for our constituents. >> and with that we're going to have to leave it there. texas representatives toni rose, victoria neave, and jarvis johns

governor abbott, is to basically, threatening the salaries of the legislative staff, in the texas state legislaturehat? how worried are you about that? >> that's showmanship governance. at the end of the day the government said in his tweet, that he wanted to punish those that left their post. and so article ten is the legislative budget for 2500 personnel and staff, for all of us, republicans and democrats. can the governor have his choice, -- what he has to do is take all of our salaries away from us. he said he wanted to punish us as democrats, but as you heard earlier in the show, we make $7,000. but it is first staff. and it's also punish the sergeant at arms, [inaudible] that in a sense tell us he's willing to defund, not only the sergeant in arms, but every staff that works on the capitol, simply because we as democrats, did not do what he wanted us to do. and -- >> and with that we're going to have to leave it there. texas representatives tony rose, service johnson and -- we will be joined by a special guest who has a message for all of the texas democrats in d.c. tonight. stay with us. sta

last week, as you remember, a group of texas state legislatures decided to cast down their nets and followo find democracy. by leaving, ironically, the end of democracy and their own state and their absence texas could no longer pass laws. but they believed it was worth it. they were serving a cause bigger than themselves. so they set out

denying a quorum in the texas state legislature. times, democrats considering doing the same thing to try to prevent this bill. once again, those democratic law makers are considering taking the state try and prevent this from becoming law. >> all right, josh lederman. looking forward to hear the president speaking on all of this a little bit later this. week thank. you let's bring in the cofounder of the black matters fun, latosha brown. who is in austin to protest the voting restrictions bill. latosha, great to see you. there's something that just mentioned that leaves me in all. where he says that lawmakers have not looked into whether minorities would be disproportionately affected by these voting rights bills. you study this stuff. are they? u stud>> of course. the truth of the matter is, they are targeting because they know this disproportionately impacts people of color. particularly brown and black but voters who are the most electric in texas. this is a bill specifically designed to be able to marginalize black and brown vo

the senior spokesperson tested positive yesterday after having contact with members of the texas state legislaturer white house official also tested positive for covid. they were also fully vaccinated and have mild symptoms, officials say. both staffers have not had contact with speaker pelosi or president biden. a close friend of ally and ally of former president trump was indicted this morning on federal charges. thomas brock jr. a top fundraiser for mr trump, was indicted for failing to register as an agent of the united arab emirates government. barack is accused of obstruction of justice and making false statements during the 2019 interview with federal agents. in addition, federal prosecutors and the fbi are looking into whether he tried to sway the trump administration on behalf of persian gulf nation. parents of murder children have joined the effort to recall governor newsom. they say policies he supported were unfair and unjust and help put criminals back out there on the street. ktvu christian captain talked to two parents who lost their children to violent crimes and has our report a m

also, the texas state legislature as a working weekend. members took up to gop back voting bills, both bills advance the other committee, and we could get a floor vote by tuesday. the bills were inspired at least partly by the claims of voter fraud that led to the riots on january 6th. this week will also be pivotal for the future of president biden's agenda. the senate returns from a two-week recess to continue to work on a massive infrastructure overhaul. the president is scheduled to speak on tuesday, pushing for voting rights legislation. but can he make progress on two of capitol hill's most complex and divisive issues? let's discuss all of this with democratic congresswoman debbie dingell of michigan. she's a member of the house and congress committee, and the house natural resources committee. her district includes ann arbor, and parts of the detroit suburbs including dearborn, congresswoman, very good to see you. welcome. >> it is great to be with you, joshua. thank. you >> can you start with voting rights? i wonder what your sense