Texas Democrats’ trip to Washington, D.C., attempting to block GOP-backed voting bills from passing in the state Legislature will cost $1.5 million, a state lawmaker said.
State Rep. Armando Walle projected the lawmakers’ chartered flights alone cost upward of $100,000, according to NBC News. Other notable expenses will include food, hotel lodging, and transportation, he said.
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Last week, nearly 60 Democrats fled Austin, paralyzing the state’s House of Representatives and drawing ire from their GOP colleagues. The majority of the Democratic lawmakers boarded private jets to Washington to meet with federal officials after Republicans pushed two pieces of legislation that would restrict certain ballot-casting processes and require more identification for voting.
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A wire transfer from the House Democratic Caucus paid for the jets, and one House member put a block of hotel rooms on a personal American Express card.
It is unclear whether taxpayers will end up paying partially or wholly for the Democrats’ trip.
Democrats have insisted that no taxpayer funds are being used in the excursion, but their Republican counterparts have posited that upward of $1 million will be paid by residents due to the prolonging of a special session.
Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an order to convene a special session to deliberate on Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3, a pair of bills that would ban drive-thru voting, implement more comprehensive voter identification requirements for mail-in ballots, and prohibit officials from sending voting applications to those who did not request them. SB 1 was passed by the Senate amid the theatrics, but HB 3 has been stalled as the House lacks the two-thirds quorum necessary to vote on the legislation.
If Democrats do not return in a timely manner, the special session could last for nearly one month, with legislators being paid per diem rates during the process. On Wednesday, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan requested that the Democrats return their $221 per day wages if they’re outside of the Lone Star State.
“Under the Texas Constitution … per diem must be paid to each member for each day of a special session, regardless of whether the member is actually present,” Phelan wrote in a memorandum. “I am requesting all members who are intentionally absent for the purpose of preventing the House from conducting business during the special session to return your constitutional per diem to the state’s treasury immediately upon receipt.”
On Tuesday, House Republicans voted to send law enforcement to hunt down the lawmakers “under warrant of arrest if necessary” after the leaders discovered they lacked a two-thirds quorum when they tried to bring one of the bills to a vote with only 80 members of the normal 150-member government body present. Two motions to initiate the move passed by an overwhelming 76-4 margin, with Democrats who chose not to vacate the state as the only “no” votes.
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The absent Democrats have drawn criticism for their trip after at least five fully vaccinated members involved in the trek tested positive for COVID-19 since their departure. The legislators were seen posing maskless on flights to Washington, D.C. ahead of the diagnoses, a decision one of the lawmakers admitted was “sloppy.”
“Let our mistake be the object lesson,” Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu, who has become a prolific tweeter since he and colleagues fled Texas, said. “Being vaccinated doesn’t ALWAYS stop you from spreading the virus.”
