Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan banned the word “racism” from a debate on a controversial voter rights bill on Thursday after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle became too boisterous.
Phelan, a Republican, urged lawmakers to remain “civil” as the discussion began on the bill following a weekslong stalemate driven by Democrats who broke quorum and fled to Washington, D.C., instead of showing up at the state capitol in Austin to debate it. However, now that enough members have returned from their midsummer jaunt, the House regrouped the debate and voted for the first time since May.
“While we may have strong disagreements on the legislation and policy that will be debated, our rules require that we conduct ourselves in a civil manner and treat our colleagues with respect,” Phelan said. “We can talk about racial impacts with this legislation without accusing members of this body of being racist.”
BREAKING DOWN THE TEXAS VOTING BILL THAT DEMOCRATS FLED THE STATE TO BLOCK
When the first warning didn’t work, Phelan added, “The chair would appreciate members not using the word ‘racism’ this afternoon.”
His comments prompted Democrats to flock to social media to air their grievances.
“Wow. The Speaker just asked us to not use the word ‘racism’ during debate today. SB 1 will harm the freedom to vote for all Texans, but it will disproportionately impact people of color. That’s racist, no matter how you dress it up. Period,” state Rep. Erin Zwiener, who represents the 45th district, tweeted.
Wow. The Speaker just asked us to not use the word “racism” during debate today.
SB 1 will harm the freedom to vote for all Texans, but it will disproportionately impact people of color.
That’s racist, no matter how you dress it up. Period.#txlege
— Erin Zwiener (@ErinForYall) August 26, 2021
Democrats also argued that they used the word to describe the bill and that it was not targeted toward any specific Republican in the room.
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Debate on the bill lasted 12 hours before lawmakers voted 79-37 to advance it. The late-night vote moves Texas closer to enacting new voting restrictions that include limits on early voting hours and a clampdown on vote-by-mail rules.
The House is expected to give the bill final approval on Friday. The House and the Senate version differ slightly, so both bodies will have to hammer out the differences before it goes to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature.
