??? Ready, Set, Rules!

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House Rules. On Wednesday, I was on a bit of a heater, so I stayed up working into the wee small hours of the morning. It was about 3 AM when I finally called it, but not without one last check to see if House Resolution 4 – the rules package – had been filed. Nope. But of course, as life goes, the rules package was filed just an hour later, at around 4 AM. The kids began to stir just before 7, which is when my report was scheduled to send. But they did not even bother to check if HR4 had been filed. The only things on their minds were "food" and "water" and "legos." I'm not usually the type of guy that blames his kids for his own mistakes, but it's definitely not my fault that yesterday's report said the rules had not been filed when indeed they had. My kids know better than to play with toys before checking legislative filings.

Anyway, the House rules did pass yesterday by a vote of 116-23-1 with five excused absences and five absences. The rules package, which was filed by Rep. Todd Hunter (R–HD32), did ban Democrat Chairs. Here's the key excerpt from the House's summary document.

Here's the play-by-play of the vote:

• The House gaveled in at 2:00 PM. Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R–HD94) of the reform band of Republicans asked push the vote to Friday. "Everybody got the copy of the rules at the same time. Even the Speaker didn’t get it early because I thought it was important for all 150 members to get it together,” Hunter said. Tinderholt accused Hunter of "cramming" the rules through. Hunter disagreed.
• Rep. Harold Dutton (D–HD142) noted that when he first came into office, Democrats held the majority and gave Republicans chairmanships.
• About another hour of discussion ensued. Then, Rep. Jared Patterson (R–HD106) moved the previous question, a term used in parliamentary procedure that means, "Let's stop talking and take a vote on this." That motion itself passed 107-35-1.
• HR 4 was then adopted on record vote 116-23-1.
• Members who voted against Patterson's motion to the previous question but ultimately voted for HR 4 were Reps. Alders, Cook, Leo Wilson, Oliverson, Paul, Schofield, Slawson, Swanson, and Vasut.
• The House then adjourned until Monday at 4 PM – with no action on HR3, the housekeeping resolution with some potential separation of powers implications.
• The Democrats immediately held a press conference. "Lo and behold, the people who were yelling the most about banning Democrat chairs voted against banning Democrat chairs," said Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu (D–HD137).
• Republicans who voted against the rules were upset, to say the least. Some began "declaring war."
• Republicans who voted for the rules then began taking credit for banning Democrat Chairs. Many of them shared images like that below, which is a clear trolling of the reform GOP faction who bussed in their supporters on Opening Day dressed in red shirts that said, "BAN Democrat Chairs."

Are you not entertained?

Border Costs. Gov. Abbott formally requested an $11 billion reimbursement from Congress for Texas' border security efforts. This figure does not represent any of the $6.5 billion that is currently in both chambers' proposed budgets. Sen. John Cornyn – who re-tweeted your boy this week, no big deal – vowed to help push this through. "I will fight to include funds in Congress’ reconciliation bill to reimburse Texas for its efforts to secure the border as a result of the Biden admin's complete dereliction of duty," he wrote.

AI Regulation. Joe Lonsdale, an influential tech entrepreneur and investor, recently complained about the proposed Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Act by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R–HD98). "Texas is about to hand its AI industry to Biden bureaucrats," he wrote. He says the post resulted in chats with "relevant leaders in Texas," but gave no more specifics. With the launch of Project Stargate at the federal level, and its plan for ten data centers in Texas, heavy attention will be on AI regulation this session.

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