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‘Parade of Horribles’: Abbott Slammed for Calling Lawmakers Back to Increase Voter Suppression and Attack Trans Kids

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Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott is under fire after issuing a proclamation calling the state legislature back into session, giving them just 24 hours to prepare, and as the head of one progressive organization called it, a “laundry list of demands.” That “laundry list” focuses on 11 issues, none of which include fixing Texas’ power grid, or the low quality of education the state allows.

Abbott, who is facing a tough re-election campaign, is in trouble. The University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Polling Project shows he should be worried about his approval rating (dropping), his disapproval rating (increasing), and perhaps worst of all, the undecideds. Those numbers are dropping, meaning he has less of a pool of voters to swing over to his side.

So the Texas governor is doing everything he can to get re-elected. That means getting fellow Republican governors to send him their National Guard units to patrol the border so he can claim President Biden isn’t doing enough to protect America, and calling an “extraordinary session” of the state legislature.

Those lawmakers will not be focused on fixing Texas’ ailing power grid, the failure of which caused not the 151 deaths the State of Texas reported, but 700, according to a study published by Buzzfeed News. That same power grid failure responsible for those 700 deaths in the winter cold is also having problems in the summer heat.

Instead, Governor Abbott is ordering lawmakers to attack transgender children, to make it even harder for Texans to vote, make it harder to get an abortion, make it harder for people to be released on bail, make it harder for social media companies to ban those who create public dangers, and ban Critical Race Theory.

Here’s how some are responding.

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'PRIORITIES'

Red states are lining up to stop Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan

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2 years ago

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September 30, 2022

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Six red states — Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina — are suing the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden over Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year.

The Biden administration based its plan on a 2003 law. According to the Justice Department, the law, initially meant to help military members, says that Biden can reduce or erase student loan debts during times of national emergency.

The red states’ lawsuit, filed Thursday in Missouri, said that Biden’s plan was “not remotely tailored to address the effects of the pandemic on federal student loan borrowers.” The lawsuit adds that, since Biden recently declared the COVID-19 pandemic as over, he can’t use it as a justification for his wide-scale debt relief plan, ABC News reported.

“It’s patently unfair to saddle hard-working Americans with the loan debt of those who chose to go to college,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said of her state’s lawsuit. “The Department of Education is required, under the law, to collect the balance due on loans. And President Biden does not have the authority to override that.”

The states argued that Biden’s plan inflicted a “number of ongoing financial harms” to student loan providers and also “will ultimately disrupt revenue to state coffers.” They also argued that Biden’s plan violates the Administrative Procedure Act, a law regulating how federal agencies ensure that presidential policies are well-reasoned and explained, the aforementioned publication reported.

Despite these claims, the White House has said it will continue with its plan, confident it can survive a court challenge.

“Republican officials from these six states are standing with special interests, and fighting to stop relief for borrowers buried under mountains of debt,” White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan said Thursday. “The president and his administration are lawfully giving working and middle class families breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and prepare to resume loan payments in January.”

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