they blocked it. that was what happened in may of this year. right away the republican governor of texas promised he would haul the legislature right on back.r. he said he would call a special legislative session specifically so republicans could put their w voter restriction bill back on the docket, and this time they d get it to the governor s desk so he could sign it. that is the session we are in right now. it is the special session. and minus a few small changes, the bill republicans put forward in this new session, for all intents and purposes, is the same bill they tried to pass this spring even though they were foiled by that late tactical maneuver by the democrats. this bill they re moving to pass right now in texas would ban drive through voting. it would ban voting in the overnight hours. it would restrict voting by mail. it would restrict absentee voting, things that would make it harder for working people and the disabled among others to vote. texas already has very low vo
with and why the texas democrats are in washington tonight. the planes have just landed in the past hour.ts they re not only trying to throw a wrench in the works on trying to stop this voter suppression bill from passing in texas. they picked d.c. ultimately not as a purely symbolic thing but because they re begging for a federal response here.sp they re begging for a federal backstop to voting rights that would stop a state like texas or any other republican controlled state from being able to pass voting right restrictions like the ones these texas democrats are staring down the barrel at right now. joining us now on face time from a bus with his democratic colleagues in a parking lot at dulles airport just outside of r ngu d.c. and way outside the great state of texas is democratic t state representative trey martinez fisher, one of the leaders behind today ee plan. i believe he is paying for his democratic colleagues hotel rooms in d.c. tonight. representative martinez fisher,
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right now the texas legislature in texas is in session. the republican-led house and the republican-led senate in texas, they re trying to pass legislation that would make it t significantly harder to vote in texas in a state where it is e already not that easy to vote. the ways they are trying to change the voting laws in texass would disproportionately affect voters of color and poor voters and with disabilities in particular, and so texas democrats have bolted from the state. they left texas entirely tonight in a last-ditch effort to try to stop this bill from becoming law. now, those two planes i mentioned carrying texas democrats, those two planes have just landed at dulles airport just outside washington, d.c. they ve landed just in the last hour.si it is 51 democrats from the texas state house onboard the two planes. we are told at least seven other texas democrats are making their way to d.c. as well separately.e if this sounds at all familiar to do, texas democrats pulling a b
people act, to backstop voting rights at the federal level. that is what texas democrats are there for, and it sounds like they re there indefinitely. again, they have not yet left the grounds of the airport. they say they ll be on capitol hill tomorrow morning before lunch to make their case. so a dramatic thing and maybe the only thing that could have happened here. all right. much more ahead tonight. stay with us.