there in austin texas. and priscilla, the democrats are keeping a busy schedule, but what about the republican counterparts where you are. walk us through where you are. yeah, geoff. we are well into day two without a quorum here. the house has convened, but they are currently at ease, and the republican lawmakers are telling me they that are having meeting and working on the legislation, but of course, they can t get any action done on that, and any bills passed without that quorum. what we are seeing here is a narrative emerging or a message emerging around what the democrats are walked out on, and with the republicans saying that this session was not just about this election bill or some of the other more contentious issues of governor abbott s issue of trans sports or something like that, but the retired teachers getting the 13th check, and improves to foster care and property taxes and things like that.
and so later today, the gop is going to be meeting with the retired teachers, but now, there is nothing that the republicans can do to bring the democrats back. they have sort of moved forward with giving the sergeant at arms permission to send for those democrats, but because they are not in the state of texas, that is not likely going to happen. and so, i spoke to republicans here about what comes next, and what can they do here? listen to one lawmaker told me. the speaker and leadership are looking to what the options are to compel the tenets, and this is the rule, and this is the law. so they are supposed to be here. you know, given time, it will tell, but i expect when the new wears off and the novelty act ends in d.c. and they have worn out the welcome and gone to all of the receptions and the cocktail parties and been to the capitol and seen the vice president, pretty soon, there is going to be like, they will come to the realization that it is
that he is not 100% for the people act and we understand that. but something has to happen, and it has to happen now. we are just going to convey how bad this bill is, and how much we need him, and ask him what he can do to help us. all right. texas state rep eddie rodriguez and we will check in with you thaf meeting. another update out of an important story out of texas, the cold snap that paralyzed that state, and state officials said that 210 people died from that storm, and that is 59 more than the state reported back in april. most of the deaths were the result of exposure to freezing temperatures, but some inhaled carbon monoxide huddling as texans huddled near cars and grills for warmth. they say that the death toll could continue to rise. and a pop star teams up with the biden administration, and what olivia rodrigo was doing
bridges and major works project, and so now you can see where the balancing act is coming into play. they have to keep all of the democrats on board, can t alienate the republicans they need and want to pass the two-track plan with a total of more than $4 trillion cash infusion that historians say is on par with lbj s great society and fdr s new deal. senator schumer who is not known for being understated say that we know that we have a long way to go, and those at playbook say long is an understatement, and painstaking and treacherous are a couple of others. now i want to bring in our correspondent at pbs newshour, and also anish and garrett haake at his post outside of the room where president biden is meeting with the senate democrats, and garrett, we are in the 40 minute mark where president biden has
capitol hill to talk about the importance of the work, and yes, we have scattered personalities and different prior tis, but we want to make sure that the bill gets passed and the two-track systems and the two-track plans get through, and another thing that is noted is that he going to be meeting with the infrastructure experts on the ground, and mayors and governors and those are the people who can then give him the ammunition to talk specifically about what these communities and where this money is going to go, and how they will be benefiting from it, and have the pushback from the quote, unquote infrastructure, but in louisiana, it is going to home health aid, and in texas, to people who need town care credit, so part of the strategy is talking to local officials to gaer inning the stories so when the white house is talking nationally, they have several things to talk to. and jake, what the democrats are trying to do with the