catalyst to push congress to take action on federal voting protection legislation. now, we continue the fight on the house floor. it is time to move past these partisan legislative calls and to come together to help our state mitigate the effects of the current covid-19 surge. about last night's development, the ap writes this. quote, it leaves democrats much in the same position as when the holdout started, unable to permanently stop the gop-controlled legislature from putting new limits and rules over how more than 16 million registered voters can cast a ballot. and federal voting rights protections that texas democrats lobbied for while in washington still face long odds of getting around gop opposition in congress. despite those long odds, calls for the passage of federal legislation persist. last night former texas congressman beto o'rourke tweeted this. i'm proud of the texas house democrats. they've done more than we ever could avenue asked to stop voter suppression and give congress time to act.