we disagree in texas. we think anyone that comes to vote should be free of partisan poll workers engaged in an election site. we believe that texas democrats understand these bills because many of the people, several of the people here today, sought amendment to those amendments and they were accepted in the bills and the process that is have gone on. one member has been a member of the legislature for a number of years and no doubt knows that the laws of texas that are updated every two years are done in the best interest of all texans. but rather than continuing the debate, they broke quorum and they are trying to paralyze this progress that would be made on behalf of all texans. mr. chairman, i hope today that the testimony that we are going to offer today from a state representative clarity in particular will allow those elected representatives who are republicans in texas a chance to set the record straight about not only what is in these bills, but the need to make sure that texas works together and

and the state of texas. and that is where we stand united before you here today, in preserving not only the democracy in texas, but the democracy of the u.s. thank you for your time. [applause] and, i would like to, if she has arrived, call up the chair -- the vice chair of the house democratic caucus. in her absence, i would then like to call representative read about -- represent of read about -- call my colleague. >> thank you, thank you all for being here today. i used to live here in washington. i worked, like you, for the press, for pbs, and it is a proud, pleasing moment to be back here with my colleagues, as a member of the texas house. we are here in d.c., our nations capitol, because we want to protect the civil right to vote for millions of texans. we were quite literally forced to move and leave the state of texas. we also know that we are living right now on borrowed time in texas. and we can't stay here indefinitely. to run out the clock, to stop republican anti-voter bills. that is where we ne

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 big tactical surprise move to try to s save voting right

texas has changed. texas is no longer like it was, independent. i agree with her that they are trying to limit voting for hispanics and minorities. greg abbott wants to be president or vice president so he is on the side of trump all the way. there is no problem with voting in texas. they just want to make it harder. guest: ink you for your advocacy and your inc. -- thank you for your advocacy and your encouragement. i am trying to speak with our congressional leaders and ask them to please pass legislation as soon as possible to preempt what is barreling down our face in texas. host: when you here's -- hear people say " we want to make it easier to vote, harder to cheat" what do you say? guest: how does that make it easier to vote? there is nothing in it that makes it easier to vote at all, and there is nothing that even addresses cheating at all. it is a talking point, but it does not make it easier to vote if you are going to deter an elderly person from being able to receive a mail ballot knowing that many elderly people, that is the primary w

we know what the texas -- ours. we know what the texas bill will do, and this is a concerted effort as senator warren awful tell you, this is going on across the country. we now have 22 laws to obstruct voting enacted in 14 states, with the texas senate passage of sb one yesterday. a total of 32 bills to roll back the rights to vote have passed at least one chamber of the legislature. so when people ask us why we have put forward before the people act, which is the first bill to be introduced in the senate authored by senator merkley and supported strongly by the chair of the committee, we could see this coming. people ask how can i change my policies to reach out to more voters how can i reach more candidates? they said how can i stop the voters from voting? we all know the history with texas which you are about to hear, but this was a state, one of my best examples was that they had one pallet dropbox in the county where houston is located. one dropbox in a county of over 5 million. the analogy in my state would b

>> it's north texas. >> north texas. has been with us today. you are recognized for your five minutes of questioning. >> mr. chairman, thank you for much. i am not on the committee. i appreciate the chairman allowing me the opportunity. i represent fort worth and dallas. nicole collier, she is my neighbor, and my state representative and i appreciate her presence here today. i just want to really think my colleagues -- thank my colleagues and my friends, current state legislators, for really being courageous to take the time to be here. i know all of you are from different districts and have all sorts of political challenges. the fact that you took the time to come here to stand up for voting rights in this country really means a lot. that was one of the reasons why i started the congressional voting rights caucus. i am the chair of the congressional voting rights caucus in the house of representatives and started because i knew that we were going to have some trouble to time just because of a lot of the pretty blatant voter suppression attempt

of texas. three of you are aware you are violetting tech as law by being here right now instead of being in texas during the legislative session? and it would be in order to eas you and get you back to the state house? we agree those are the facts? >> i'm not that is constitutional. mr. roy: is that the law in texas? >> i don't thinkso. mr. roy: the law is that you are supposed to be in session and supposed to carry out your constitutional duty, do you support h.r. 1 that was passed here in the house of representatives? >> yes. >> i support it. mr. roy: do you support h.r. 1? >> i would like just to say not violated the law and representing my constituents. and i'm ready to go. mr. roy: i appreciate that that's your view on the matter and that makes the case precisely. with respect to h.r. 1, each of the witnesses once said she opposed voter i.d. and i would point out and want to clarify that h.r. 1 would say that an individual -- [indiscernible] in other words federal prohibition on the use of

i will tell you, texas. the republican legislator decided your right to carry a gun is more important than your precious right to vote amy: texas tech democrats flee to washington, d.c., to stop what they call a suppression session where republicans hope to pass a belt in the texas state legislature making it harder to vote in the battleground state that already has some of the toughest restrictions in the country. we will speak to one of those who left, state representative jarvis johnson, and the head of the texas democratic party. and if roe v. wade does not survive, can reproductive rights be preserved witut it? >> the right to choose reproductive freedom has never been in such dire straits. if we're going to make progress, need to quit hitting our heads agast the marble staircase and begin to depend on state legislatures, on congress, not the court because the federal courts are no longer our friend. amy: we will speak with kitty kolbert, who argued that planned parenthood versus casey before the suprem

of texas. it was a foregone conclusion that it was done, until it wasn't. again, this is what happened in may, two hours before the deadline to get that bill passed in the texas house, texas democrats quietly, without any fanfare, any announcement, one by one, started leaving the house chamber. there are 150 members of the house in texas according to the rules, at least two thirds of the members must be president to hold a vote, that's called the quorum and without a quorum all house business has to stop. so eventually, quietly, no fanfare, no announcement, enough of those texas democrats left the house when buying one and said they broke the quorum. with that walk out, back in may, texas democrats were able to block that bill. they were able to run out the clock on the legislative session in texas is the. in the legislative session ended at midnight, the restriction to vote and had passed the senate, but it did not pass the house. it could not be signed into law, they blocked it. that was what

i just heard, for the 58 of the texas house have left texas to stop republicans from passing the latest iteration of voterns suppression legislation. you're going here primarily from some of my colleagues today because we have so many strong voices and our caucus. we want to give them the opportunity to speak to the public. but just for everyone's awareness, procedurally how this works or the hundred 50 met members of the texas housees protects two thirds of the body present to constitute a quorum so 100 members. we vote in texas and we register our attendance by use of voting machines on our desk. minutes ago at least 157 letters were delivered to the house journal clerk directing the house to lockot our voting machines are not unlocked them until we providede express opinion to do so upon our return to the capitol. the senate that is my privilege now to introduce a great fighter, a longtime advocate in the fight for voting rights but my good friend the next american caucus from dallas, texas. [cheering] [applause] [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] [speaking span

house delegation from texas joined texas democratic state legislators to talk about the states special legislative session to vote on republican voting bills. texas state democrats have fled their home state to prevent the republican legislator from having a quorum to conduct his nist. this is about half an hour. -- conduct business. this is about half an hour. >> good morning, everybody. thank you very much for being here this morning. first of all, i want to thank all of our friends, democrats from texas legislator, for doing the right thing, coming to washington, d.c. to shine light on what's a very clearing topic and important topic, and that's voting rights. since 1965, since the voting rights act was passed in the 1960's, we have not seen this level of retro aggression in the right for people to cast their votes since that time. people need to do something about it, and this group is here today exactly doing that. they are standing up and doing the right thing. we are very happy to host this today. the first person you will hear from is the chair of the credit caucus in austin. h

oklahoma and texas share a border. texas and d.c. don't. we'll have to wait and see how it pans out. >> bill: what a sound bite from the governor. the biden administration facing another foreign policy crisis in cuba. thousands protesting the communist government over a lack of food and medicine. some democrats are blaming the unrest on the u.s. economic embargo. mark meredith picks up the story at the white house. what will the administration do now? >> as you mentioned cuban protestors are furious with their government over the country's economic crisis. protests broke out over the weekend and now reports the cuban government is starting to crack down on those protests. cuban authorities are reportingly limiting internet access social media access. associated press reporting today that cuban police are now out in force to put a stop to these demonstrations. president biden weighed in on this on monday. >> president biden: i don't think we've seen anything like this protest in a long, long time. quite frankly, ever. we call on the governme

the texas democrats. i'm joined by my colleague jonathan kaye part in washington. >> hi lawrence, as you know tonight is a little different than we had plans. and as you know, one week ago tonight more than 50 texas democrats effectively shut down a special session of the texas legislature in order to stop passage of the republican voter suppression bill. and they did this by coming to washington to plead for passage of to voting and elections proposals in congress. our plan was to have all of them together tonight in this room to talk about their fight to protect the right to vote. and everyone was going to be in this room, lawrence, had been vaccinated. >> and then came the saturday announcement that three texas democrats, all of them vaccinated, tested positive for covid. and today, we learned the three more vaccinated texas democrats have tested positive. tonight, we are told that those members are all isolating and experiencing mild symptoms. >> representatives julia canceled her wedding last week to

what the texas democrats are doing, they are filibustering in texas to try and get the washington, d.c., democrats to stop a filibuster rule. that is the height of hypocrisy. all they want to do is complain. they want to spread false information about what the law really does. i can guarantee you based on what you said in your monologue as well as what the facts are, there is zero chance that the texas law, when it does get passed, will be overturned by a court of law, because what we're doing is perfectly constitutional. >> sean: talk about the coverage of people saying that you might have these democrats arrested when they land back in texas, arrested for what, under what statute? >> so what the law is, by constitution, the house sets the rules about what happens when a quorum is broken and what happens is this. and that is once a call on the house has been made, which it has been, than the sergeant at arms of representatives can work with the texas department of public safety to go arrest, apprehend, whatever words you want to choose, and bring to the capital the missing house membe

we know what the texas bill would do and why this is all about a concerted effort, not just in texas, as rev. warnock will tell you, in georgia, that this will -- that this is going on all over the country to the point that since the beginning of the year, we have 22 laws to restrict voting that have been enacted in 14 states with the texas senate passage of sb1 yesterday, a total of 32 bills to rollback the right to vote have passed at least one chamber of the legislature. when people ask us why we have put forward the for the people act which is the first bill to be introduced in the senate authored by senator merkley and supported strongly by the rules committee, why we lead with this bill. it is because we could see this coming. most political parties in the past, when they lose an election, they want to reach out to more voters and how to they change their party and change their candidates. they are wondering how we can change the votaries -- change the voters. we know the history of texas which are about to hear but this was a state, my best examples with that they had one ballo

frankly, the president under the texas constitution -- i mean the governor under the texas constitution, can continue to call as many special sessions as he wishes. so, we all know how this will end. they will eventually go home after the cameras leave and after the press loses interest in this book will stop. they will go home and participate in the process. but, it is telling that these democrats in this house of representatives chose to race towards tv cameras in washington rather than protect their legislature. this is not without risk to them. i'm advised that they were on federal property and deferred to a website, which is actually a fundraising site, further efforts. we all know there are limits, in fact strict limits on any fundraisers on federal property. so, they may have crossed the line unwittingly or not. but, this is ask -- but, this is simply an embarrassing dereliction of their political duty. they can't win, so they are doing the equivalent of i will take my ball and go home. or, in this case, simply running away. as texans, standing up to a fight is part of what we ar

harris county, texas. home to the state's largest city of houston, harris county was not prepared for the huge turnout on super tuesday, last march. they were crazy, long lines at lots of polling places. particularly in heavily minority communities. people in those communities, had to wait for hours to vote in many circumstances. that was men the nation met a -- was the last person in line at the polling site on texas university campus. that same in the white shirt right on the other side of the blast are. her vice rogers worked two jobs he. got to the polling site just speak for the polls close. but in the end, it took him six hours and 20 minutes to get to the front of the line and cast his ballot. he finally walked out of that polling place after 1:30 in the morning according. to some reports he may be the last person in the entire state of texas to cast his vote. he told reporters after was all over that it was worth it he. felt good. he also said he'd been there so long he had to go get ready for his

texas governor threatens arrests. >> as soon as they come back in the state of texas, they will be arrested. they will be cabinet inside the texas capital until they get their job done. >> and tennessee's top vaccine official is fired one day before the state removes all vaccine outreach to minors for all diseases, including covid-19. that fired official, doctor michelle fiscus joins me live. when all in starts right now. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. today, more than six months after the insurrection with no real president in american history, a transfer of power marked by violence not by piece, the president of the united states, the man who the mob tried to stop from occupying the office came forward to say that the country is facing a major crisis. >> so hear me clearly. there isn't an food ling assault taking place today in attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections. an assault on democracy. an assault on liberty. an assault on who we are. who we are as americans. we're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the civil wa

not just in texas but in america and beyond. you talk about the foundational net being offended by talking about the slavery aspect of things. so much of this is alsoabout individual characters . adavy crockett, it's about william travis. it's about sam houston, it's about santa ana and a lot of forgotten characters on the mexican tejano side. is anybody else you think is either the most misunderstood or the person or the character where most wrong about. and who is that and in what way. i would say for instance and i think this struck me in the book is this notion of santa ana and painted as villainous which is , sure there's villainy involved but is he one of the more misunderstood characters out of this story or are there other onesare more so misunderstood or wrong about ? >> i think we each have our own favorites. mine is clearly jim bowie was always been painted as this steve mcqueen jim bowie was across. he was a swindler who fled to texas in the face of two federal investigations into what he did in arkansas and especial

texas and flown to washington, leaving texas. leaving their legislative chamber without a quorum was the last best thing they thought they could do to preserve voting rights there and try to defeat the republican voter suppression bill. they last walked out, you will recall, back in may. last night they landed in washington will they planned a lobby of democrats in the senate to pass a voting rights law. in fact some of those in the party of these committed texas democrats might shame them into showing a little spine. >> one other place would be go where we can actually seek some relief? we're still working on behalf of the state of texas. this isn't a vacation whatsoever and we're away from those who are in charge here ino d.c., the democratic leadership push through something that is good. >> earlier tonight, to, u.s. senators of different sides of the aisle reacted to the texas democrats latest move. >> i'm unsure why they're coming here other than for publicity purposes. like i said, it's just a stunt. >> you know, the other

i'd like to thank my family in the 6th district of texas. i will serve you with quiet professionalism. i would like to read to you etheseans four versus 8 through 9. finally brothers and sisters whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable if there is any more excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy dwell on these things. do what you have learned and received and heard from me and seen in me and the god of peace will be with you. i believe america is exceptional. i love my country. it's an honor to serve. i a appreciate the prayers of all -- i would appreciate the prayers of all those in here as i learn my job. i would like to leave you with a moment of silence for your colleague, our friend, and my predecessor, ron wright and his family. thank you. i yield back. the speaker: in light of the administration of the oath of office to the gentleman from texas, the whole number of the house is now 432. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to five

of texas, we know that. in fact, instead of trying to make it easier for thepeople to vote , bug honor and the republicans in the legislature have done everything to make it harder including threatening these legislators over and over again and they are standing their ground just as we are standing our ground. we know what the texas bill would do and why this is all about a concerted effort not just in texas as reverend warnock will tell you, in georgia that this is going on all over the country to the point that we now have since the beginning of the year 22 laws to restrict voting have been enacted in 14 states with the texas senate passage of sb one yesterday, a total of 32 bills to roll back the right to vote after past at least one chamber of the legislature. so when people ask us why we have put forward the for the people at, which is the first bill to be introduced in the senate authored by senator merkley and supported by the chair of the rules committee, why we lead with this bill. it is because we

a texas democrat and a texas republican make their case right here on the show. enjoy the toasty, saucy chipotle chicken avocado melt on freshly baked bread. panera. order on the app today. your skin isn't just skin, it's a beautiful reflection of everything you've been through. that's why dove renews your skin's ceramides and strengthens it against dryness for softer, smoother skin you can lovingly embrace. renew the love for your skin with dove body wash. get ready - our most popular battery is even more powerful. the stronger, lasts-longer energizer max. (customer) movie night. (burke) should have been watching the stove instead. (customer) tell me something i don't know. (burke) with your farmers policy perk, guaranteed replacement cost, your home can be rebuilt, regardless of your limits. (customer) that's really something. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ real progress? when you're affected by schizophrenia, you see it differently. it's in the small, everyday moments. and in

now the texas governor is threatening to arrest the entire group when they return to texas. and after months of decline, covid cases are rising again in the united states as vaccination rates slow way down as pfizer officials push for a third shot, a booster, the head of the world organization slams the growing vaccine gap between rich and poor countries. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president joe biden delivered a major voting rights speech in philadelphia tuesday, excoriating the republican party for election subversion and urging congress to pass the for the people act. but biden stopped short of calling for an end to the filibuster, which many now see as the only way to circumvent republican extraction is him -- obstructionism to pass voting rights legislation at the federal level. we'll have more on voting rights later in the broadcast with two of the texas democratic state representatives who helped lead this week's walkout to block the passage of texas republicans' so-called suppr

safety troopers to escort them to the texas house chamber where they will be kept in the texas house chamber subject to permission slip by the speaker of the house to make sure that they stay there and get the job done. maria: governor, this is partly because of misinformation about the voting bill in texas and the 14 or 16 states that have come up with their new voting laws and -- and approach to voting after trying to clean up what they saw to be irregularities in 2020. let's go through the texas voting bill, if you would, please, so that people can understand the facts here. you are looking to increase hours to vote during early voting, give people time off for voting and counties creating their own rules which certainly happened in 2020. ban drive-thru and mail-in ballot. there's speculation that democrats will create more of a lockdown going into 2022 congressional races so that the mail-in ballot situation can be the standard once again. tell me about that and the ability to use your id to vote? governor: so the word you chose to say that what they were saying about it was a mi

prairie, texas n the dallas-ft. worth region. as you just heard, more than 50 democratic members of the texas house have left texas to stop republicans from passing the latest iteration of their voter suppression legislation, and you're going to hear primarily from some of my colleagues today, because we have so many strong voices in our caucus. we want to give them the opportunity to speak to the public, but just for everyone's awareness, procedurally how this works is, there's 150 members of the texas house. it takes two-thirds of the body present to constitute a quorum, so 100 members, and we vote in texas and we register our attendance by use of voting machines on our desks, and minutes ago, at least 57 letters were delivered to the house journal clerk directing the house to lock our voting machines and not unlock them until we provide express permission to do so upon our return to the capitol. so with that, it is my privilege to introduce a great fighter a long time advocate in the fight for voting rights, my g

of texas for illegal voting. turns out when hervis rogers waited over six hours to vote in march of 2020 on super tuesday he was a few months short of the end of his parole for an old burglary conviction in the '90s. he has been out of prison for more than 15 years, but his parole did not technically end until last june. remember he voted in the primary in march. texas attorney general has charged hervis rogers with two counts of illegal voting, alleging he voted in the 2018 general election as well. we don't know at this point whether in was an honest mistake. perhaps he didn't know he was not allowed to vote. we don't know. that said, perhaps it was a deliberate premeditated scheme to wait over six hours in line to vote in a democratic primary to break the law on purpose. muah! we don't know what mr. rogers has to say. we can't ask him because the attorney general of texas has locked him up. has locked up hervis rogers on $100,000 bail. he is in prison tonight unable to pay $100,000 bail. bail is set at $100,00

of texas, doesn't bring people to texas to become cattle ranchers. he brings people to texas fully with the expectation that they're going to bring enslaved people and that slavery would be protected, and texas would take its place as part of the cotton empire. so the foundational aspects of texas are the things that we don't think about very much, a slave society. and it was clear that that was the intention when the texans break away from mexico which had declared slavery illegal even though they gave texas an exemption. the texans were never really secure about that. and so that was one of the reasons they decided to leave mexico. and when they do, they set up a constitution that has provisions that expressly protect slavery which prevents african-americans, people of african descent from emigrating there without permission, saying that they can never become citizens. so not thinking about texas as being a slave society, having been a slave society, i think sometimes from the questions i get people are confused about certain things they hear comin

texas is on track to become the 18th. meanwhile, in georgia, republican-controlled commission now has the power to remove local election officials and has already done so. in florida elections officials who failed to continuously supervise drop boxes can be fined $25,000. arkansas has empowered a state board to, quote, take over and conduct elections in any county the gop-controlled legislature deems necessary. in case you aren't aware, this -- these attacks are being carried out under the veil of election fraud which is nothing especially in the 2020 election. but don't tell that to cyber ninjas which continues its audit, you know, audit of maricopa county's 2020 ballots. the group's leader says that audit could take several more months and make unfactual claims about fraud which was found, again, a lie. in fact, yesterday an ap investigation found only four people in arizona have been charged with crimes related to voter fraud. none have been convicted. the "a.p.'s" report said no vote was counted twice. for texas democ

because we were from texas. and i think many t black people took that seriously and many white people taken that seriously. i do not think it is any coincidence that we end up with the juneteenth as a holiday because black texans keep this alive and were very consistent this meant something. and i think it does obviously i think it does mean something to the country as a whole. my hope is juneteenth will be an umbrella holiday for the celebrations for emancipation and other places as well. i think you are right, there is a texas chauvinism that shows itself prettyse clearly. we went to san francisco you're on with author annette gordon reed thank you for holding. >> caller: think you think it is a great program. doctor reed you are in american treasure that is all i have to say. you mentioned earlier you're surprised at the passage of juneteenth as a federal holiday. i wanted to know, do you think this was may be a to appease black people to may be kind of quiet the narrative about reparations or the asian hate

in texas to file a simple document with ercot the electric reliability council of texas and -- chris, i need to explain this very quickly. and that is, if texas, like many other states, whenever there will be a temporary shutdown of power in a state, certain areas are exempt from being shut down, such as hospitals, downtowns and police stations. in texas, before the winter storm took place, power generators and power transmission entities, they were not subject to not being shut down. when ercot shut them down in the winter storm, they froze. had had ercot not shut them down, this would been a four hour event as opposed to a four day event. now what is required -- chris: governor, i've got limited time. sir, i've got limited time. no, sir. the question i have is the power grid isn't fixed. you talked about it being fixed by the legislature but you have over 1,000 unplanned outages in june and ercot, the agency regulating, is already asking people in texas to voluntarily conserve energy because it's in danger of being overloaded so you haven't solved the problem. >> real quickly, chri

s newest asylum seekers, the members of the texas house of representatives, the democratic representatives. but the only oppressive force that these men and women are facing is the expectation that they would actually do their jobs in the texas legislature, the job they campaigned for and were elected to do. following unsuccessful attempts to pass an election integrity bill during the regular legislative session earlier this year, governor abbott has now called a special session for the texas legislature to consider that and other matters. that special session kicked off last tuesday -- excuse me, last thursday, but the chamber is already being held hostage by a minority of house members who are unwilling to do their job. now, democrats have raised concerns about the current draft of the bill. and make no mistake, that's why the legislative process actually exists. that's why it's important that they be there and debate the issues and actually vote on a bill. the purpose, of course, is for all sides to be able to debate, potentially amend, and vote on legislation. but rather than do their

and, as you know, more than 50 texas democrats effectively shut down a special session of the texas legislature in order to stop passage of a republican voter suppression bill. and they did this by coming to washington to plead for passage of two voting and elections proposals in congress. our plan was to have all of them together tonight in this room to talk about their fight to protect the right to vote. and everyone who was going to be in this room, lawrence, had been vaccinated. >> and then came the saturday announcement that three texas democrats, all of them vaccinated, tested positive for covid. and today we learned three more vaccinated texas democrats have tested positive. tonight, we are told those members are all isolating and experiencing mild symptoms. >> representative cecilia canceled a wedding last week. she is one of the members who tested positive. and she said this, quote, i hope this instance highlights the sacrifices we're willing to make for the cause of democracy. i would not change anything to protect the right to vote. we want to keep the focus on what the texas democra

senators and texas legislators talked with reporters about voting rights, several texas lawmakers are in washington, d.c., after leaving there state to protest the governor's special legislative session to approve several republican bills. >> ok. all right. thank you, everyone. we stand here with these people of courage, with freedom fighters, who came to washington, d.c., to seek salvation because they are not going to be able to get that governor of texas to protect the voting rights of the people of texas. we know that. and instead of trying to make it easier for people to vote, the governor and republicans in the legislature have done everything to make it harder, including threatening these legislators over and over again. and they are standing their ground, just as we are standing our ground. know what the texas bill would do and why this is all about a concerted effort not just in texas, as rev. warnock will tell you, in georgia. that this is going on all over the country, to the point that we now have since the beginning of the year, the two laws to restrict voting that have b

none of the texas democrats who left the state to deny the texas house of representatives a quorum wants to be in washington tonight. but they have made the trip to washington to resist what president joe biden today called an assault on democracy. when vice president kamala harris met with the texas democrats today she gave them a standing ovation and then said this. >> the courage and the commitment and the patriotism that you all have evidence by your actions in addition to your work and your words -- and i know what you have done comes with great sacrifice both personal and political. and you are doing this in support and in defense of some of our nation's highest ideals. >> this afternoon texas democrats met with senate majority leader chuck schumer who said everything is on the table. that was his line, everything is on the table -- when it comes to passing voting rights legislation in the senate, which means a change in the senate's 60-vote threshold must also be on the table. here's what senator schumer said today to reporters before his meeting with the texas democrats. >> these

from the texas capital to the united states capitol, the 46 texas house democrats remain in washington d.c. they're fighting to make sure that on a federal level, they can come up with a voting reform measure that eclipses anything going on in texas run by republican governors that they say limit voting rights in this country. hillary vaughn has been tracking them and what they have been up to since arriving in washington. hillary? >> even though texas state representatives here in d.c. have as much voting power here on capitol hill as a tourist would, the chair of the texas house democratic caucus told me yesterday that he believes they're working harder for the people in texas here in d.c. than they would be if they were back home. regardless, their stay here, which could be 25 days, is pretty pricey. they took two charter flights here. they're paying for buses to shuttle them too and from the airport and around d.c. and picking up the tab for 50 hotel rooms. they're not leaving since august state. base on the rates of where some of them are staying, 200 a night, 50 rooms, $250 milli

however, texas law enforcement officers don't have authority outside the state of texas. if they want to do that, the legislators have got to be in texas if they want to stop. if democrats want to stop the house from going forward, they've got to stay out of state. >> democrats and critics of bills call them voter investigation. republicans and supporters of bills call them reform. break down these elements and bills so we understand what they're trying to do and why those things. >> well, the bills cover a whole series of different things. for the most part, what they do is make it more difficult for individuals to vote. so texas which already has a stringent voter i.d. requirement and wants to make the voter id requirements more stringent, texas wants to eliminate a number of things texas county did trying to make it easier for them to vote. harris county let people vote drive-thru, holding places 24 hours to take care of people that couldn't get away from the work place or arrange for child care. the state legislation wants to ban counties from doing all those things.