Democrats Show Their Teeth. Republicans Lose Their Minds.
The Brainworm Brigade's petty parade marches on.
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As the clock ticks down, the Texas House is getting messier by the minute. There’s a lot to talk about, but I want to put a spotlight on how some House members, mainly Republicans, are voting because their votes don’t make a lot of sense.
Take HB50, for example. This bill, by Venton Jones (D-HD100), adds HIV testing to the STI panel doctors test for when a patient requests STI testing.
This bill doesn’t cost the taxpayers anything and could save many lives. Currently in Texas:
An estimated 102,800 people were living with HIV at the end of 2021.
Over half were 45 years of age or older.
New HIV diagnoses in Texas are highest among those aged 25-29.
It doesn’t make sense for Republicans to vote against HB50 unless, of course, public health, cost-effectiveness, and basic medical sense have all taken a backseat to performative cruelty. This bill is voluntary. It doesn’t force anyone to get tested. It doesn’t require new spending. It simply ensures that if a Texan goes in for STI testing, HIV will be included unless they opt out.
So what’s the issue?
Well, apparently, the problem is who it helps. HIV stigma is still alive and well in the Texas GOP, and rather than acknowledge a public health crisis that disproportionately affects young people, Black and Latino communities, and LGBTQ Texans, some Republicans would rather keep their heads buried in the sand. Here are the Republicans who voted against it.
HB1035 was another bill, where the Republican votes didn’t make a lot of sense. The only thing I can think is that they only voted against it because it was a James Talarico (D-HD50) bill, but it would help working families in this state. The bill strengthens a tax exemption created last session for property owners who lease space to qualifying childcare facilities, ensuring that the benefits of the exemption are passed on to the childcare providers themselves, which lowers their costs and makes childcare more affordable. There is no fiscal impact on Texas taxpayers.
We’ve seen in every session that Republicans give tax exemptions to:
Corporations that don’t pay a living wage.
Wealthy developers who build luxury condos.
Private schools that exclude disabled kids.
Oil and gas companies that poison Texans for profit.
Megachurches with political agendas.
But when it comes to helping working-class parents afford childcare? Suddenly, it’s a bridge too far.
Child care is a top issue for working parents, especially in a state with one of the highest childcare costs in the nation. Blocking a bill that supports providers who serve low-income and subsidized children isn’t pro-family. It’s performative hypocrisy. And here are the Republicans (and one Democrat) who voted against it:
Over the last two days, when POOs (points of order) weren’t being called, the Brainworm Brigade (the far-right) was voting against every bill that would help Texans or make Texans’ lives better.
The privatization scam.
While some of their votes, like the one on the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (SB5), make sense because they align with their ideology of “no government spending,” other votes seemed to be made out of callousness or partisan affiliations.
But, even their votes on “no government spending” often didn’t make sense. Watch Brian Harrison rail against the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, in favor of privatization:
Privatization. I mean, in what world does anyone still think privatization works in 2025?
We’ve lived through it. We’ve watched it fail, over and over, in real time. Health care? A disaster. Millions of Texans still can’t afford to see a doctor. Emergency rooms serve as primary care for working-class families. Insulin costs more than a car payment. And even with private insurance, people are drowning in medical debt.
Education? The voucher crowd keeps pushing for taxpayer-funded handouts to private schools, while public schools are crumbling, understaffed, underfunded, and often pushed to the back of the legislative line. College is a debt trap. Trade schools are priced out of reach. And now, the Brainworm Caucus wants to do the same thing to dementia research?
Privatization doesn’t create access. It creates gates. It means a grandmother with early-onset Alzheimer’s might not get diagnosed because there’s no profit in her care. It means fewer treatments, fewer trials, and fewer answers, unless you can afford to pay for them.
We’ve privatized electricity and gotten blackouts. We’ve privatized water systems and ended up with lead. We’ve privatized prisons and gotten abuse. There’s no moral or economic case for continuing this failed experiment, especially not with something as urgent and personal as the fight against dementia.
And yet here comes Brian Harrison, trying to make privatization sound like innovation. It’s not. It’s abandonment dressed in a free-market suit. Here are the Republicans who voted against it:
Democrats show their teeth.
All week long, House members have been postponing their bills, due to the fallout from them passing vouchers last week. It’s been said that Democrats would abstain from voting on constitutional amendments, which need 100 votes to pass, to punish Republicans for their billion-dollar handout to the wealthy.
Candy Noble (R-HD89) attempted to lay out a constitutional resolution, anyway.
Representative Gene Wu (D-HD137) had to flex his muscles on the back mic and then prove to the right that Democrats were in array. 😃
Noble told Wu, it doesn’t matter what Democrats want, I’m doing this for my constituents. Which is super-ironic, considering how often Republicans attempt to block Democrats for working for their constituents over partisan games.
Candy Noble voted for David Cook during the Speakers race, after he pledged to shut Democrats completely out of the legislative process for the entire session. (In my opinion, because of the Speaker’s shabockle, Democrats should vote on anything the Cook Republicans want.)
During the second reading of this resolution, 51 Democrats abstained from voting, and 2 Democrats voted no. And while the resolution passed the second reading, it would need 100 votes to move past the third, proving that Noble and other Republicans don’t have the numbers.
When the resolution came back to the floor for the third reading yesterday, Noble postponed it. While MOST Democrats were in array, there were a few who wanted to buck the system.
While the House Democratic Caucus was making a power move against the fascists who control our state government, these four Democrats decided they’d rather bend over for Republicans:
Oscar Longoria (D-HD35)
Joe Moody (D-HD78)
Richard Raymond (D-HD42)
Sergio Munoz (D-HD36)
It wasn’t about the bill. It was about whether Democrats would continue to let Republicans steamroll them or teach them a lesson on bipartisanship.
Then there were all of the unrelated far-right amendments yesterday.
I don’t know what these guys are doing. Either intentionally trying to piss people off or to get some camera time, either way, it’s dumb. HB2249 was laid out by Diego Bernal (D-HD123), which would create the Texas Teacher Recruitment Scholarship Program, a new state initiative aimed at addressing the teacher shortage by offering up to $40,000 in scholarships to college students who commit to becoming certified public school educators in Texas.
First, Mike Olcott (R-HD60) tried to add an amendment saying that undocumented migrants couldn’t receive the scholarship. It was POO’ed and thrown out.
Then, Brent Money (R-HD02) attempted to add an amendment stating that scholarship recipients can’t attend any colleges that require vaccinations. It was thrown out.
Nate Schatzline (R-HD93) tried to add an amendment stating that students who participate in pro-Palestine protests, which he called anti-Semitic, would not be able to receive the scholarships. Also, thrown out.
My favorite part was when Erin Zwiener (D-HD45) asked Schatzline if he believed in the First Amendment, and he said absolutely, like this amendment didn’t prove otherwise.
While Democrats are trying to pass bills to improve public education in Texas, the Brainworm Brigade is playing stupid culture war games. But Democrats haven’t been their only target.
Carl Tepper (R-HD84) has been in their crosshairs since the Speaker vote, as in their mind, he sided with the wrong faction. Tepper’s bill, HB658, expands the right to carry weapons for certain public safety officers in Texas. Andy Hopper (R-HD64) added an amendment that would have included allowing nurses in mental health institutions to carry firearms.
Tepper responded by saying, “This is one of the most thoughtless amendments I’ve ever seen in my life.” 🤣
Although a POO was called on the amendment, it was overruled. However, it was only the far-right, the Brainworm Brigade, who voted in favor of it.
If you notice, it’s the same assholes, over and over again. And unfortunately, Richard Raymond was once again among them.
Morgan Meyers (R-HD108) was also targeted by the Brainworm Brigade when he tried to lay out a bill to curb insider trading. Mitch Little (R-HD65) killed the bill.
Now, did they do that because they like insider trading? Or because they hate Morgan Meyers? We may never know.
There are only 38 Days left in the Texas Legislature.
If it feels petty, that’s because it is. The far-right isn’t legislating—they’re lashing out. Every amendment, every bad-faith floor speech, every POO that reeks of desperation is just another symptom of a faction that’s losing control and throwing a tantrum. And with only 38 days left, you can bet the mess will only get messier.
Last night, I spoke with the Collin County Democratic Party, and someone asked me about a bill that passed the Senate. Truth is, I haven’t been watching the Senate as closely this past week, partly because I’ve been laser-focused on the chaos in the House, and partly because I’m still stewing over how some Senate Democrats have been enabling fascism from across the aisle. But I’ll get caught up over the weekend, and we’ll dig into it together next week.
So buckle up. The clock’s ticking, the stakes are high, and the Brainworm Brigade is still playing games.
April 29: Early Voting Ends
May 3: Local and County Elections
June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.
June 3: The beginning of the 2026 election season.
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