The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 104, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 10, 2015 Page: 4 of 14
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A4 ►► FORUM
THE PORT LAVACA WAVE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2015
THE FORUM
Next US House speaker may need
coaching from Texas Speaker Straus
Washington
/
House
DAVE McNEELY
is
ME
VI
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1
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Wlb won
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Watching U.S. House
Speaker John Boehner driven
so nuts by his own Republican
Party mavericks that he quits
makes you wonder whether
his successor can handle that
herd of rabid dogs any better.
Whoever it is maybe
should go to school on the
journey of Texas
Speaker Joe Straus.
Straus is a conservative
Republican, facing a similar
Tea Party faction that wants
to blow the place up - like the
bunch that drove Boehner
from office.
But Straus has managed
to weather the storm, and is
now in his fourth two-year
term, aiming for a fifth.
The difference for the
Texas speaker is that Texas
is one of the few states that
doesn’t copy the congressional
model of organizing with
the majority party running
everything - choosing all
committee chairs, and so on.
It’s so bad in congress
in recent years that the
Democrats and Republicans
hardly speak to each other.
Texas, however, has
never sunk into that partisan
organization, for a variety
of reasons. The result is that
teams can be built across
party lines.
Some background on how
Straus became speaker in the
first place:
In 2003, longtime House
member Tom Craddick of
Midland was elected speaker,
in the wake of first-time-
ever Republican-controlled
redistricting for the 2002
elections. That produced the
first-ever Republican majority
in the Texas House since
Reconstruction - which in
turn brought Craddick to the
speakership.
However, Craddick was
so autocratic that during his
third two-year term, several
Republicans had tired of him.
Eleven Anybody But Craddick,
or ABC Republicans,
including Straus, teamed with
Democrats to change things.
They had gotten word
that the Democrats, who had
cut into the overwhelming
Republican majority by 2008,
were ready to join with the
ABC Republicans to get rid of
Craddick. Just pick your guy.
Straus, a quiet-spoken
member in his second term
in the House, hadn’t been
around long enough to draw
any significant enemies.
He won among the 11 ABC
Republicans by one vote.
They drew the support of
64 Democratic members, and
a few other Republicans, and
Craddick was ousted.
Since Straus became
speaker, he has gradually
built up more support among
the Republican caucus. The
Democrats, still in a minority,
are Straus’s insurance policy;
they figure he’s better that
any of the Republicans that
want to get rid of Straus.
Straus was challenged
for speaker by the Tea Party
Republicans in 2015. But their
candidate, sophomore Scott
Turner, R-Frisco, got only 19
votes to Straus’s 128 in the
150-member House.
There’s no indication
Straus won’t win his bid for a
fifth two-year term - barring
an unexpected upset in the
Republican primary in his
San Antonio home district
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reaching its true oil-producing
potential.
“Around the world, our
friends and allies are looking
for the same thing we are here
at home: a stable and reliable
supply of American energy,”
they added.
Texas gets schools waiver
The U.S. Department of
Education on Sept. 29 notified
Texas Education Commissioner
Michael Williams that the
state’s request for renewal
of flexibility from specific
provisions of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act
or “No Child Left Behind Act”
has been granted through the
end of the 2015-2016 school year.
Williams welcomed the
approval, but said the state
is not changing its position
on allowing local school
districts to make decisions on
using teacher and principal
evaluation systems of their
choosing.
“Our state believes strongly
in local control of our schools.
As a result, we will continue
discussing this specific point
with the U.S. Department of
Education,” Williams said, “but
they should not expect any shift
in Texas’ position.”
Flu vaccinations
encouraged
The Texas Department
of State Health Services on
Sept. 30 posted a reminder that
influenza vaccine is widely
available now and it’s a good
idea to get vaccinated.
“Everyone 6 months
old and older should get
vaccinated. People age 65
and older, pregnant women,
young children and those with
chronic health conditions such
as asthma, diabetes, heart
disease, lung disease or kidney
and liver disorders are more
susceptible to serious influenza
complications, so flu vaccine is
especially important for them,”
the agency recommended.
Hegar hails high ratings
Texas Comptroller Glenn
Hegar on Oct. 1 said the nation’s
major credit rating agencies
have confirmed the state of
Texas’ long-term general
obligation credit ratings, once
again earning it the highest
possible marks from Moody’s,
Standard and Poor’s and Fitch.
Maintaining the highest
credit ratings translates into
lower borrowing rates for state-
issued obligations and lower
costs to taxpayers, Hegar said.
Voter registration ends
Oct. 5 was the final day
for Texans to register to vote
in the Nov. 3 constitutional
amendment election.
Early voting begins on Oct.
19 and ends on Oct. 30. Texans
will vote on seven proposed
amendments to the Texas
Constitution.
team. But he drew a lot of heat
after saying in a TV interview
that the special House
committee investigating
the Benghazi killing of four
Americans was aimed at
undermining then-Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton’s
presidential candidacy.
Jason Chaffetz of Utah,
chairman of the House
Oversight Committee that has
been investigating Planned
Parenthood, criticized
McCarthy and is running
himself.
But Chaffetz did
such an embarrassing job
while questioning Planned
Parenthood’s president,
Texan Cecile Richards, that he
has his own problems.
There will be others
competing for speaker
majority leader and whip, that
may be decided by the time
you read this.
But given the partisan
history of the U.S. House, it
is highly unlikely to follow
the bi-partisan example of the
Texas House on choosing its
speaker.
next year.
So far, he has two primary
challengers:
-Jeff Judson, a member
of the State Republican
Executive Committee, and
former president of the ultra-
conservative Texas Public
Policy Foundation; and
-Sheila Bean, a former
teacher, who gave almost
$3,000 to Straus’s 2012 primary
opponent, Matt Beebe.
Much of the reason Straus
has those opponents is his
continued dependence on the
Democrats.
If the Democrats should
regain a majority in the
House, there will probably be a
Democratic speaker. But in the
meantime, barring something
unexpected, they figure the
even-handed Straus is better
than a Tea Party Republican.
Obviously, in Washington,
this model of a Republican
being elected speaker by
coalescing with Democrats
is very unlikely. The
partisanship is just too
ingrained.
Although all the House
members vote on the speaker,
the vote is usually almost
completely along party lines.
Whoever wins the majority
party caucus, the others in
that party will fall in behind
that person.
But wouldn’t it be
interesting if they didn’t?
Maybe it would break up some
of the gridlock in Washington.
Meanwhile, there’s a real
scramble going on among the
candidates for speaker and
other leadership posts.
Considered the inside
favorite is Kevin McCarthy of
California, part of Boehner’s
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg
Abbott on Sept. 30 wrote a
letter to U.S. Department of
Homeland Security Secretary
Jeh Johnson, requesting
immediate action to address
“the significant increase of
illegal border crossings.”
Nearly 10,000 immigrant
families and unaccompanied
children were detained after
illegally crossing the U.S.-
Mexico border in August,
an increase of more than 50
percent over August 2014,
Abbott said, quoting official
reports.
Abbott mentioned the
strain on state coffers and
urged the immediate input of
federal assistance to:
•Assign 250 more U.S.
Border Patrol agents to Texas;
• Provide five more tethered
surveillance blimps to watch
for cross-border smuggling
activity;
•Provide a list of conditions
under which individuals would
be released to relatives or to
private organizations in Texas
communities; and
•Continue supporting
the working relationship of
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, the Department
of Justice and the State of
Texas in maintaining the
capabilities of two detention
centers in Texas.
Medicaid cuts explained
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and
Senate Finance Committee
Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower
Mound, co-signed a letter dated
Sept. 30 to the Texas Health and
Human Services Commission
to emphasize the Texas
Legislature’s decision to cut
Medicaid therapy costs from
the current budget.
Patrick and Nelson followed
up their letter with a clarifying
statement, saying: “Anyone
claiming the Legislature
arbitrarily instructed HHSC to
save taxpayers $100 million by
eliminating waste, fraud and
abuse without consideration of
the potential impact on Texas’
most vulnerable citizens
just flat wrong.
“The 84th
overwhelmingly passed a
budget with bipartisan support
that included Rider 50. Rider
50 charged HHSC with saving
Medicaid dollars by addressing
waste, fraud and abuse for
therapy services, while
preserving access to those in
need,” they stated.
Patrick and Nelson,
suggesting the Legislature’s
action was in line with the
federal government’s, noted:
“In our nation’s Capitol, the
Health and Human Services
Inspector General is also calling
for a crackdown on excessive
Medicare therapy services.”
Officials give opinion
on oil
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul,
R-Houston, and Christi
Craddick, a member of the
Texas Railroad Commission,
co-wrote an opinion piece
published Sept. 25 by the
Houston Chronicle. McCaul
and Craddick voiced their
opposition to the federal ban
that prevents the exportation
of crude oil.
They called on President
Obama to lift the ban. Doing
that, they said, would “allow
energy powerhouse states like
Texas, for whom oil and gas
contributes to more than 40
percent of its total economy,
to fully drive the U.S. toward
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French, Tania. The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 104, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 10, 2015, newspaper, October 10, 2015; Port Lavaca, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1301484/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Calhoun County Public Library.