Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with the group of Texas Democrats who fled their state capitol to obstruct the passage of Republican election reforms, the White House announced Tuesday.
White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the meeting and echoed White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s condemnation of the Republican legislation.
“The Texas legislation is part of a concerted attack on our democracy being advanced in state houses across the country on the basis of the same repeatedly disproven lies that led to the assault on the nations’ Capitol on Jan. 6,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
Democrats argue the Republican election reforms in Texas and elsewhere constitute the “worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.” Jean-Pierre did not announce a specific time for the meeting, but said President Joe Biden also “applauds their courage.”
The Democrats’ departure prevents Texas Republicans from reaching the two-thirds quorum necessary to pass legislation. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that each of the legislators would be arrested upon their return to the state.
“The State House of Representatives who are here in the capitol … they do have the ability to issue a call to have fellow members who are not showing up to be arrested, but only so long as the arrest is made in the state of Texas. That’s why they have fled the state,” Abbott told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“Once they step back into the state of Texas, they will be arrested and brought to the Texas Capitol, and we will be conducting business,” Abbott continued. (RELATED: Texas Gov. Abbott Virtually Tied With Matthew McConaughey In Hypothetical Matchup: POLL)
Governor Greg Abbott criticized Texas Democrats who fled to Washington, DC on Monday in an attempt to block a vote on the state Republicans’ election integrity bill: “Isn’t that the most un-Texan thing you’ve ever heard? They’re quitters!” pic.twitter.com/Sn5X61a4HI
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 13, 2021
Psaki on Monday linked ongoing Republican voter reform efforts to former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. Trump has long maintained unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was rigged or fraudulent.
“[Biden] will redouble his commitment to using every tool at his disposal to continue to fight to protect the fundamental right of Americans to vote against the onslaught of voter suppression laws based on a dangerous and discredited conspiracy theory that culminated in and assault on our Capitol,” Psaki said. (RELATED: ‘Racist Voter Suppression’: Civil Rights Group Calls For Masters Tournament To Boycott Georgia Over Voting Bill)
Psaki added that Biden plans to galvanize support for the Democrats’ For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
