The Brief: July 31, 2014

The Big Conversation

Gov. Rick Perry has seen his national polling numbers rise among Republicans as he's taken on the role of antagonizer-in-chief of President Barack Obama on the current border crisis. This week's House committee hearing in which leading officials in charge of executing the plan said they never asked for Guard troops revealed another aspect to Perry's actions, according to the Houston Chronicle's Patrick Svitek.

He wrote, "The hearing served as a kind of home-state reality check on the deployment, which has cemented Perry's role as a leading voice on border security for national Republicans. ... Back home, the story doesn't fit as neatly into a Fox News ticker, and lawmakers are bracing for the likelihood that the Obama administration scoffs at Texas' request for funding relief and leaves the state with the bill. While other Republicans in the state were cheering Perry's decision last week, the office of state House Speaker Joe Straus issued a more muted statement saying the chamber will 'consider all options' for paying costs related to the border surge."

In other Texas border news, a trio of Rio Grande Valley mayors spent Wednesday renewing calls for the federal government to reimburse their cities for the cost of taking in the thousands of unaccompanied minors who have come across the border this year, according to The Monitor's Jacob Fischler. McAllen Mayor Jim Darling pegged the cost of services for the children at 0.5 percent of his city's budget for the year.

Still, the mayors — sensitive to the portrayals of their region by some media outlets — shied away from calling the border situation a "crisis."

The Day Ahead

•    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Association of Business are in Dallas for a 1:30 p.m. press conference on the importance of reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Trib Must-Reads

Rule Changes Address Contraceptive Devices, by Alexa Ura

Will They or Won't They? Time Is Running Out to Address Border Crisis, by Julián Aguilar

In Bank Debate, High Stakes for Texas Business and GOP, by Eli Okun

Elsewhere

Abbott’s intervention in Baylor case followed big donations from chairman, The Dallas Morning News

House border bill in trouble, The Hill

Report: Most unaccompanied immigrant children go to court, San Antonio Express-News

Texas Democrats to Abbott: Denounce militia groups, McAllen Monitor

Rick Perry urges strong U.S. support for Israel at Dallas rally, The Dallas Morning News

Texas state lawmaker uses controversial term about Cajuns in hearing, Houston Chronicle

Texas freshman looks to challenge NRCC chairman, The Hill

McRaven not alone moving into university leadership from outside academia, Houston Chronicle

Quote to Note

"I think Greg Abbott, in a strange way, if he succeeds in the 5th Circuit, will be doing people a favor."

— Steve Rudner of Equality Texas, on the possibility that the challenge to the Texas same-sex marriage ban could get fast-tracked to the U.S. Supreme Court should the state prevail at the 5th Circuit Court

Today in TribTalk

Why your candidate is corrupt and mine isn't, by Jim Henson and Joshua Blank

Trib Events for the Calendar

•    The Texas Tribune Festival runs from Sept. 19-21 at the University of Texas at Austin.

Bonus event! Skip the line and join us at legendary Franklin Barbecue for an intimate dinner and a lively discussion about the upcoming election with Chris Hayes of MSNBC. This event is not included in the regular Festival badge and requires an extra ticket. Barbecue and beer are included with the ticket price of $250.

Purchase your ticket when you register, but hurry as space is extremely limited. Tickets on sale now.