The U.S. House is trying to override Texas’ near-total ban on abortions. But Democrats likely lack the support they need in the U.S. Senate.
Abby Livingston
Abby Livingston joined The Texas Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington bureau chief, and departed August 2022. In this role, she covered members in the Texas congressional delegation and campaigns back in the home state. A seventh-generation Texan, Abby grew up in Fort Worth and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to the Tribune, Abby worked for NBC, CNN, National Journal and Roll Call. At the Tribune, she won the 2017 National Press Club Award for Washington regional reporting and the Society of Professional Journalists' 2018 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Washington correspondence. Abby is a contributing writer to the Almanac of American Politics and frequently appears on MSNBC, CNN and Sirius XM radio. She also had a role on an episode of "The Bold and The Beautiful." In keeping with the Trib’s great history of hiring softball stars, Abby is a three-time MVP (the most in game history) for The Bad News Babes, the women’s press softball team that takes on female members of Congress in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball breast cancer charity game.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher is about to find out how badly Texas Republicans want her out of Congress
The two-term Houston representative holds a congressional seat with a storied Republican lineage. With the GOP-controlled Legislature about to release new district maps, some expect they will try to wrest the seat back into their column.
Posted in
Texas Abortion Restrictions
President Joe Biden says Texas’ new abortion law “unleashes unconstitutional chaos”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Supreme Court’s decision not to halt the law “an injustice” and Vice President Kamala Harris promised the administration would defend abortion rights.
Posted in
Congress
Despair and optimism: Texans in Congress welcome Afghan refugees to the state, disagree on blame for tragedy in Kabul
Looking relieved but exhausted, 1,200 Afghan refugees arrived this week at El Paso’s Fort Bliss. Meanwhile, Texans remain on the ground in an increasingly dangerous Afghanistan.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
New Texas voting laws, political maps could once again require federal approval under U.S. House bill named after John Lewis
The federal bill seeks to reinstate sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were written to protect people of color. Texas House Democrats see it as a way to prevent implementing provisions of a Texas voting restrictions bill moving through the state Legislature.
Posted in
Politics
Texans in Congress have mixed views on President Joe Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. But bipartisan criticism has emerged.
Texas Republicans have doused the Biden administration in criticism. Democratic Texans in Congress have had varied reactions — but some also fault for the president for a frantic scramble after the Taliban swiftly took control.
Posted in
Immigration
Fort Bliss in El Paso could receive thousands of Afghan refugees as Taliban topples government, Pentagon says
The Taliban has taken control of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city, which led to a crush of civilians at the Kabul airport desperate to leave the country on Monday.
Posted in
Politics
Texas Congressman Michael McCaul says Biden administration “totally blew” Afghanistan withdrawal
McCaul, the highest ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says Biden ignored intelligence briefings and underestimated the Taliban’s strength.
Posted in
Politics
Ted Cruz shuts down federal voting bill before U.S. Senate leaves for recess, dashing Texas Democrats’ hopes
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz blocked a last Democratic attempt to pass federal voting rights legislation this summer. The Senate left town but is expected to pick up the issue again in the fall.
Posted in
Energy
U.S. Sens. John Cornyn, Ted Cruz vote against infrastructure bill that could give Texas more than $30 billion
The Senate approved a $1 trillion, bipartisan bill that also earmarks money for broadband internet access. It’s not yet known how much money set aside for the country’s aging electricity infrastructure could go to Texas’ main power grid.
