For lower-ranking Republicans who would like to be higher-ranking and Democrats who barely remember ever having a shot at winning a statewide office, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s inscrutability about her future plans is getting to be a bit much.
Congress
Read the latest Texas Tribune coverage of Congress, from the state’s lawmakers in Washington to key legislation and political debates shaping Texas and the nation.
Posted in
Demographics
Hosed in Waco
It was a bad Election Night for residents of the largest city in McLennan County. After years of regional dominance, their congressional seat belongs to Bryan, halfway to Houston; their state senate seat is 86 miles away in Granbury; and one of their House seats has moved three counties east, to Centerville.
Posted in
Congress
TribBlog: Gene Green Keeps Quiet on Pelosi Vote
After watching his party lose 61 seats in the recent midterm elections, did U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, vote to stay the course or to give the boot to current Democratic House leadership? The world may never know.
Posted in
Economy
The End of Pork?
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she will join U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in calling for a ban on all Congressional earmark spending. In the past, both used the controversial budget maneuver to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars back to Texas. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
Posted in
Congress
TribLive: Gene Green
Full audio and audience Q&A from our TribLive interview with U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston.
Posted in
Congress
A Conversation with Gene Green
For the 16th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the Democratic U.S. Congressman from Houston about why his party got slaughtered on Election Day, whether Nancy Pelosi should continue in a leadership role, why the Obama administration has been forced to play defense and what health care reform should look like going forward.
Posted in
Congress
Gene Green on “Leader” Pelosi
During his TribLive interview Wednesday morning, U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, was asked if — in light of his party’s Election Day disemboweling — he would support outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bid for minority leader.
Posted in
Congress
What Chet Does Next
His resounding defeat was only one of Election Day’s many hits to the solar plexus of the state Democratic Party. But the loss of the powerful and politically talented U.S. congressman from Waco engenders the most speculation. What’s next for Chet Edwards?
Posted in
Congress
Hammer Time
Today, five years after Tom DeLay’s fall from power, his trial on the money laundering and conspiracy charges that forced his resignation as U.S. House majority leader is finally slated to begin. What’s at stake, other than voyeuristic curiosity about whether a former congressman will go to prison?
Posted inCongress
Meet the Chairmen?
At stake in next Tuesday’s elections are powerful committee chairmanships in the U.S. House of Representatives, a few of which will likely go to members of the Texas delegation if the GOP does as predicted and wins back the majority. We’ve built an interactive chart that takes a closer look at which of our Republican congressmen are poised to wield the gavel — Smith? Hall? Hensarling? Burgess? Barton? — and how public policy could be impacted here and elsewhere.