To say that Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick have not been best buddies lately would be an understatement. Their feud has just escalated after Abbott told reporters that Patrick’s call for a special session to pass conservative bills was “goofy”.
“That’s pretty goofy because everybody knows there’s only one person with the authority to call a special session, and that’s the governor,” said Abbott, referring to Patrick’s recent comments.
Patrick wants Abbott to call a special session to pass legislation to keep biological males out of girl’s sports, ban taxpayer funded lobbying, and restrict the ability of social media companies to censor content, all three of which were passed by the Senate but killed by the House.
Abbott has said that while he supports Patrick’s policies, he wants them passed in the regular session, “What I do know is, if the leaders in the Legislature will stop fighting with each other and start working together, we can get all of this across the finish line.”
Patrick fired back by noting that the bills are already dead according to the rules, having missed the necessary deadline:
“It’s not goofy to ask the Governor for a special session and he said this week ‘well, the two teams they can get together the last few days’. Well, the rules say on Tuesday in the House those bills were dead. They can’t be revived so the only way we can pass them is to request a special session.”
Patrick blames the House for purposely delaying the Senate’s legislation until it was too late. “It’s very clear,” he said. “They put it on the last day so they couldn’t pass it.”
Texas Citizen Journal 