WEBVTT 00:00.179 --> 00:04.799 JUDY WOODRUFF: Texas lawmakers fighting against a restrictive voting bill took their case 00:04.799 --> 00:09.799 to Washington today, as President Biden made his push for strengthening voting rights laws 00:10.620 --> 00:11.620 nationwide. 00:11.620 --> 00:15.360 Yamiche Alcindor talks to leaders on both sides of the issue. 00:15.360 --> 00:18.190 But, first, Lisa Desjardins has some background. 00:18.190 --> 00:21.320 LISA DESJARDINS: For Texas Democrats, a very public getaway. 00:21.320 --> 00:26.320 STATE REP. RAFAEL ANCHIA (D-TX): We are not going to buckle to the big lie in the state 00:26.460 --> 00:27.460 of Texas. 00:27.460 --> 00:32.460 LISA DESJARDINS: More than 50 Democratic state lawmakers are now in Washington, D.C., after 00:34.100 --> 00:38.579 fleeing Austin to take a stand on voting laws. 00:38.579 --> 00:43.579 Their exit left Republicans in the Texas House gaveling without the minimum quorum of people 00:44.450 --> 00:49.450 present, unable to take a vote on new election laws they say increase security, but which 00:49.790 --> 00:52.970 Democrats insist amount to suppression. 00:52.970 --> 00:57.970 In the current Texas proposal, bans on 24-hour and drive-through voting, new I.D. requirements 00:58.719 --> 01:03.719 for mail-in ballots, and more access for partisan poll watchers during counting. 01:04.360 --> 01:06.460 Republican Governor Greg Abbott pushed back. 01:06.460 --> 01:10.540 GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Anyone who suggests this deprives anybody of the right to vote 01:10.540 --> 01:12.590 is simply flat-out wrong. 01:12.590 --> 01:16.430 LISA DESJARDINS: Republicans in the partially empty chamber said Democrats are playing politics. 01:16.430 --> 01:19.650 STATE REP. MORGAN MEYER (R-TX): If a quorum is not present, can those of us who have stayed 01:19.650 --> 01:24.460 in the Capitol to do the jobs we were elected to do take up bills on the floor? Are we able 01:24.460 --> 01:27.670 to take those issues up while the Democrats are in Washington, D.C.? 01:27.670 --> 01:32.670 LISA DESJARDINS: The GOP has the votes to get the bill to Abbott's desk. But Democrats 01:32.990 --> 01:37.990 have blocked it so far with dramatic procedural moves, like walking out in the final moments 01:38.280 --> 01:42.260 of May's regular session to deny a quorum then. 01:42.260 --> 01:47.260 That led to the current special session. Democrats admit this is not a long-term solution. 01:47.900 --> 01:52.560 STATE REP. CHRIS TURNER (D-TX): We can't hold this tide back forever. We're buying some 01:52.560 --> 01:56.659 time. We need Congress and all of our federal leaders to use that time wisely. 01:56.659 --> 02:01.290 LISA DESJARDINS: They say the For the People Act could block some of the ideas in the Texas 02:01.290 --> 02:02.290 bill. 02:02.290 --> 02:07.290 STATE REP. RHETTA BOWERS (D-TX): Texas Democrats will use everything in our power to fight 02:07.799 --> 02:11.519 back. But we need Congress to act now. 02:11.519 --> 02:16.519 LISA DESJARDINS: But Democrats in Congress don't have a clear path for that yet, leaving 02:16.689 --> 02:21.689 the president's voice as one of the most direct tools for their party. And, today, he used 02:21.700 --> 02:22.700 it. 02:22.700 --> 02:25.139 JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: We're facing the most significant test of 02:25.139 --> 02:30.139 our democracy since the Civil War. I'm not saying this to alarm you. I'm saying this 02:30.700 --> 02:33.400 because you should be alarmed. 02:33.400 --> 02:38.400 I'm also saying this. There's good news. It doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have 02:41.230 --> 02:46.230 to be, for real. We have the means. We just need the will. 02:46.249 --> 02:50.510 LISA DESJARDINS: Speaking in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden gave a sweeping speech, 02:50.510 --> 02:55.430 saying the right to vote is a patriotic cause. He charged that current Republican proposals 02:55.430 --> 02:57.030 are blatant racial suppression. 02:57.030 --> 03:02.030 JOE BIDEN: The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real. It's unrelenting. And we're going 03:04.559 --> 03:05.709 to challenge it vigorously. 03:05.709 --> 03:09.930 LISA DESJARDINS: Back in Texas, Abbott says he's had enough of Democrats' tactics. 03:09.930 --> 03:13.779 GOV. GREG ABBOTT: As soon as they come back into the state of Texas, they will be arrested. 03:13.779 --> 03:17.809 They will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done. 03:17.809 --> 03:21.769 LISA DESJARDINS: Lone Star Democrats have promised to stay away until at least the end 03:21.769 --> 03:26.769 of this special session, which wraps August 7. But at that point, Republicans can just 03:27.159 --> 03:28.269 call another one. 03:28.269 --> 03:30.959 For the "PBS NewsHour, " I'm Lisa Desjardins. 03:30.959 --> 03:35.959 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: For a Republican perspective on voting legislation in Washington and Texas, 03:36.569 --> 03:41.449 I'm joined by Congressman Van Taylor. He just returned to Washington from his district near 03:41.449 --> 03:44.400 Dallas. He also previously served in the Texas legislature. 03:44.400 --> 03:46.219 Thanks so much for being here, Congressman. 03:46.219 --> 03:51.219 It has been a wild 24 hours. The governor of your state is calling for Democratic lawmakers 03:51.669 --> 03:55.779 to be arrested. Lawmakers are, of course, now in D.C., not wanting to be part of the 03:55.779 --> 03:57.159 state legislature. 03:57.159 --> 04:00.790 What do you make of the last 24 hours? And do you think it's appropriate for the governor 04:00.790 --> 04:02.779 to be calling for these lawmakers to be arrested? 04:02.779 --> 04:07.280 REP. VAN TAYLOR (R-TX): Well, the Democratic lawmakers should do their job. They were hired 04:07.280 --> 04:12.280 by their districts and asked by the state of Texas to show up and work on legislation 04:12.419 --> 04:13.419 in Austin. 04:13.419 --> 04:18.419 That's what they should be doing. This is - - unfortunately, you're seeing the rank partisanship 04:18.829 --> 04:23.829 and brokenness of Washington, D.C., infect the Texas legislature. And that's really unfortunate. 04:25.370 --> 04:30.370 What we want to see is legislation that makes our elections secure, that makes it easy to 04:31.199 --> 04:36.199 vote. And what we don't want to see is the kind of Washington-style federal takeover 04:36.919 --> 04:41.919 of elections that gets rid of voter I.D. laws, that uses taxpayer money to pay for attack 04:43.830 --> 04:44.960 ads. 04:44.960 --> 04:48.620 These are the kind of things that Americans don't want. And what Texans expect is our 04:48.620 --> 04:52.610 legislature -- legislators show up to work and do their job. Ten million taxpayers showed 04:52.610 --> 04:57.259 up to the office today. But unfortunately, 51 members of Texas House decided they didn't 04:57.259 --> 04:58.259 need to do theirs. 04:58.259 --> 05:03.199 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Now, you say you don't want D.C. partisanship to infect Texas lawmakers, 05:03.199 --> 05:08.080 but you are part, of course, the Problem Solvers Caucus here in Washington, D.C. It's Democrats 05:08.080 --> 05:11.729 and Republicans negotiating, saying that they're going to work on issues together. 05:11.729 --> 05:16.729 Do Democrats in Texas have a point here when they say that Republicans in Texas, they don't 05:16.830 --> 05:21.330 want to hear their input, they just want to ram through these GOP-backed voting laws without 05:21.330 --> 05:23.069 hearing at all from Democrats? 05:23.069 --> 05:26.560 REP. VAN TAYLOR: Certainly, that's not my experience. 05:26.560 --> 05:31.550 In my time in the Texas legislature, Democrats were given a seat at the table. They were 05:31.550 --> 05:36.000 given an opportunity to give their input on whether it was a budget. The budget this session 05:36.000 --> 05:39.800 in Texas, I think 97 percent of the Texas legislators, Republicans and Democrats, voted 05:39.800 --> 05:40.930 for the budget. 05:40.930 --> 05:45.930 They're given committee chairmanships. They're given a seat at the table. And Democrats decided 05:46.770 --> 05:50.349 yesterday they're walking away from their seat at the table. So they have a seat at 05:50.349 --> 05:53.050 the table. They have an opportunity for input. And they decided they didn't want to take 05:53.050 --> 05:56.759 advantage of that, in fact, want to just put sand in the gears and try to stop the process 05:56.759 --> 05:57.759 entirely. 05:57.759 --> 05:59.370 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And I want to zoom out a bit. 05:59.370 --> 06:03.400 President Biden and other Democrats have said that these voting laws that we're seeing passed 06:03.400 --> 06:07.949 by Republicans all over the country, that they are a form of Jim Crow laws, of course, 06:07.949 --> 06:10.389 these racist laws in American history. 06:10.389 --> 06:13.280 What do you make of that, and the fact that they're saying that these laws specifically 06:13.280 --> 06:17.409 target black people, people of color, some of whom, of course, died for their access 06:17.409 --> 06:18.479 to the ballot box? 06:18.479 --> 06:23.319 REP. VAN TAYLOR: Well, I mean, the hypocrisy is just -- is rich. 06:23.319 --> 06:26.830 You take the United States who comes from the state of Delaware. There's no early voting 06:26.830 --> 06:31.669 in Delaware. And he's trying to lecture Texas about expanding its early voting opportunities. 06:31.669 --> 06:36.569 I mean, it's just -- it's hard to fathom where he's coming from. 06:36.569 --> 06:40.050 At the end of the day, Texas -- and I like to say, in my home county, Collin County, 06:40.050 --> 06:44.289 we have done a lot to pioneer and innovate and get more people to the ballot box. And 06:44.289 --> 06:48.319 we actually had one of the highest voter participation of any county in the state of Texas, and we 06:48.319 --> 06:52.090 want to see more people vote. Voting is a good thing. It makes our democracy full. 06:52.090 --> 06:56.760 But you want to have people that have confidence in their voting system. And this kind of rank 06:56.760 --> 07:01.760 hypocrisy of someone lecturing you and saying, hey, we don't have early voting, but you do, 07:02.419 --> 07:05.669 you're the one that are trying to suppress the vote, is just -- it's just absurd. 07:05.669 --> 07:08.590 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And you say you want to expand access to voting. 07:08.590 --> 07:12.460 And, of course, a record number of people cast their ballots in the last election. You 07:12.460 --> 07:17.050 have said, as -- you have said, Congressman, that President Biden legitimately won the 07:17.050 --> 07:20.430 election. State and federal officials have said that this last election was the most 07:20.430 --> 07:22.620 secure election in American history. 07:22.620 --> 07:27.620 So why are these laws needed if we had a secure election, if we had a president who was legitimately 07:28.349 --> 07:29.349 elected? 07:29.349 --> 07:32.650 REP. VAN TAYLOR: Well, it comes down to the basic question of, how much voter fraud is 07:32.650 --> 07:34.880 too much? And I think any... 07:34.880 --> 07:36.300 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: But there's no massive voter fraud. 07:36.300 --> 07:41.300 REP. VAN TAYLOR: Well, I -- and, look, unfortunately, in my experience, and -- in the Texas legislature 07:43.360 --> 07:47.289 and in Congress, I have run into voter fraud. And it's a very upsetting thing when you find 07:47.289 --> 07:50.830 it. It's deeply upsetting because you realize someone's vote was taken from them. 07:50.830 --> 07:55.279 And you also realize that people were elected that should not have been elected. And that's 07:55.279 --> 07:58.779 not right. And so I think you want to make sure that you have a system that's foolproof, 07:58.779 --> 07:59.779 that's airtight. 07:59.779 --> 08:03.669 And, look, I have worked on those kinds of bills in the Texas legislature. And most of 08:03.669 --> 08:08.539 those I passed were largely bipartisan, because, mostly, people agree on how you want to make 08:08.539 --> 08:10.129 your elections more secure. 08:10.129 --> 08:15.129 But, sometimes, these Washington, D.C., ideas infect into Austin, and that's why you're 08:15.539 --> 08:20.440 seeing this kind of partisanship and this brinksmanship of leaving the state, getting 08:20.440 --> 08:25.409 out of your -- not doing your own job, and then the hypocrisy of trying to lecture other 08:25.409 --> 08:26.590 people how they should do their jobs. 08:26.590 --> 08:29.969 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, again, I want to just reiterate that state and federal officials 08:29.969 --> 08:33.659 have said that the last election was the most secure in American history. But I take your 08:33.659 --> 08:34.659 points. 08:34.659 --> 08:36.229 Thank you so much for joining us, Congressman Taylor. 08:36.229 --> 08:37.669 REP. VAN TAYLOR: Sure. Great to be with you.