Brian Harrison - State Representative Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
No, no, So are they lazy in the house? I
don't think that's what the problem is. I don't know
why they sit on stuff so long. Why. I know
in the past, why they said if they're just waiting
for the clock to expire, right, they're waiting for the
end of the game, at least the regular period of
the game. That's when the Governor's forced to put them
into overtime, right by doing special sessions. State Representative Brian

(00:25):
Harrison joins us. The deadline to file bills was last Friday.
The Senate has passed multiple bills and multiple priority items.
Why are you folks going to kick in.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Brian, Well, it's tough for us to do that when
we have taken ten ten long vacation weekends in the
ten weeks we've been here. But it's great to be
with you as always today, Mark, it's a milestone. We're
marking the halfway mark through session. So we are halfway
through the session this legislative session, and the number of

(00:56):
bills we have considered on the Texas House floor is zero.
The number of bills we have voted on on the
floor of zero. Number of bills we've passed on the
floor zero. But in fairness of the House, I can't
say we've done actually or literally nothing. We did suspend
all the rules a couple of weeks back to pass
their resolution to honor Beyonce, and then I think a
week ago we created Zoroastrianism Day in the Texas House.

(01:19):
So it's not like we're literally doing nothing. But my goodness,
you either have to laugh or you have to cry.
This is Operation run out the Clock. It actually, if
you think about it, it should make Texasans who are
driving to work really angry because they voted for Republican leadership.
Trump won Texas by fourteen points, but Kamala Harris and
the Democrats are controlling the Texas House are representatives, and to.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Spend that way for so long, we can't remember when
it wasn't that way, and it's a shame. Dustin Burrows
talked a good game about school choice, so but he's
just gonna let that die now, huh?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, you know, I mean, I think I actually think
something called school choice will pass. And look, I'm probably
that there's nobody in the Texas government that supports school
choice and education freedom more than I do.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
But we've got to do it.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Right. I mean, the thirty four states have already done this.
We should do it big and give every parent the
chance to send their kid to the school that's best
suited for their needs. But the way the House is
doing it, school choice would only apply to about one
percent of Texas family so ninety nine percent of students
wouldn't be able to participate. And they wrote it in
such a way that it would actually apply to illegal

(02:22):
aliens and in some cases actually prioritize illegal aliens over
American citizens. That's outrageous. We've got to fix that bill.
I'm fighting very hard to fix that bill. But I mean,
I don't know that anybody calls my office that lets
me know that has any issues that are bigger than
property taxes. I've got constituents being taxed out of their homes.
Property taxes are out of control. And here's the reality.

(02:45):
We can't cut taxes unless we cut government, and we're
growing government in Austin at rates that would make DC
Democrats blush. Texas has a reputation for leading and freedom
and liberty and small government and low taxes. But I'm
going to be on we've just been coasting on that reputation.
And I'm fighting to have us finally start living up
to it.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
And and I'll tell you what's That's That is not
a good prognosis, though, is it. It's it really is
quite amazing that the Texas House cannot get its proverbial
Act together. The Senate has its Act together, then you've
got a lot less members to worry about in the
Texas Senate. And I guess you've got a lieutenant governor
who's large and in charge over there where you don't
have the same kind of leadership in the House. How

(03:27):
did they ever get that bad to begin with?

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Well, it's real simple. So suppose that you know, I've
worked for President Trump in his first term. I was
a senior member of his administration. I come down here,
I get elected, and I was just absolutely shocked to
learn that so many elected so called Republicans in Texas
are really just Democrats in disguise. And so what we've
had happened in the Texas House going back over fifteen

(03:52):
years is a small group of Rhinos cut a deal
with the entire Democrat caucus to say, Okay, Democrats, I
know you're in the minor minority, but if you know
twenty or thirty of us go up and cut a
deal with you, then we can control the chamber. So
even though Texas voters voted for Republican leadership, we've got
a twenty six seat majority in the House. What happened

(04:14):
is thirty fake sellout Rhino Republicans cut a deal with
fifty five zero Democrats and let the Democrats select the
air quote Republican. His name is now Dustin Burroughs. He
was the Democrat Caucus's candidate first Speaker. And so even
though it looks on paper like Republicans control the Texas House,

(04:35):
in reality, Kamala Harris's team is in control of the
Texas House.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Said Sad said, all right, sir, thank you for the update.
I do appreciate it. Keep fighting the good fight. State
Representative Brian Harrison joining us at six twenty seven