Bill massacre: House kills its own proposals with late-night talkfest; anti-abortion bills stall
AUSTIN -- A dawdling, fractious Texas House collided with its first and biggest bill-passing deadline of the session Thursday, with the temporary casualties being controversial anti-abortion bills but also Republican unity.
Democrats were gleeful that the abortion bills didnt come up before the clock struck midnight, but it was staunchly conservative Republicans who did most of their work for them.
GOP members openly feuded over whether a dozen diehard staunch conservatives were being punished in petty ways - or simply reaping just desserts for their session-long obstructionist tactics and attacks on House Speaker Joe Straus and his allies.
The spectacle of intra-GOP dissension brought shy smiles to the faces of Democratic leaders such as Grand Prairies Chris Turner.
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