The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - June 7, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Friday, June 7th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Marketing and Media Manager Daniel Friend, and here's the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First of all, President Joe Biden has authorized Maverick County in Texas to begin the construction of a new crossing between the U.S. and Mexico. The crossings will be used for vehicular, pedestrian, and rail crossings. It is set to be located in Eagle Pass, Laredo, and Brownsville and has been pushed for approval since 2023. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz wrote to the Biden administration in 2023 and urged them to approve the construction. After Biden issued the presidential permits, Cruz said he was immensely proud of our bipartisan,

Starting point is 00:00:48 bicameral legislative push to secure presidential permits for these vital projects. He continued, quote, The bridges were needlessly being held up, and ending the delays will provide immeasurable benefits to the communities of Eagle Pass, Laredo, and Brownsville, as well as for our farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and small businesses across Texas. Indeed, these bridges will facilitate the movement of goods and strengthen the U.S.-Mexico supply chains, producing lower prices for millions of American consumers, end quote. Cruz drafted legislation to streamline the presidential permitting process and included it within the NDAA presented to Biden in December 2023. Biden signed the act, thereby expediting the presidential permit review process for the Puerto Verde Global International Bridge.

Starting point is 00:01:25 Next up, the Dallas City Council voted this week to advance several city charter amendments, including changes to council member terms and eligibility for serving on city boards and commissions, but rejected ranked choice voting. Council member Chad West proposed an amendment to change city council terms from two to four years, offering that two-year terms don't provide sufficient time to become acquainted with the job's duties before needing to start a campaign for re-election. Another motion for three-year terms was considered, but failed. The council also recommended an amendment that allows Dallas residents, whether present legally in the country or not, to serve on the city's redistricting commission, planning commission,

Starting point is 00:02:00 civil service board, and park and recreation board. Currently, one has to be a citizen and a registered voter to serve on these boards and commissions. Council member Omar Narvaez called Dallas a, quote, welcoming city that accepts the taxes from all residents, whether present legally or not, and thus it should allow them to serve on city commissions as well. An amendment to implement ranked choice voting in municipal elections, if allowed by the state legislature, failed to move forward. Most of the city council members expressed an interest in adopting ranked choice voting at some point, but felt the timing was premature. Adam Basildua, who represents District 7, suggested that it is too confusing to ask voters to approve ranked choice voting when it is not yet allowed under state law. In other news, a whistleblower involved in the revelation that

Starting point is 00:02:42 Texas Children's Hospital has continued to provide gender-affirming care to children has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice. According to Christopher Ruffo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Eaton Haim is facing four felony counts of violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, after U.S. Marshals visited Haim's home on Tuesday. Haim wrote on social media that three heavily armed agents arrived at his door Tuesday morning to tell him he had been indicted for, quote, blowing the whistle about the largest children's hospital in the world lying to the public about their transgender program. Last year, a whistleblower report revealed that Texas Children's Hospital failed to meet its own stated goal of ceasing the provision of sex transition procedures to children. Ruffo published

Starting point is 00:03:22 leaked documents detailing the provision of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone therapy to patients during puberty and early adolescence, along with gender-affirming surgeries. The documents also described an 11-year-old patient as a, quote, female-to-male transgender person and noted that children aged 11 to 15 diagnosed with gender dysphoria were administered a non-biodegradable drug delivery implant. The Houston-based hospital was ultimately compelled to cease its child gender modification medical practices after a new state law took effect in September 2023 prohibiting pharmaceutical and surgical gender-affirming interventions for minors. Lastly, the Texas GOP released its list of eight priorities. Border enforcement, secure Texas elections, stop sexualizing Texas kids, no Democrat chairs, ban taxpayer-funded

Starting point is 00:04:05 lobbying, secure the electric grid, Texas is not for sale, and end federal overreach. Notably, the list of priorities does not include school choice, one of the central issues in the recent primary election that led to a large turnover of incumbents in the Texas House. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - June 7, 2024

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