The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 10, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Friday, May 10th, 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 in today's rundown, following Texas Representative Henry Cuellar's indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice, two political consultants who worked with Cuellar have pleaded guilty to conspiring with a congressmanman first reported by the San Antonio Express News. Cuellar is a Democrat representing Texas's 28th congressional district in South Texas, one of the state's most competitive seats. According to the unsealed documents, the two men agreed to plea deals with the DOJ in early

Starting point is 00:00:38 March. The two individuals are named as Mina Collins Strother and Florencio Lincho Rendon. Strother, who owns a political consulting company in Buda, and Rendon, who runs two consulting companies and previously served as a chief of staff to a member of Congress, both pled guilty to money laundering conspiracy, and Rendon faces up to 20 years in prison and Strother faces up to five years. According to the plea agreement documents, each worked as a middleman in the laundering scheme where Rendon is alleged to have assisted in transferring more than $200,000 from a bank in Mexico. Cuellar has maintained his innocence, saying following the DOJ charges announcement that,

Starting point is 00:01:13 quote, Next, in a contentious standoff in the U.S. Senate last night, the upper chamber approved legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration with a bill co-authored by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. In a statement upon its passage, Cruz said, quote, My bipartisan legislation will greatly benefit Texas' thriving aviation industry by enabling testing for various cutting-edge technologies,

Starting point is 00:01:44 improving critical infrastructure at airports across the Lone Star State, and making possible a direct flight from San Antonio International Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Despite delays largely focused on the additional flights to the D.C. airport, the Senate approved the measure in an 88-4 vote. Senator John Cornyn also applauded its passage, particularly supportive of the measure to expand a direct flight from San Antonio to DCA. The legislation will still need to be approved by the House of Representatives next week before it can go to the President's desk to be signed. Meanwhile, in the lower chamber, legislation narrowly passed the House of Representatives

Starting point is 00:02:18 this week along party lines that would prevent foreign nationals from being counted for federal representation in Congress and in the Electoral College. The Equal Representation Act would require the decennial census to include a question regarding citizenship and would require the redistricting and apportionment of the Electoral College to be based on the number of citizens in each state. Republicans say the need for the legislation has arisen from the millions of illegal aliens present in the country who, if counted in the next census, could have a tremendous impact on future elections and political power. In other congressional news, earlier this week, Texas Representative Chip Roy and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson held a press conference to

Starting point is 00:02:55 announce a new piece of legislation. Titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act, the proposition would require proof of American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Congressman Chip Roy said the following. We're here for the simple proposition supported by the vast majority of the American people that only citizens of the United States should vote, that we should have documentary proof, that we should have a system to guarantee that only citizens of the United States vote in federal elections, where we have the clear authority under the Constitution of the United States and our laws as Congress to set the terms of those elections. The SAVE Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act

Starting point is 00:03:36 of 1993, requiring states to verify U.S. citizenship and identity through documentary proof in person when an individual registers to vote in federal elections regardless of the registration method. Lastly, in Fort Worth, the city's proposal in the May 4th election to raise its hotel occupancy tax rate to fund convention center renovations was successful. Over 70% of voters approved to raise the city's hotel occupancy tax rate by 2%, raising it from 15% to 17%. The hotel occupancy tax rate is a tax on rented rooms taken as part of a visitor's bill. The tax is both a state and sometimes a local component and has been around since 1959, with the current maximum rate for cities, as mandated by the state,

Starting point is 00:04:16 being 17%. According to the city, the tax is, quote, used to promote the city's tourism and hospitality industry. The tax collected from visitors' nightly hotel rate also increases revenue for tourism assets, which come from visitors coming to Fort Worth for conventions, sporting events, and vacations. The tax helps preserve historical sites, museums, and organizing sporting events, end quote. 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.

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The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 10, 2024

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