The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 8, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Tuesday, October 8, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Texas emergency room doctors cannot be required to provide abortions under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, per the Supreme Court of the United States' decision to decline the Biden administration's appeal. SCOTUS's decision to not hear arguments from the Biden administration upholds the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit order in favor of a district court's permanent injunction of a federal rule requiring Texas hospital emergency room doctors to provide abortions under EMTALA.

Starting point is 00:00:49 EMTALA was enacted in 1986 to ensure access to emergency room care regardless of a patient's ability to pay. Hospitals must comply with EMTALA requirements in order to receive Medicare funding, one of which is that the hospital must offer patients necessary stabilizing treatment. After the reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance to hospitals across the nation

Starting point is 00:01:16 that regardless of the caregiver's conscience, quote, if a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting at an emergency department is experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment. If they failed to do so, healthcare providers would likely be subject to losing Medicaid funding and other potential financial consequences. Stay tuned for more news updates after this short message. intelligence solution designed to transform how you track and analyze government meetings and legislation. USLedge allows you to search, pause, rewind, and review transcripts of public meetings live. That's right, live, anytime, anywhere. USLedge uses cutting-edge AI technology to monitor and analyze thousands of bills in real time, providing you with personalized summaries and

Starting point is 00:02:21 instant notifications. Check us out at usledge.ai. That's U-S-L-E-G-E dot A-I. Now returning to your daily Texas news. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is demanding citizenship data from the federal government after it did not provide it to Secretary of State Jane Nelson in order to help clean voter rolls of non-citizens. Paxton sent a letter to Nelson in mid-September requesting that she verify the citizenship of certain voters who registered

Starting point is 00:02:50 through means, quote, by which their citizenship cannot be confirmed. Nelson responded within the day to Paxton's request by sending her own version of the letter to the Biden administration, requesting formal assistance from the federal government to ensure compliance with federal and state election laws that forbid non-citizens from voting. Since neither Paxton nor Nelson have yet received the citizenship data from the federal government 30 days out from the election, Paxton issued a request on October 7th

Starting point is 00:03:20 to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In other news, millions of dollars will be spent across Texas in this final month of the November election, and a large chunk of that money will be put toward driving a wedge between undecided or lukewarm voters and the candidates themselves. If a candidate can generate enough strife

Starting point is 00:03:39 within their opponent's voting coalition, victory on election day becomes all the more likely. The strategy is deployed every cycle and nearly every campaign, and this year is no different. Both Republicans and Democrats have long settled on their go-to wedge issues, attempting to siphon off support from their opponents. Democrats have long leaned on the abortion issue during this cycle, where they have a stark polling advantage among general election voters. They banked on the blue wave in 2022 that never came following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling

Starting point is 00:04:11 in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade as the prevailing legal precedent across the nation. Also, a church in Rowlett believes the city is trying to prevent its use as an early voting location by threatening to revoke its certificate of occupancy. The city of Rowlett recently sent a letter to Freedom Place Church, quote, According to First Liberty, a non-profit law firm that specializes in religious liberty. On October 7th, First Liberty contacted the city, demanding that it revoke its letter and allow the church to continue operating and serve as an early voting site for the November 5th election.

Starting point is 00:04:56 Early voting begins October 21st. The city's actions violate the church's rights under the U.S. and Texas constititutions, First Liberty claims, and it intends to sue the city if the church is not allowed to continue to operate. Last but not least, visit thetexan.news for a rundown of some of the top themes exposed in the latest campaign finance reports covering the period of July 1st through September 26th, including fundraising hauls from Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Colin Allred, key districts in the Texas House and Senate, and the big money donors and PACs that could turn the electoral tide. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be

Starting point is 00:05:35 sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 8, 2024

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