Dallas lawmakers gear up for uphill battles in Austin and Washington D.C.

For Dallas legislators in both Austin and Washington, DC, the first weeks of January mean meeting with their counterparts and preparing for a unique type of battle. The past week has been a busy one for first-term US Rep. Jasmine Crockett of the 30th District of Texas.

She attended her first leadership meeting, attended her Delta Sigma Theta sorority’s Founder’s Day celebration along with several other congresswomen, and was interviewed on television. She says the highlight of her first week in the US Congress was something she had to take for granted.

Remember the wild scenes from the 15 rounds of voting for Speaker of the House? She was there. Crockett, who succeeded longtime Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, voted for fellow Democrat Hakim Jeffreys each time, while her fellow Republicans squabbled among themselves for four days before ultimately electing Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

“Crazy enough, it was actually an oath,” Crockett said when asked what was the best moment of her week in Washington. “I didn’t think the biggest hurdle I would have to overcome would be taking the oath.”

Crockett admits that the Speaker’s ballot test ruined her life, but she was glad that she and other Democrats in the House of Representatives “showed the country that Democrats are the adults in the room and we’re ready to work,” she said.

“After all, I didn’t come to Congress to score points against my opponents,” she said. “I came to Congress to work for the people, but the thought that there was a historic failure in the functioning of our institution was a huge disappointment.”

Of course, storylines abound when members of the House first arrive in Washington at the start of the new semester. As a Democrat in the now Republican-controlled US House of Representatives, it’s hard not to notice the headlines of the past few months that heralded the year ahead for lawmakers.

“I didn’t think the biggest hurdle I would have to overcome would be taking the oath.” — US Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett

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Crockett looks forward to discussing voting rights and gun control laws, issues she is passionate about. She is concerned about a possible attempt to restrict access to the social security system. And she said she “fully expects the government to be shut down due to GOP failure.”

Crockett also believes that issues related to the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade will be in the spotlight sooner rather than later. This is especially noteworthy for her because she represents the county where then-Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade worked, who unsuccessfully fought to ban abortion in 1973. In addition, Crockett’s pioneering predecessor, Eddie Bernice Johnson, was a passionate proponent of the cause. .

“Unfortunately,” she said, “I think we will spend a lot of time in this meeting trying to formally give up reproductive rights.”

Meanwhile, Austin was also buzzing with excitement ahead of the new state legislature last week, and Senator Nathan Johnson of Dallas says he hit the ground running straight away.

“It’s great to be back in town and see your friends and those you have to work with, and sometimes against, over the next 20 weeks,” he said. “I’ve been in the office for four years now and I’m much more involved in everything. There are certain issues that are much more active, such as the grid. However, there is a lot of work to be done before we really start moving in this direction.”

And if that’s not enough for lawmakers to debate in Austin, Johnson predicts that this session will decide the fate of the recently announced $33 billion state budget surplus.

“There are things that I hope for and things that really worry me,” he said. “I feel both hopeful and anxious about the huge amount of money we have that we didn’t have in the past. My concern is a divisive social program aimed at the Republican primaries that will suck all the oxygen out of the room and prevent us from doing the hard work required to invest or otherwise appropriate money for the benefit of the state. ”

Johnson is looking forward to seeing the bills he has written gain attention. These include a bill that would legalize fentanyl test strips, which Johnson says could help save lives, and a bill designed to provide paid parental leave to Texas teachers.

“There are things that I hope for and things that really bother me.” — Texas State Senator Nathan Johnson

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Wenton Jones, a freshman state representative, made headlines as an openly gay candidate who is also HIV positive. He says he was very proud to have been sworn in to represent District 100, the area where he says he was born and raised.

Like Johnson, Jones also sees a budget surplus as something that could do a lot of good for health care, higher teachers’ salaries, property tax exemptions for tenants and owners, and infrastructure repairs. He said he would also “fight legislation that would harm communities of color, LGBTQ people and their families, and the rights of all of Texas to equal access to the ballot box.” Another interesting topic that he personally saw affects his area.

“One area that is especially important in my area is affordable housing during this record inflationary period in the economy,” Jones said. “Rep. Yvonne Davis re-filed Form HB 1189, which caps the appraised value of homes in fast-growing and developing areas to prevent the displacement of existing residents, who often have lower incomes and have lived there for generations. This is a common sense and bipartisan bill that I hope my colleagues will support and support.”

Realizing that what they are doing now could affect their constituents for years to come, Crockett, Johnson and Jones appear to be hopeful, even if as Democrats many of their battles are likely to be uphill in their respective Republican-controlled bodies. . Senator Johnson recaps the challenges and questions facing lawmakers in 2023, looking to the future.

“This is a huge, very important question about how do we prepare Texas for the future?” He says. “What are we going to do now that people will thank us for 30 years from now? This is a defining issue, because we have the resources to make investments on such a scale and at such a level of benefit for the state. Or we can sit and have petty arguments about social issues.”