Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Elon Musk and DOGE have been granted access to the highly-sensitive payments system at the heart of the U.S. Treasury Department: https://abcnews.go.com/US/treasury-dept-elon-musks-team-access-federal-payment/story?id=118380399 ...Senator Elizabeth Warren, top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, is demanding answers from new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/us/politics/warren-bessent-treasury-musk-d...
Feb 03, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Donald Trump says he plans to follow through with applying a 25% tariff to all goods imported from Mexico starting Sunday - consumers in border states like Texas will feel the pinch immediately: https://thehill.com/business/5117233-trump-mexico-canada-tariffs-threat/ East Texas freshman GOP State Rep. Brent Money has filed legislation that would define life as beginning at fertilization - rendering illegal IVF, IUD's and Plan B: https://www...
Jan 31, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: 13 U.S. House Republicans from Texas - more than any other state - are among the 67 members of their party who are co-sponsors of H.R. 722, which would establish a national ban on abortion: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/722/cosponsors ...More on H.R. 722: https://thistleandmoss.com/p/hr722-the-republicans-try-to-ban?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's list of his top 25 legislative prior...
Jan 30, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Hard to know where to start in evaluating the devastating impacts on Texas that Donald Trump's freeze on federal spending would have: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/28/texas-trump-federal-spending-freeze/ Several Texas Republicans in the U.S. House have presented bills designed to codify recent Trump executive orders into permanent law: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/27/texans-congress-trump-executive-orders/ Austin Congressman ...
Jan 29, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In spite of renewed federal border control efforts, a very low current flow of migrant traffic at the border, and after $11 billion wasted - Governor Abbott has deployed more Texas National Guard troops to Operation Lone Star: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-gov-greg-abbott-deploys-hundreds-more-troops-texas-mexico-border/ ...San Antonio State Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer is as confused as we are - and wants an audit of Operation Lon...
Jan 28, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A variety of federal agencies began "enhanced targeting operations" against, so they claim, undocumented immigrants presenting criminal threats across Texas, including Austin and San Antonio: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/26/texas-immigration-deportation-ice-austin-san-antonio/ ...Also in North Texas and the Rio Grande Valley: https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-01-26/ice-begins-immigration-raids-across-texas-dozens-arrested ...Protes...
Jan 27, 2025•9 min
The Progress Texas staff were pleased to be a part of today's forum of five of the candidates to become the new Chair of the Texas Democratic Party in March. We gathered for a quick post-event recap - enjoy and keep it here for future forums.
Jan 25, 2025•17 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Upending over five decades of tradition, but right in line with their anti-democratic MAGA fanaticism, the Republican majority in the Texas House voted yesterday to ban Democrats from chairing committees: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/23/texas-house-republican-committee-chairs/?utm_source=Texas+Tribune+Newsletters&utm_campaign=9a17e04997-trib-newsletters-thebrief&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-9a17e04997-103307619 As the St...
Jan 24, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The welcome challenge to the MAGA distortion of Christianity by Bishop Mariann Budde during the Trump inauguration proceedings casts new light on attempts by Texas GOP lawmakers to force that distorted vision into public life in Texas: https://thebarbedwire.com/2025/01/22/texas-is-on-the-path-to-even-harder-right-christian-supremacy/ Budget drafts submitted yesterday by the House and Senate include billions for private school vouchers, a me...
Jan 23, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: San Antonio is one of the cities said to be in the crosshairs for ICE's renewed push for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/immigration-raids-texas-trump-20046972.php ...The expansion of dentention facilities in Texas and other states - to the benefit of private prison companies - is an integral part of the Trump plan: https://www.tpr.org/border-immigration/2025-01-20/aclu-texas-gov...
Jan 22, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following at Progress Texas: Right out of the chute, as promised, a flurry of executive orders from Donald Trump - many of which will face immediate legal challenge: https://apnews.com/article/trump-day-1-executive-orders-3a035a0bbd37b5c12630b92c8c8a9625 We bid godspeed and offer our admiration and gratitude to Cecile Richards, who died yesterday at home at the age of 67: https://thebarbedwire.com/2025/01/20/cecile-richards-did-not-quit-neither-can-we/ Even as border crossings slow...
Jan 21, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Seven employees of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission have been fired under suspicion of breaching the data and stealing the service funds of thousands of low-income Texans who rely on their services: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/17/texas-hhsc-food-stamp-fraud-data-breach/ Amarillo anti-choice activist judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, his court cherry-picked by of officials from Idaho, Kansas and Missouri and in defiance of a re...
Jan 17, 2025•7 min
This Saturday, a terrific opportunity to express your frustration and channel your anger over the second Trump inauguration into action arrives with the Women's March in Austin, this Saturday January 18 at 9am, starting from historic Huston-Tillotson University. Lead Organizer Jen Ramos joins us to provide the details on the event, why it's important moving into Trump 2.0, and how you can get involved. All the info on Saturday's event, which should precede the weather change expected this weeken...
Jan 16, 2025•14 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: President Biden's farewell address include warnings against disinformation actors now set to take power at the federal level: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/us/politics/biden-farewell-address.html ...Over the Biden term, Ken Paxton racked up over $6 million in legal bills - on the tab of Texas taxpayers - suing Biden's administration: https://www.axios.com/local/san-antonio/2025/01/16/texas-attorney-general-paxton-lawsuits-biden ...Spea...
Jan 16, 2025•8 min
In this final installment of our series of talks with Democratic lawmakers, coming to you on the first day of the 89th Texas Legislature, we wrap up with Rep. James Talarico of the Austin area, a Williamson County native who was first elected to represent House District 50 in 2018, and survived an attempt by Republicans to draw him out of the picture via redistricting by achieving reelection in District 52. He's a graduate of both the University of Texas and Harvard, and is currently working on ...
Jan 15, 2025•27 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In defiance of the Texas Republican Party, three dozen House GOP electeds voted along with most of the Democratic minority yesterday to elect Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock House Speaker: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/14/dustin-burrows-david-cook-texas-house-speaker-vote/ Several Democratic House members declined to vote for Burrows, who himself is pretty darn MAGA, while a handful curiously voted for Cook, who had pledged to sidelin...
Jan 15, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The 89th Texas Legislature opens today! First act in a likely long and dramatic drama: the selection of a House Speaker, which may not go the way anyone thinks: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2025/01/13/jason-villalba-the-texas-speaker-race-can-still-usher-a-surprise/ ...Ken Paxton, in his zeal to unify Republicans in support of Mansfield Rep. David Cook, ironically supports a lawmaker who supported Paxton's impeachment in 20...
Jan 14, 2025•8 min
Texas State Representative Erin Zwiener of Driftwood, one of the youngest members of the Legislature, has a resume full of fun facts: prior to her political life, she was a contestant on Jeopardy! four times, winning over $53,000. She later got involved with the Indivisible movement after the 2016 Trump win, challenged Republican Rep. Jason Isaac for his seat while she was pregnant, won that year's Democratic primary by less than 200 votes, gave birth during the campaign and eventually beat Isaa...
Jan 13, 2025•32 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Steve Bannon, arguably the master designer of MAGA, has announced intent to "take down" Texas-based billionaire and current Trump puppetmaster Elon Musk: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/5081681-steve-bannon-says-he-will-take-down-the-truly-evil-elon-musk/ Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller may be on a collision course, with Miller opposing Patrick's sworn blanket ban of THC products from Texas: htt...
Jan 13, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton has filed a second lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that they have far exceeded their stated limits on questionable content being made available to minors, and more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/01/09/texas-sues-tiktok-alleging-platform-is-dangerous-for-minors-enables-harmful-content/ ...The platform may not be available in the U.S. for much longer anyway, depending on how a hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court goes...
Jan 10, 2025•8 min
Senator Nathan Johnson of Dallas is a business attorney and music composer by trade, and has served the people of Senate District 16 since 2018, when he became the first Democrat to take that seat in decades - displacing since-perennial gubernatorial loser Don Huffines. Thanks for listening! Learn more about how you can support our important work at https://progresstexas.org/donate .
Jan 09, 2025•27 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Austin Chronicle has published a nice, multi-issue preview of the upcoming Legislature, set to begin next Tuesday: https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-01-10/with-trump-taking-office-the-texas-lege-is-unleashed/ Pro-Dustin Burrows GOP Rep. Cody Harris of East Texas has filed a complaint against Texas Republican Party Chair Abraham George over the party's plan to block the primary applications of Republicans who fail to back Party f...
Jan 09, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says his company is abandoning its efforts at fact-checking, and moving its content moderation operations to Texas - a move apparently meant to appease Donald Trump: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/07/texas-meta-content-moderators-fact-checking/ ...Texas also provides legal cover for social media platforms who prefer to allow falsehoods to spread without limit: https://www.wired.com/story/meta-elon-musks-lead-t...
Jan 08, 2025•7 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Republican Party Abraham George have started a tour of the state designed to intimidate GOP lawmakers into voting for Mansfield Rep. David Cook for Speaker next week: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/paxton-issues-warning-to-texas-house-republicans-in-bitter-speaker-battle/ Elon Musk and Tesla want to hog as much as 8 million gallons of water PER DAY for their new lithium refinery near Corpus Christi ...
Jan 07, 2025•8 min
Our series of conversations with Democratic lawmakers in Texas continues with State Representative Vikki Goodwin, who is set to begin her fourth term at the Capitol as the 89th Texas Legislature gets underway. Rep. Goodwin has represented parts of Austin, Bee Cave and the Lake Travis area since she flipped her seat from red to blue in 2018. During that time, she's been a strong advocate for progressive priorities regarding public schools, small businesses and health and public safety. Thanks for...
Jan 06, 2025•24 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Today's certification of the election of Donald Trump provides a surreal beginning to a troubling new era: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5066046-trump-insurrection-pardons-betrayal/ ...Even some Republicans in Congress, at least at this point, appear hesitant about the widespread January 6 pardons Trump has promised: https://apnews.com/article/trump-pardons-congress-capitol-riot-crimes-4443c672fc3b1492640684652647cde6 Navigating b...
Jan 06, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Despite right-wing attempts to drum up anti-immigrant fear over the New Orleans terror attack, the alleged perpetrator was a born and bred native of Texas: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/new-orleans-attacker-houston-ties-20010254.php Elon Musk's push for more foreign tech workers to be brought to the U.S. under H-1B work visas is not only counter to the MAGA base's virulent anti-immigrant tendencies, it wo...
Jan 03, 2025•8 min
Collin County Democratic State Rep. Mihaela Plesa - the only Romanian-American elected official in the country! - joins us for our continuing series with state lawmakers on the impending 2025 Lege. Rep. Plesa is one of the youngest elected lawmakers in Texas, and will be entering her second term in the Texas House after becoming the first Democrat to represent her district in decades - she's a Dallas native, known for her hard work in the areas of public education, public safety, heath care, sch...
Dec 30, 2024•27 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The passing of President Jimmy Carter at the age of 100 prompts a look back at his impact on Texas, where he remains the last Democrat to have carried the Lone Star State: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/29/texas-remembers-jimmy-carter/ Elected leaders of both parties in Texas extol Carter's legacy: https://www.fox7austin.com/video/1568906 More: https://www.kwtx.com/2024/12/29/texas-politicians-react-passing-former-us-president-jimmy-c...
Dec 30, 2024•8 min
Richardson State Rep. Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos is an educator and family law attorney by trade, but has served in the Texas House ever since she flipped a Republican-held seat in 2018. Since then she has a stalward progressive fighter at the Capitol, advocating for women's rights, LGBTQ+ equality, immigrants' rights, and much more. We welcome Rep. Rodriguez-Ramos back to the pod as part of our series of lawmakers' views on the upcoming Legislature. Thanks for listening! Learn more about how to ...
Dec 27, 2024•26 min
