[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 14, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H4120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2030
                     GOP RUNS ROUGHSHOD OVER TEXAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida.) Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bell) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, I would first like to take this opportunity, 
because I did not get an opportunity to do so before, to thank several 
individuals for standing strong in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Representatives 
Garnett Coleman, Senfronia Thompson, Joe Deshotel, Joe Moreno, Scott 
Hochberg, Jessica Farrar, Rick Noriega, and Dora Olivo. I just want you 
to know that the people of Texas are with you, and we are thinking of 
you here in Washington, D.C.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards).
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to review after this hour-long 
debate we have just finished why virtually every major newspaper in 
Texas is editorialized in saying that ``what Mr. DeLay is trying to do 
in forcing a partisan redistricting plan down the throats of 20 million 
Texas citizens is wrong.''
  First they admit and say that what he does diverts the legislature's 
attention from huge problems facing Texas. A $10 billion deficit, 
hundreds of thousands of children being thrown off the CHIPs health 
care program, school finance, it is important to parents all across our 
State. The editorials are right; the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) 
is wrong.
  The secret back-room deals that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) 
and Texas Speaker Tom Craddick would rip apart historic communities of 
interest, and they have orchestrated a process that only the Keystone 
Cops could admire and have drawn a bizarre map that would give modern 
art a bad name.
  Let me be specific. First the process. Texas Republican legislators 
refused to have hearings across Texas, thus violating the legislature's 
own 2001 guidelines for seeking broad Texas citizen input into 
something as important as congressional redistricting. Finally, the one 
hearing they did have was in the Texas capital, but you know what? It 
started about 9 p.m. on Friday night a few weeks ago, did not finish 
until 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, with some of the capitol doors 
locking Texas citizens out of those hearings in the dark of the night.
  Now, the Texas House redistricting committee then started playing the 
old rope-a-dope game coming up with new plans almost daily, kind of a 
map du jour to confuse Texas citizens so they would not know which maps 
were seriously being considered. And, even worse, the House committee 
chairman had the gall to say that he did not want to have hearings in 
south Texas because he could not understand Spanish. What a rather 
crude insult to the millions of Hispanic English-speaking citizens of 
south Texas.
  Finally, the Mother's Day massacre plan. Last Sunday, while Texans, 
including myself, were honoring our families and our mothers, the 
forces of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) had a different idea 
that day. They concocted a map for Texas congressional redistricting 
that no one had ever seen, not a single Texas elected mayor, city 
councilman, school board member, not any of the 20 million of Texas 
citizens. Their plan was slick. It was at 10 a.m. the next morning, 
this past Monday morning, less than 24 hours after that map was put on 
one Website with no press announcements, they were going to shove that 
map down the throats of the Texas House.
  I admire Representative Jim Dunnam and John Mabry from Waco, because 
had they not stood up and broken that quorum, the people of central 
Texas and our historic rural central Texas district would have been 
devastated: one district carved into four congressional districts 
stretching from Fort Worth to the suburbs of Houston to San Antonio.
  The process has been wrong, the map is wrong, and I admire these 
Texas profiles in courage for saying 20 million Texas citizens should 
not be shut out of having their voices heard when it comes to shaping 
the future of their communities for decades to come.
  Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Sandlin).
  Mr. SANDLIN. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to say thank you to all 
of my Texas colleagues who joined us tonight. This has been a wonderful 
debate and examination of the issues.
  Mr. Speaker, the glorious history of Texas records many brave events 
like the Battle of Goliad and the Alamo. But the most important of all 
is the Battle of San Jacinto where General Sam Houston picked his 
battlefield, surprised his enemy, and prevailed for the people.
  Today that battlefield is Ardmore, Oklahoma, where over 50 
representatives are fighting for the rights of their constituents. They 
have clearly surprised the enemy and, God willing, those 50 for Texas 
will prevail for the people of our great State.

                          ____________________