[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11442]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               THE REST OF THE TEXAS REDISTRICTING STORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as Paul Harvey says in his radio 
broadcasts, Let us hear the rest of the story.
  My good friend from the State of Texas (Mr. Frost) from the 24th 
district has been expounding on potentially how unfair that particular 
redistricting plan that is pending before the Texas House is so I want 
to talk about the rest of the story.
  Back in 1980, the redistricting process was controlled by the 
Democratic legislature in Austin as it should have been because they 
were in the majority in both the Texas House and the Texas Senate. We 
did have a Republican Governor at that time. I believe Governor 
Clements . But the legislative process was dominated by the Democrats. 
And a map that was put out had 27 congressional districts in it. And I 
believe, I want to say four of them, four of the 27 elected 
Republicans, when all the dust had settled, in at least one of those 
districts was an upset; Congressman Jack Fields upset long-time 
incumbent Democrat Bob Eckhardt down along the Houston ship channel 
that was really drawn to be a Democratic district.
  So we had a situation where Republicans were packed and the citizens 
of Texas voted over 50 percent for Republican candidates. We had four 
out of 27 seats in that particular redistricting process.
  We rock along to 1990. In 1990 you had again a Democratic legislature 
and a Democratic Governor this time, and Texas gained three more seats; 
it went to 30 because of population growth. The next election about 55, 
56 percent of the voters of Texas voted for Republican candidates, but 
because of the lines that were drawn, nine Republicans got elected out 
of 30, 30 percent were elected Republicans when we were voting 57 
percent. That 27 percent Delta resulted in about nine congressional 
seats, electing Democrats that if you had a little bit more fairer 
lines would have elected Republicans.
  Now we cannot stand here and tell you today on the floor of the House 
of Representatives that some of those Democrats that got elected did 
not deserve to get elected.
  My good friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), a good aggie 
friend of mine, he won in the district that could have been marginally 
called at least a swing district, but he did a good job. My good 
friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall), my good friend, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), they are winning in districts that 
are drawn to be Republican districts; and they are just doing a better 
job or the Republican candidates just are not up to snuff. That is 
fair. There is nothing wrong with that.
  But when you have had two redistrictings done in 1980 and 1990 and it 
is obvious that the mapmakers, because they were controlled by one 
political party, which is fair, drew the districts to favor their 
party. And then we come along to the year 2002, and we elect a 
Republican House and a Republican Senate and a Republican Governor in 
Texas. And in the congressional elections we support 57 percent 
Republican candidates, and we still do not have over half the Congress 
seats, it is fair to say we should redraw the lines. And that is what 
the Texas legislature is trying to do right now.
  I would say it is trying to do it on a bipartisan basis. No one can 
tell me that Ron Wilson from Houston, Texas, an African American who is 
chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the Texas House is not a 
Democrat. And he is part of this process where State Representative 
Velma Luna, a Democrat, is helping to put this map together. So this is 
not a Tom DeLay map or a Joe Barton map or even a Tom Craddick map. It 
is a bipartisan map. It would elect two more Hispanics in all 
probability. It would elect probably one more African American; and in 
all probability, yes, it would elect more Republicans.
  Would it elect 57 percent of the delegation to be Republican? 
Probably not, because there are still going to be some Democratic 
incumbent Congressmen who just do a good job, and their constituents 
support the job they are doing, and they are going to elect them in the 
districts that are drawn to be Republican. I do not have any problem 
with that.
  But to stand here and say, as some Members have said before me, that 
what is happening in Austin is somehow unscrupulous or ill-towards or 
ill-founded is just not the case. We are simply trying to get the 
congressional districts to reflect the voting patterns of the State of 
Texas. And that is a good thing and not a bad thing.
  The legislators that are hiding out up in the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, 
Oklahoma, it may be good PR, and it may be funny; but it is not what 
they were elected to do.
  They were elected to go to Austin and participate in the legislative 
process, to win or lose based on where the votes are. I would remind my 
friends that when the Republicans were in the minority in 1980 where 
they did not have 50 Republicans in the legislature at that time, but 
certainly they did in 1990, they did not bug out. They got beat on the 
floor, but they stayed and fought. And I would hope later this evening 
or sometime tomorrow enough people come to form a quorum. If that does 
not happen, the likelihood is that some very good legislation is going 
to die, the reorganization of State government which would save 
hundreds of millions of dollars. The Governor will just call a special 
session, and we will do this in a special session.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman and I are friends, and 
we have worked together on a lot of issues and I thank you for 
yielding.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman's time has expired.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I will have 5 minutes and this is a 
time we might be able to exchange some ideas because I was there in 
1981 and 1991, and I would be glad to talk about it.

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