[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11446-11447]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           TEXAS LEGISLATURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague and good friend, 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), was here a few minutes earlier. 
I was hoping to have a good exchange on either his time or my time on 
the issue of redistricting.
  I know a lot of people nationwide, maybe even in Texas, wonder why it 
is such a big issue. I guess to start with this is the first time in 50 
years that we know of, in at least 50 years, that there has been a 
reopening of redistricting based simply on partisan purposes after the 
census has come out. Typically, in my experience in the Texas 
legislature, in 1981 as a State legislator and in 1991 as a State 
Senator, we did not want restricting bills on the floor of the Senate 
or the House because it was so divisive. But again, here in 2003, we 
are getting ready to do it again in Texas.
  This is setting a standard not only for Texas but for the Nation that 
I think we should take a step back and look at. I think it is wrong. 
Again, whether it is Democrats or Republicans doing it, I think it is 
wrong. It just happens that in Texas it is the Republicans that are 
reopening this in 2003. We could see the same things happening in 
States that are controlled by Democrats. I do not think it is good 
public policy.
  The problem we have, particularly with what has happened in the State 
capital, is that there were no public hearings outside our State 
capital. In 1981 and 1991 in Texas we had redistricting hearings all 
over the State. I participated in them, particularly in 1991 as a State 
Senator because I was on the subcommittee of the committee of the whole 
of the State Senate to hear that testimony outside of the State 
capital; to hear from people in the neighborhoods who could not go to 
Austin. That helped to draw a plan, which I think has caused the 
problem with the one they are considering now and why we are seeing 53 
members of the Texas House leave the State to break the quorum.
  This plan divides communities, it divides an urban area in Harris 
County, City of Houston, and it spreads it almost throughout the State. 
It runs the district from Houston to Austin and Houston to east Texas, 
from Houston to Beaumont, Port Arthur. And maybe if they would have had 
these public hearings, they would have realized that you do not split 
those communities.
  But I am here in support of those 50-plus Democratic members of the 
Texas House who I consider Texas heroes who have put their political 
lives on the line to ensure that the rights of all Texans remain 
intact. I want to personally thank the State representatives in my 
area, Rick Noriega, Jessica Farrar, Joe Moreno, Senfronia Thompson, and 
Kevin Bailey, along with many other State representatives, Pete Gallego 
from west Texas, Richard Raymond from south Texas, and too many that we 
cannot name here in 5 minutes.
  Let me talk a little about the tradition of breaking a quorum in a 
legislative body. In Congress it is something we do not do because our 
quorum requirements are a majority. But in State legislatures, 
particularly in Texas, it has been almost a tradition. In 1979, the 
State Senate broke the quorum because of an election bill that was 
being considered. In 1981, when I was a House member, we tried to break 
the quorum after midnight on a Saturday night on a congressional 
redistricting bill. We were not nearly as organized as these folks 
because we only slowed it down for about 3 hours and members of the 
Statehouse were found in closets and air vents and everything else in 
the State capital.
  But breaking the quorum is not a new legislative tool. In fact, 
Abraham Lincoln participated in an attempt to

[[Page 11447]]

break quorums in 1840 during one of his terms in Illinois' House of 
Representatives.

                              {time}  1800

  On one of those days, Democrats wanted a quorum, the Whigs at that 
time, the predecessors to our Republicans, did not, so the Democrats 
locked the doors to the House to keep the Members inside the Chamber. 
Lincoln and two of his fellow Whigs jumped out the window to avoid 
being locked inside, but their efforts failed, mainly for procedures, 
because it seemed they had already voted for a motion to adjourn, and 
in doing so they helped make that quorum which they were trying to 
break in their hasty departure. Even a former President and a 
Republican President tried to break a quorum in 1840, so that is a 
history.
  These Members of the Texas Legislature, like I said, who are doing 
this have a tradition in Texas of using every legislative vehicle for 
their issues and their concerns. Obviously this redistricting map is 
the most god-awful-looking map I have ever seen, and, again, having 
been involved for many years as a State legislator.
  In a letter to the Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, these 
legislators who are currently living very high in a Holiday Inn and 
eating at Denny's in Oklahoma said, ``We love the house and take 
seriously our responsibility to serve our constituents and protect 
their best interests in the legislature. Our actions fall entirely 
within house rules. While disappointed that we were forced to break a 
quorum, our decision was driven by our solemn duty to fight for and 
protect the rights and interests of those who we were elected to serve 
in the legislature.''

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