Rep. Van Duyne: Fleeing Texas Dems Chose 'Tyranny Over Local Control'

Texas Democrats who fled the state Capitol to break a quorum in a special session addressing election integrity legislation "would rather choose tyranny over local control," Rep. Beth Van Duyne said Tuesday. 

"I'm looking at them surrendering Texas to D.C. in our election, because they don't want to do their job," the Texas Republican said on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." "To not do your job, to take off and hide behind (President Joe) Biden or Vice President (Kamala) Harris up in D.C., it's a dereliction of duty. They are completely ignoring their responsibilities and their promise and commitment to their voters and their constituents."

The Texas Democrats, rather than voting, went to Washington to push Congress and Biden to pass federal election laws. The president is planning an address about election law in Philadelphia on Tuesday. 

"The state of Texas is responsible for coming up with election laws," said Van Duyne. "If you talk to voters in the state, 24 will tell you they have concerns, they're very thankful that legislators have taken it up on this session, that they're looking at ways of improving especially after last year when so many questions came up."

Meanwhile, Democrats in the U.S. Congress, with the H.R. 1 bill, are "basically trying to take over and federalize all of our elections across all the states, which means having D.C. decide how every single state votes," said Van Duyne. 

"What they're trying to do in Texas, what they're trying to do in states across the country is take into account changes that were made over the last year, changes in mail-in ballots, changes in time of opening, making sure you have people who are supposed to be at the polls voting that it's actually them, looking at voter ID laws," she added. "(They're) responding to issues constituents brought forward, making sure that every vote counts, that people have access to the polls but we actually have legal votes."

And that, she said, is "exactly what the state legislators' jobs are supposed to be, making sure people have access. We're also making sure that people who have died or who have moved are not voting, are not voting multiple times, and that folks who are supposed to be at the polling locations are able to get there."

Texas' proposed law also ensures that votes aren't counted twice, that they're legitimate, and that people can trust in the election process, said Van Duyne. 

She also discussed the ongoing talks for an infrastructure package and said that the calls from people like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for even more money and higher taxes are not what should be happening as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic and opens the economy. 

"This is the opposite of what we should be doing right now, talking about massive increases in corporate tax rates and capital gains and massive inflation," said Van Duyne. "You can see some areas in the country where gas has more than doubled in price. You can look at lumber, it has gone up 300, 500%. Meat, everything is going up right now, everybody is feeling the pain. At the same time, my Democrats on the other side of the aisle don't seem to understand that we can't take on this massive debt."

Infrastructure is important and must be maintained, but the Democrats' bill will result in "massive inflation" that could actually hinder, rather than help, new roads being built and bridges being fixed, she added. 

"Republicans, we offered a number of different plans," Van Duyne said. "We're looking at solutions, looking as we open up the economy, looking at jobs, looking at infrastructure seriously. We're being completely ignored by far-left extremists like Bernie Sanders."

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