Photo: iStockphoto
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows has once again outraged conservatives by blocking a number of conservative amendments to House Bill 2249, which creates a new taxpayer-funded scholarship for students pursuing a teaching certification in Texas.
The scholarships would amount to $40,000 per person, and thanks to the efforts of Speaker Burrows, there are some key protections for those taxpayer dollars that won’t be included in the bill.
State Representative Steve Toth (R-HD15) was on the floor when the amendments were killed. Among the proposed changes were, "Amendments saying that you had to be an American citizen in order to get this scholarship, or you couldn’t be involved in a violent protest where kids were hurt, or private property was destroyed in the name of Palestine."
According to Toth, this is just the latest of many moves that Burrows has made in order to appease the House Democrats, who, along with around 23 Republicans, voted to make him the speaker.
Toth went on to say that, "The Texas House is a transactional institution. Dustin Burrows knows that the only way he can hold on to that gavel is to keep the Democrats happy."
That’s something Burrows has been working overtime trying to do. So much so, in fact, that Toth says he might be a worse Speaker for Republicans than Dade Phelan was. He said, "This is far worse. Phelan at least let the conservatives pass some conservative legislation. Burrows is killing all of it."
He added that he’s shocked at how bad Dustin Burrows has been, pointing to Burrows’ somewhat conservative record in years past. The question now is, have Republicans in Texas finally had enough of this behavior from their elected leaders? Toth thinks the answer is yes.