A group of Republican Texas House members and hopefuls have issued a list of demands for the next speaker of the House. The open letter, called “Contract for Texas,” was signed by nearly two dozen and serves as something of a repudiation of Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, the Texas Tribune reports.
Of note, the letter calls for the end of assigning Democrats to chair House committees. Phelan appointed Democrats to chair eight of the 34 committees last session.
“A group of 23 members or candidates, who have won primaries oor in runoffs, are pushing a contract in which they call for a lot of changes in the way the House is run, including allowing all GOP priority bills to be reviewed on the House floor before any Democrat bills get voted on,” said Matthew Watkins, managing editor for news and politics at the Texas Tribune.
The list also includes barring the speaker of the House from using political funds to support candidates.
“Dade Phelan is the speaker of the House, and he used a lot of campaign money to support other House incumbents to continue their race,” Watkins said.
Phelan will face GOP challenger David Covey in a runoff election scheduled for May 28.
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