Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Texas Showdown
Aired May 16, 2003 - 05:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Texas showdown. Those recalcitrant Democrats are now back in Austin.
With the story now, CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's live in the Texas state capital -- has the bus arrived, Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the law makers have left Oklahoma, or they left Oklahoma Thursday night and they are back in Austin officially. They crossed the border about 11:15 Central Time last night and they're making pretty good time because all of them are already back in Austin. They will be showing up here at the state capital later on this morning, where a big rally is scheduled here at the steps of the capitol to celebrate their return.
And it was a joyous occasion on board the bus as they were crossing the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other bus is not in sight?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Many of those Democrats declaring victory on this bus. They left Sunday night in the middle of the night to avoid voting on a redistricting bill that they say Republicans were trying to push through the state legislature here and they were declaring victory as they were driving home last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ELLIOT NAISHTAT (D), AUSTIN: It was a great trip. We accomplished everything we came up here to accomplish. And we got redistricting off the table. And now we can go back and deal with issues that we should have been dealing with already.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Now, the Texas House will reconvene this morning. They will have what's called a full quorum, which means all -- they'll have enough members to reconvene here this morning.
It's been very quiet on the Texas, on the House side of the Texas state capital all week. The only members that were -- all the members that were left behind, Republicans and just a handful of Democrats. All they've been able to do all week is meet in committee hearings for most of the week. So they say they're looking forward to getting back together, although one Democratic law maker that stayed behind says these Democrats are going to have to watch their backs and they should be grateful if their chairs are still on the House floor.
So a lot of angry Republicans still, although they're not sounding as angry as they were earlier this week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, I was just going to ask you about that. What's the Republican reception going to be like in the statehouse?
LAVANDERA: Well, we spoke the with Speaker of the House, Tom Craddick yesterday afternoon and he says that this isn't about retribution and that they have nothing to worry about, they just want everyone back so they can get some work done. There's several weeks left in this legislative session. But that one Democratic law maker that stayed behind told us, the guy had a chuckle in his voice as we told him that the Republicans said they didn't have anything to worry about. And this Democratic lawmaker said they would watch their backs.
COSTELLO: Oh, very interesting.
We'll check back with you throughout the morning.
LAVANDERA: You got it.
COSTELLO: Ed Lavandera live from Austin, Texas.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 16, 2003 - 05:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Texas showdown. Those recalcitrant Democrats are now back in Austin.
With the story now, CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's live in the Texas state capital -- has the bus arrived, Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the law makers have left Oklahoma, or they left Oklahoma Thursday night and they are back in Austin officially. They crossed the border about 11:15 Central Time last night and they're making pretty good time because all of them are already back in Austin. They will be showing up here at the state capital later on this morning, where a big rally is scheduled here at the steps of the capitol to celebrate their return.
And it was a joyous occasion on board the bus as they were crossing the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other bus is not in sight?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Many of those Democrats declaring victory on this bus. They left Sunday night in the middle of the night to avoid voting on a redistricting bill that they say Republicans were trying to push through the state legislature here and they were declaring victory as they were driving home last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ELLIOT NAISHTAT (D), AUSTIN: It was a great trip. We accomplished everything we came up here to accomplish. And we got redistricting off the table. And now we can go back and deal with issues that we should have been dealing with already.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Now, the Texas House will reconvene this morning. They will have what's called a full quorum, which means all -- they'll have enough members to reconvene here this morning.
It's been very quiet on the Texas, on the House side of the Texas state capital all week. The only members that were -- all the members that were left behind, Republicans and just a handful of Democrats. All they've been able to do all week is meet in committee hearings for most of the week. So they say they're looking forward to getting back together, although one Democratic law maker that stayed behind says these Democrats are going to have to watch their backs and they should be grateful if their chairs are still on the House floor.
So a lot of angry Republicans still, although they're not sounding as angry as they were earlier this week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, I was just going to ask you about that. What's the Republican reception going to be like in the statehouse?
LAVANDERA: Well, we spoke the with Speaker of the House, Tom Craddick yesterday afternoon and he says that this isn't about retribution and that they have nothing to worry about, they just want everyone back so they can get some work done. There's several weeks left in this legislative session. But that one Democratic law maker that stayed behind told us, the guy had a chuckle in his voice as we told him that the Republicans said they didn't have anything to worry about. And this Democratic lawmaker said they would watch their backs.
COSTELLO: Oh, very interesting.
We'll check back with you throughout the morning.
LAVANDERA: You got it.
COSTELLO: Ed Lavandera live from Austin, Texas.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
