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CNN Live At Daybreak

Texas Democratic Lawmakers Back in Austin

Aired May 16, 2003 - 06:35   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: They're back. Those renegade Texas lawmakers have arrived in Austin. They were on a bus from Oklahoma.
Ed Lavandera live in Austin right now.

Good morning -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm pretty good. I know they've arrived, but they're not at the state house just yet.

LAVANDERA: Well, they arrived about an hour-and-a-half ago, coming here on the buses. They crossed the state lines from Oklahoma into Texas a little after 11:00 Central Time, Thursday night, and they made their way back here, arriving about an hour-and-a-half ago.

We're told they're probably going to go back home, freshen up a little bit, and there is a big rally scheduled here for 7:00 Central Time, where many Democrats from across the state. A couple of hundred of people, we're told, to be expected to show up here at the capital and to declare victory.

These Democrats headed north to avoid allowing the Republicans to pass a restricting bill through the Texas legislature. They say this was their only way of blocking this measure from passing through the House, and they are declaring victory this morning.

(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 all week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Exactly how they deal with those issues is going to be another question.

One Democratic lawmaker that didn't make the trip up north to Oklahoma says that his fellow Democrats should be watching their backs in the next couple of weeks. There are a couple of weeks left in this legislative session.

And Republicans are very angry, because they say that this political stunt has cost the future of some 500 bills they say were killed because the Democrats didn't show up to work this week, costing the state anywhere between $600 and $700 million in revenue. So, they're very angry about that. And if they're expecting any kind of help on their own legislation to pass in the next couple of weeks, at least this one Democratic lawmaker that talked to us yesterday said don't expect them to get any help. So, he told them to watch their backs -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, I'll bet. Ed Lavandera live from Austin this morning. Many thanks.

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 - 06:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They're back. Those renegade Texas lawmakers have arrived in Austin. They were on a bus from Oklahoma.
Ed Lavandera live in Austin right now.

Good morning -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm pretty good. I know they've arrived, but they're not at the state house just yet.

LAVANDERA: Well, they arrived about an hour-and-a-half ago, coming here on the buses. They crossed the state lines from Oklahoma into Texas a little after 11:00 Central Time, Thursday night, and they made their way back here, arriving about an hour-and-a-half ago.

We're told they're probably going to go back home, freshen up a little bit, and there is a big rally scheduled here for 7:00 Central Time, where many Democrats from across the state. A couple of hundred of people, we're told, to be expected to show up here at the capital and to declare victory.

These Democrats headed north to avoid allowing the Republicans to pass a restricting bill through the Texas legislature. They say this was their only way of blocking this measure from passing through the House, and they are declaring victory this morning.

(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 all week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Exactly how they deal with those issues is going to be another question.

One Democratic lawmaker that didn't make the trip up north to Oklahoma says that his fellow Democrats should be watching their backs in the next couple of weeks. There are a couple of weeks left in this legislative session.

And Republicans are very angry, because they say that this political stunt has cost the future of some 500 bills they say were killed because the Democrats didn't show up to work this week, costing the state anywhere between $600 and $700 million in revenue. So, they're very angry about that. And if they're expecting any kind of help on their own legislation to pass in the next couple of weeks, at least this one Democratic lawmaker that talked to us yesterday said don't expect them to get any help. So, he told them to watch their backs -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, I'll bet. Ed Lavandera live from Austin this morning. Many thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.