In the News

Lizzie Fletcher wants Congress to stop giving away its power to Trump

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U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher is tired of Congress not doing its job. The Houston Democrat said she knows Republicans are in the majority and get to call all the shots, but she’s alarmed that her GOP colleagues are not standing up more when the White House chips away at the powers that are spelled out for them in the U.S. Constitution. More specifically, she said the U.S. Constitution…

Court blocks GOP-friendly congressional map in Texas

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In a stinging setback for President Donald Trump and Republicans, a federal court on Tuesday blocked a newly drawn congressional map in Texas that would have given the party an edge in winning five more House seats. In a 2-1 ruling, a judicial panel issued a temporary order stopping the new map from taking effect and found the state had to instead use the map it drew in 2021. The…

Texas appeals ruling that Trump-urged voting map is racial gerrymandering

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has quickly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling that the redistricting passed by lawmakers at the urging of President Trump was based on racial gerrymandering. "Any claim that these maps are discriminatory is absurd and unsupported by the testimony offered during ten days of hearings," Abbott, a Republican, said in a statement. "This ruling is clearly…

Texas leaders react to state map ruling: Talarico cheers, Paxton vows appeal

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The newly redrawn congressional map touted by Texas Republicans, which would have laid the groundwork for the party to pick up at least five new seats in the 2026 midterm election, was blocked Tuesday by a panel of three judges in El Paso. The judges said the new map violated the U.S. Constitution because it was drawn based on race. The ruling means Texas will be required to use the…

Federal judges block Texas from using its new US House map in the 2026 midterms

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A panel of three federal judges has ruled that Texas cannot use a new congressional map drawn by Republicans in hopes of securing the party additional U.S. House seats, blocking the map from taking effect ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he plans on filing an appeal. The 2-1 ruling followed a nearly two-week trial in El Paso. The court's…

Was the Vote to End Shutdown a Compromise or Surrender?

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Fort Bend County resident Koretta Brown desperately wanted the federal government shutdown to end but she didn’t want it to come at the expense of affordable healthcare for her senior citizen parents and millions of other Americans.  Brown got good news and bad news last week.  The U.S. House voted 222-209 on the evening…

SNAP Program Lingers in Uncertainty

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A federal judge ruled recently that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has to provide, at the very least, partial benefits to food stamp recipients in November, but single moms like Hillary Randall who are dependent on government assistance say the only notification they’ve received is that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is monitoring the situation. Randall told the…

Food Access Halted for SNAP Recipients

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Employed single mothers who make less than $41,000 per year rely on about $400 a month in government assistance to feed their children. But as the federal government shutdown closes in on the one-month mark, hundreds of thousands of families in Harris County and the surrounding area won’t be able to get groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Anticipating a…

Houston families brace for impact as government shutdown threatens SNAP benefits

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The federal government shutdown has entered its fourth week with no deal in sight, and the effects are hitting home for millions of Texans who rely on SNAP benefits to buy groceries. If Congress doesn’t strike a funding agreement by the end of the day, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could run out of money to load November benefits — a situation that would impact…