The Evening Brief: Sept. 24, 2013

Culled

•    Ted Cruz seizes Senate floor in failing quest (Politico): "Ted Cruz seized control of the Senate floor on Tuesday at about 2:42 p.m., vowing to 'speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand.' But Cruz cannot stop a Senate now in motion from eventually returning a clean continuing resolution to the House scant days before a government shutdown is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1. Under Senate rules, the latest the upper chamber will take the first procedural vote on a House spending bill that defunds Obamacare is 1 p.m. on Wednesday — a reality Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) broadcast to the world on Tuesday morning when he opened the Senate."

•    In Funding Fight, Senate Republicans Back Away From Cruz (The New York Times): "Many Senate Republicans on Tuesday abandoned their colleague, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, in his tangled procedural fight over funding the government even as he took to the Senate floor and declared he would speak 'until I cannot stand' to rally voters against the new health care law. While the Senate appeared increasingly likely to override Mr. Cruz in a preliminary vote scheduled for Wednesday, Mr. Cruz pressed ahead with his opposition and compared his fight to leaders who stood against the Nazis, ended the cold war or launched the American Revolution."

•    Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples says next lieutenant governor should be willing to work long hours (The Dallas Morning News): "Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said Tuesday the next lieutenant governor should be an 'active' conservative willing to spend long hours in the Legislature. 'When big bills are on the floor in the Texas Senate I’m going to be there,' Staples told the Greater Dallas Pachyderm Club. 'I’m not going to be eating out with lobbyists in Austin when legislation needs to be passed.'"

New in The Texas Tribune

•    Judge Ken Anderson Resigns Amid Ethics Lawsuit: "Williamson County state district Judge Ken Anderson, who oversaw the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Morton in 1987, has submitted a letter to Gov. Rick Perry resigning his position effective immediately."

•    DPS to Roll Out Mobile Stations to Process Free Voter IDs: "The Texas Department of Public Safety announced on Tuesday that 25 mobile locations will begin processing free election identification certificates on Oct. 1."

•    Survey: Most Texans Believe in Global Warming: "About 70 percent of Texans believe in global warming, but many are unconvinced that humans are to blame for the phenomenon, if it is happening."

•    TCEQ Approves Permit for Big North Texas Reservoir: "The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has approved the permit for construction of North Texas' Lake Ralph Hall, the first major new reservoir built in the state in decades."