Cruz, Cornyn join Senate Republicans in demanding border overhaul for Ukraine aid
Texas Republicans refuse to back continued aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without a major hardening of border security policy. Full Story
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Matthew Choi is a Washington correspondent for The Texas Tribune. He previously covered energy and climate policy at Politico, where he wrote the Morning Energy newsletter and covered campaign events as a breaking news reporter during the 2020 presidential election and the Mueller investigation. Before joining Politico, Matthew was a two-time reporting fellow at The Texas Tribune based in Austin, reporting on education, health care, immigration, guns, agriculture and land management. He graduated from Northwestern University where he studied journalism and political science and was managing editor of The Daily Northwestern. Matthew is a native of Northern Virginia and speaks both French and English. In his free time, Matthew enjoys cooking French country food while listening to Simon and Garfunkel.
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![U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27, 2018.]()
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Senate confirms Texas Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez to 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Ramirez is currently a U.S. magistrate judge for the Northern District of Texas, serving in that role for over two decades. Full Story
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![Irma Carrillo Ramirez, nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 17, 2023.]()
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John Cornyn and Ted Cruz walk out of U.S. Senate hearing as Democrats vote on Harlan Crow subpoena
The Texas Republicans opposed subpoenaing conservative donor Crow over his ties to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, casting it as a partisan attack. Full Story
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![U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz at a press conference on border security at the Anzalduas International Bridge in Mission on Jan. 10, 2019. The senators accompanied President Donald Trump on his trip to the southern border earlier in the day.]()
Credit: Courtney Sacco/Caller-Times via REUTERS -
Pat Fallon says he changed his mind about running for Texas Senate after pleas from his son and Mike Johnson
The second-term congressman pulled out of a run for Senate after both Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson courted him into their ranks. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman, during a U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability meeting in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 31, 2023.]()
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Texas Republicans divided on funding bill that would prevent a government shutdown
Thirteen Texas Republicans opposed the GOP-led legislation, which would keep the government funded as Congress negotiates federal appropriations. The bill passed after nearly all Democrats came to back it. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, speaks to reporters as he arrives for a House Republican caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C.]()
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Rep. Joaquin Castro warns of GOP’s adversarial rhetoric around Latino immigrants
Castro, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, has made improving discussion of Latinos and Latino issues in politics a focus of his time in office. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, poses for a portrait in his Rayburn House Office Building office, on Oct. 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C.]()
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U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul dismisses House GOP Israel package as going nowhere
The bill is among the first major legislative packages by House Speaker Mike Johnson and has faced criticism for tying the aid to a cut to the IRS. Full Story
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Longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth won’t seek reelection
The chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee has held her seat since 1997. She was the first Republican woman from Texas elected to the U.S. House. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, Committee Ranking Member, questions Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2022.]()
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Texas Republicans unite to elect Mike Johnson as U.S. House Speaker
All Texas Republicans in the U.S. House voted for Louisiana’s Mike Johnson to be speaker, ending a stalemate that has left the chamber leaderless for three weeks. Johnson is a deeply religious conservative who won the support of the party’s disparate factions. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-LA, speaks to reporters after securing the nomination for House speaker from the Republican conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 24, 2023.]()
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Texans Pete Sessions, Roger Williams both out in whirlwind day to pick U.S. speaker
Sessions dropped out of the race after a first round of voting within the Republican conference. Williams entered the race after the apparent front-runner, Tom Emmer of Minnesota, failed to reach the 217-vote threshold, but later on Tuesday evening and the Texas lawmaker was also out. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, and fellow House Republicans depart after a conference meeting where they held a secret ballot vote on whether to drop Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH, out of the race for House Speaker, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 20, 2023.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst