Texas House, Senate reach deal on permitless carry of handguns but offer no details about the bill
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican lawmakers announced Friday they reached agreement over a bill to let people carry handguns in public without a license or training. But what’s in it is anyone’s guess.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, and state Rep. Matt Schaefer, who authored the bill, issued celebratory statements Friday, while offering up no details of what is in the final version. The contents will likely become public incoming days.
The compromise clears the path to Texas becoming the latest state to lift gun permitting rules, despite opposition from members of law enforcement.
“By working together, the House and Senate will send Gov. Abbott the strongest Second Amendment legislation in Texas history,and protect the right of law-abiding Texans to carry a handgun as they exercise their God-given right to self- defense andthe defense of their families,” Schaefer, a Tyler Republican, said in a statement.
The House and Senate passed different versions of permitless carry and had to hash out their differences in a conference committee.The final version of House Bill 1927 still needs a vote in the House and Senate before it can go to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott,who has said he would sign it. The 2021 legislative session ends May 31.
—The Dallas Morning News
Biden cuts infrastructure plan price tag to $1.7 trillion in bid to secure deal with Senate GOP
White House negotiators presented Republican senators on Friday with a watered-down version of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan that would cost $1.7 trillion instead of the original $2.3 trillion, as the two sides seek to lock in a compromise on the massive spending bill.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters the counteroffer from the Biden team cuts out some proposed funding for infrastructure-related research and development efforts, manufacturing and small businesses and shifts that over to other spending measures under consideration by Congress.
The updated blueprint also lowers the proposed pots of cash for expanding broadband access and repairing roads, bridges and other physical infrastructure to more closely align with price tags floated by a group of moderate Republicans led by West Virginia Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, Psaki said.
“In our view, this is the art of seeking common ground,” Psaki said.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Biden’s chief negotiators in the infrastructure talks, unveiled the counteroffer during a meeting with the Republicans on Friday afternoon, according to the White House.
The Republicans did not immediately respond to the adjusted infrastructure proposal.
—New York Daily News
Ammon Bundy files paperwork to run for Idaho governor as Republican
BOISE, Idaho — Ammon Bundy, a far-right activist who legally can’t step on Idaho Capitol grounds or be in the building, is running for governor, according to a filing with the Idaho secretary of state.
Bundy on Friday filed paperwork needed to collect donations to campaign in the governor’s race. He enters an already crowded race of Republican candidates, including Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. Gov. Brad Little has not officially announced a run for reelection.
Bundy, of Emmett, was arrested twice last month in two hours on misdemeanor trespassing charges at the Statehouse building.Last August, he was barred from the Capitol grounds for one year and prohibited from coming to the public areas of the building.
He was arrested during the special session in August, during which he and others refused to move out of reserved press corps seats at a meeting. He was taken to the Ada County Jail twice in a 24-hour span after the arrests at the Capitol, and has been arrested at least three other times since then.
Bundy is a frequent protester of mask mandates and other health-safety measures taken during the coronavirus pandemic. He refused to wear a mask at an Emmett High School football game. Several people at the time called in 911 threats, and school officials in Caldwell, where the game was being held, canceled it at halftime. After that, the Caldwell School District trustees voted to ban him from district grounds until the end of this school year.
Bundy also supported an unsuccessful effort to recall Little after the governor issued a stay-at-home order last year in response to the pandemic.
Bundy is known for his anti-government views and for the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon that left one of his cohorts dead.
—Idaho Statesman
Myanmar junta to dissolve Suu Kyi’s political party, report says
Myanmar’s junta-appointed election authorities will dissolve the political party of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a local news outlet reported, all but ensuring the army and its proxies will win an election planned for next year.
Thein Soe, chair of the Union Election Commission, said Friday the National League for Democracy would be dissolved due to allegations of fraud during last year’s election and its leaders would be prosecuted as traitors, local news outlet Myanmar Now reported. The NLD won a landslide in the vote, which was deemed credible by international observers.
Suu Kyi, who has been confined to her home since the Feb. 1 coup, has been formally charged with six criminal offenses including incitement and violating the Official Secrets Act.
The announcement comes one day after reports emerged that the junta in February lifted the mandatory retirement age of 65for its leaders, according the Irrawaddy. That would allow army chief Min Aung Hlaing, 64, to continue in his post. He now serves as chairman of the State Administration Council formed during the coup, making him Myanmar’s de facto leader.
Any move to disband Suu Kyi’s political party would show further defiance to the U.S. and its allies, Europe and even Southeast Asian neighbors that have tried to broker a dialogue with opposition groups. Security forces have killed more than 800 protesters and arrested more than 5,300, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Following the coup, the army pledged to hold fresh elections following a state of emergency that could last as long as two years. Western governments have imposed sanctions on top military leaders and their families in response to the junta’s takeover.
—Bloomberg News
