Convenience Big Store: A special session filled with political danger for Dade Phelan

All eyes on Phelan

Sure, the special session that starts on Monday is supposed to be primarily about schools.

But really, it is about Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan and how he navigates all of the tension that has come out of the House's failed attempt to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton.

As reporters Jasper Scherer and Cayla Harris pointed out, all eyes will be on the Beaumont Republican who will gavel in amid calls from the Republican Party of Texas for him to resign and just weeks after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who runs the Senate, ripped him publicly over his handling of the impeachment.

And Gov. Greg Abbott isn't quite sending him a softball by making the special session mainly about school vouchers, which has been dead-on-arrival in the Texas House for years, if not decades.

If Abbott's education savings account program goes up in flames, Phelan is sure to take a big part of the blame from GOP rivals who are out to end his career.

But is Phelan worried? He sure didn't sound like it when he spoke to KFDM-TV in Beaumont.

"I will put my record against anybody," Phelan said.

Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter

jeremy.wallace@houstonchronicle.com

Who's up, who's down

Up: Buoy Barrier opponents.

Talk about luck. When Gov. Greg Abbott appealed the lower court ruling aimed at forcing him to remove his buoy barriers from the Rio Grande, the case was headed to the normally pretty conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is loaded with Trump, Bush and Reagan appointees. But in the random assignment of three judges, the case got the only judge appointed by President Joe Biden and the only remaining judge appointed by President Jimmy Carter to go with a Trump appointee. That doesn't guarantee any ruling, but opponents of the barriers have to be feeling a lot better about their chances than if they had drawn three Trump appointees.

Down: Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, his office and the White House have been scrambling to explain why he quietly took action to speed up construction of border walls in Starr County when the administration had seemingly ended all border wall construction started under Trump. Biden told reporters later that they tried to get Congress to redesignate money for the 20 miles of wall in Starr County but failed, forcing them to finish the project.

What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.

What else is going on in Texas

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tours the U.S.-Mexico border at the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas, on May 23, 2022.

Photo by: Allison Dinner/AFP/TNS

Gov. Abbott calls special session on private school vouchers

The special session agenda is packed with GOP priorities but excludes bipartisan-supported teacher pay raises and public school funding hikes.

Barbara Gervin-Hawkins has authored a bill that will train kids as young as 8 to learn how to stop bleeding with tourniquets.

Photo by: Tom Reel, Staff / Staff Photographer

Gervin-Hawkins at odds with fellow Democrats over vouchers

The San Antonio lawmaker is signaling to Republicans that she's willing to back a voucher pilot program.

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, greets sheriffs from different counties in Florida before he delivered remarks at an event, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in Tampa, Fla.

Photo by: John Raoux, AP

Ron DeSantis sharpens his attacks on Donald Trump in Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is turning up the heat on frontrunner Donald Trump as he tries to also defend his struggling campaign.

Migrants heading north line up to take a boat, in Bajo Chiquito, Darien province, Panama, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia.

Photo by: Arnulfo Franco, AP

Biden is resuming deportation flights for Venezuelan migrants

The Biden administration is going to resume deporting migrants to Venezuela, two U.S. officials tell The Associated Press.

Pick of the day

Photo by: Jeremy Wallace

Biden explained he tried to stop funding for a 20-mile section of border wall in Starr County, but his hands are tied and his administration is having to finish the work.

What else I'm reading

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was in Mexico City pleading with asylum seekers to stop coming to his city which is struggling to handle the increasing numbers of migrants. CBS News New York was with him when he said: "I say to those who are pursuing the American Dream, it should not turn into a nightmare." Not sure Gov. Greg Abbott was trying to help, but he did post on social media that he's now bused more than 18,000 migrants to the Big Apple.