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Another big Tuberville loss
If you are a Texas Tech football fan, hearing U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville talk about losing a political game this week might have felt a little like 2011 when he was coaching the Red Raiders.
"We didn't get the win that we wanted," Tuberville said after he announced he had given up withholding military appointments for more than 400 soldiers over 10 months in his now failed attempt to make the Pentagon change its policies on reimbursing soldiers who travel out-of-state for an abortion.
But this loss might matter more than giving up 66 points to Oklahoma State at home as he did during his three mediocre seasons as coach. In this case, President Joe Biden is already seizing on Tuberville's disruption of soldiers' lives — including those in Texas — as another example of the dangers that extremism in the Republican Party can cause if they are given power in 2024.
"Senator Tuberville, and the Republicans who stood with him, needlessly hurt hundreds of service members and military families and threatened our national security — all to push a partisan agenda," Biden said in a statement on Tuesday. "I hope no one forgets what he did."
And then there was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Schumer, D-N.Y., reminding the public that for all of the damage Tuberville caused, he didn't even accomplish anything.
"The senior senator from Alabama has nothing to show for his 10 months of delay. No law is changing in any way," Schumer said.
Even his fellow Republicans weren't happy with Tuberville trying to hold military service members' promotions hostages to make a point. With 15 active military bases, Texas has seen some of the most impact from the delays as soldiers from San Antonio to Fort Cavazos have had promotions blocked.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told CNN: "When you have a policy dispute with any Cabinet within an administration, just don't suck the military into it. Go after the civilians who did it."
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's up, who's down
Up: Julián Castro.
The former San Antonio mayor announced on Wednesday he is becoming the new CEO of the San Francisco-based Latino Community Foundation, the nation's largest Latino-serving foundation. While a nonpartisan group, the role gives the Democrat who ran for president in 2020 a platform to remain relevant on national issues. But don't expect the Stanford University grad to pack up for California. He said he's not moving to California, but will travel to the state frequently.
Down: Liberal Democrats.
President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he is willing to make "significant compromises" on border policy if Republicans will support sending more aid to Ukraine — a position counter to what more liberal Democrats in Congress want. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, is among those who have been fighting GOP efforts to make it harder for asylum-seekers to make their claims in the U.S. "I support the defense of Ukraine, but hurting immigrant families simply cannot be a part of the deal," Casar said.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
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Pick of the day
That's the number of signatures far-right activists say they have collected to put an item on the GOP primary ballot in March asking Texans if they want to secede from the United States. More from reporter Cayla Harris here.
What else I'm reading
For a decade, Texas's white-tail deer population has been battling chronic wasting disease, a highly contagious, incurable illness that's decimated deer herds. When it is detected, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department requires that all the deer that may have been exposed are euthanized. That's what happened in the Texas Hill Country recently according to the Texas Standard. Reporter Michael Marks says scores of deer had to be put down because of an outbreak there.
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