In the July 26 episode, Republican Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne explains why she calls a vote to end the Iran War a “messaging bill” and why she supports providing $73 billion more in funding to help continue the conflict. Dallas Council Member Paula Blackmon reveals how much revenue the naming rights for the new convention center might provide Dallas and why she’s not ready to get rid of the current namesake. And Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis tells us exactly how large the county deficit is and why it will lead to some dramatic cost cutting measures.
00:00:03.280 — 00:00:58.400
Straight ahead. On Inside Texas Politics, Representative Beth Van Dyne, the Republican congresswoman, explains why she voted against a resolution that passed the GOP controlled House to end military action in Iran. Her thoughts on Iran's ability to launch attacks on American troops and oil tankers after President Trump claim we've destroyed their military, they can't fight back.
Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis described some of the tough cuts on the table to close a deficit that could reach $180 million, and next year, the county's budget could top 3 billion for the first time. And Dallas City Council member Paula Blackman, where she stands now as the city manager, prepares to deliver relocation options for City Hall and how much Dallas could make from selling naming rights to its new convention center downtown.
00:01:01.880 — 00:01:05.560
Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely starts now.
00:01:07.160 — 00:07:13.390
Thank you for joining us. I'm Chris Lawrence in for Jason Whitely. Want to start with your top headlines here in Texas. Residents are revolting against data centers in their communities. And now developers are pushing back with ads of their own. It could be a wedge issue in the midterms and complicate Governor Abbott's plan to make Texas the epicenter of AI.
It's sure to be a huge issue facing Texas lawmakers during the next legislative session. A district in West Texas plans to sue the state over how it funds public schools. Midland ISD says the legislature's restrictions stop them from raising and spending money to meet their students needs. This is the first legal challenge to the state's Robin Hood school finance system in a decade, and the war with Iran hits home.
The remains of Private Isabella Gonzalez were returned to U.S. soil this week in a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base. Gonzalez was killed in an Iranian attack on an air base in Jordan, and the young soldiers hometown of Carrollton is now planning a permanent memorial in her honor. This week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified the war has cost nearly $38 billion, and the House narrowly passed a new spending package that allocates up to $73 billion for the war and national defense.
Every Texas Republican voted in favor of that resolution, including the congresswoman who represents Private Gonzales district stretching from Keller to Coppell, in part of Dallas County. We are joined by Congresswoman Beth Van Dyne and Congresswoman. Within the past hour of our conversation.
The House narrowly passed a resolution to discontinue U.S. military action in Iran. Why did you vote against that resolution And does it signal some eroding support for the war? Well, it was. It was. It was more of a messaging bill. It's not going to actually prevent that from happening. It was a messaging bill pulled on by our Democrat colleagues, who don't seem to understand the threat that we're facing right now in Iran.
The fact is, is that the IRGC is a radical Islamist group that that has, you know, claimed war on the US almost 50 years ago and whose goal is to end destroy America. This is a group that has posed a threat to us around the world. Is is currently, uh, you know, lobbying missiles at our American defense forces in the Middle East.
Uh, we are going to be, uh, you know, recognizing a moment of silence on our floor today, uh, to out of respect for the four service members, including a 19 year old woman from Carrollton who was killed in a blast from the Iranian regime into Jordan just last week. So we are going to continue to support this, this, this escalation until until the end.
Recognizing the fact that you have a regime that wants to destroy us has been doing it for the last 47 years through various terrorist, terrorist activities across the globe. And we need to make sure that this is a country that never gets nuclear weapons, that's ballistic missiles are taken out and doesn't have the ability to hold the planet hostage by preventing energy and ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
Are you comfortable with the cost of the war so far? Again, this is this is a war long term that needed to be, uh, that needed to be fought in order to be able to prevent further deaths. Uh, you know, this peace through strength, effort only matters if you are willing to show strength when it is important. I believe that happened.
Too many presidents have said that their goal is to try to end the Iranian regime, to end the terrorist activities that we've seen, but then they went flaccid at the end and didn't do anything about it. You finally have an administration that is willing to punch the bully, which is Iran in the IRGC. My goal, my goal is to make sure that that happens as quickly as possible, that we are able to get our, our, our men and women out of harm's way by preventing, you know, the nuclear capabilities of Iran.
But I, along with most people, we don't want to see this, this escalate further, and we would like to see it end much sooner than later. You mentioned Private Isabella Gonzalez, who is from, uh, North Texas, in in your district. I had a question. Uh, her death, the ability of Iran to specifically target areas where American troops are living and sleeping.
Are you worried that their strength in that area has not been downgraded? And more American troops will continue to be put at risk. I think this puts an exclamation point into why this is a dangerous regime that has to be stopped. Exactly your point. They have been denying having these weapons. We know that this is a regime that lies over and over again, the very IRGC that we're trying to negotiate a cease fire with that has time and time and again abused.
That cease fire is the same group that we are trying to negotiate. The fact is that they're not doing it in good faith. They are buying their time, and they're going to try to do as much damage on their way out as possible. We've got to prevent that. But we don't want to see any further deaths. But this is a group that has to be stopped by by the means that the US has.
We have the ability we need to be able to have the strength and the backbone to complete the mission. And it was actually it was President Trump who declared that Iran, they had destroyed Iran's ability to target U.S. troops in the region. Was he mistaken? Again, I think what you're seeing is this is a regime that continues to lie about its capabilities, which is why we need to get eyes on the ground and to make sure that that they do not have the capabilities to be able to do that, because they're going to continue as long as they do to try to target Americans.
Congresswoman Beth Van Dyne, thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Take care.
00:07:15.430 — 00:10:43.800
All right. Let us bring in the roundtable to talk about the politics of all this. We have Abby Livingston, contributor with Puck News. We have Natalie Hadad, our political reporter here at WFAA, and Ashley Goudeau, who is a political director at Kvue down in Austin. Abby, we're about 100 days out from the midterms.
Even some Republicans seem a bit apprehensive about the war not winding down. How is it playing out in campaigns across the country? Well, we are absolutely in the homestretch, and that is becoming a big problem with regard to this war, because it has driven up gasoline prices and there's not much time, even if there's some kind of resolution for that to come down.
And additionally, as we just saw with the interview with Congresswoman Van Dyne, we are now getting into the point where there are American casualties. And so individual members of Congress are now having to answer questions to justify this military action. And it's it's it seems like given that the president wants to, at this point in time, escalate, we're going to see more of that.
And, Natalie, every Texas Republican voted for this, this new spending package. But given Republicans dominance here in Texas, how do you think it will impact or play out here in the midterms? You know, Texas has a large population and active service military population. And so I think those questions you have, Chris, are going to resonate here, perhaps more than in other areas.
I think politically, Republicans are really trying to weigh how they fully support President Trump and in this war and funding it, while also dealing with the fact that we have lost at least one Texan in this war. And how do they balance that? How is that going to affect how people vote for them in the midterms if they are up for election?
I think we are going to see how this plays out later in the year more than anything. And actually, what about the Democrats? Because we've all seen these conflicts can take very drastic turns on a dime. Is there a risk to to Democrats to being painted as, as sort of leaving the troops on, you know, underfunded in the middle of a conflict?
Yeah. No, I don't see that happening. I think the reality is, is the Republicans are in control of both chambers. Right. And so if more money is needed, they're going to get more money. But you can't expect the Democrats to be on board. But the conflict that Congress has not voted to continue and has no real say in other than give us some money, I don't think people at home are paying attention to who voted to give the troops money and who didn't.
They just know that they don't want to be involved in all of this. And it goes against what Republicans have said, which is we're going to focus on what's going on here at home, not necessarily what's going on in the rest of the world. All right. And when you look at this, actually just real quick, uh, when you look at this particular issue, uh, is it the, the run up in prices, is it the, the soldier's death?
What what about it do you think will have the most impact when it comes to people going to the polls? I think if we continue to see more American casualties, that 100% is going to have an effect. But I think a lot of people at home are worried about their bottom lines, what they can afford to do and can't afford to do, especially as you think about November coming up on the holiday season, folks, if they don't have money in their pockets because they're having to spend way more filling up their gas tanks, that's going to impact how they vote come November.
All right. We're going to hear a lot more from our panel. Get a lot more ahead, including this.
00:10:47.680 — 00:11:11.920
When we come back, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis says some essential services will be cut to close a $180 million deficit. And Dallas City Council member Paula Blackmon joins the program to talk about how much money could be generated by naming rights to the new convention center, and why she's still fighting for City Hall.
Next on Inside Texas Politics.
00:11:15.040 — 00:11:34.000
The city of Dallas is looking for ways to finance the new convention center downtown, and we're getting our first glimpse at how much money the naming rights could bring in. I sat down with Dallas City Council member Paula Blackman, who recently dropped her lawsuit against city officials but is not done fighting for City Hall.
00:11:35.280 — 00:14:58.900
Council member I know the city manager is coming back about a month from now with recommendations for sites, proposals, options for relocating Dallas City Hall. At that point, is it time to pick an option and move forward? So we in the executive session have seen some options and I think they're finalizing a deal, if you will, to see which one the city gets a better.
That fits us better because we need a place for our meetings. We need a place for free speech. And we have parking needs. And so they're going back and evaluating on those on all the sites. And that is my understanding, is that there will be one that should rise to the top, and the decision will then be made.
However, we still have that looming, this, that looming criteria that says, do we need a supermajority to do that? Which was what was in our court case was we are still wanting an understanding of how many votes does it take for us to move the city commission some options for naming rights to the new convention center.
What are your projections? What have you heard in terms of the kind of revenue that could bring in. So they show I mean, if you look at our budget and I don't know if it's more like sources of funds and use of funds. I mean, quite a bit of money is allocated to naming rights. I have heard, you know, I think Fort Worth sold theirs.
It's really not a lot if you look at it in a in the needs factor, but it is something that contributed to the bottom line. I, um, I really don't want to say that our budget hinges on naming rights, but, uh, that's a big it's a big number. I can't. Off the top of my head, remember what number it is. But it was like I.
It was enough for people to go. Are we sure we can get that? They seem confident that we can. And going for as we're going for a tier one status, you know, with competing with conventions like Chicago, Las Vegas, Houston. And so with that being said, I mean, we're going to be at the top of the list to where everybody wants to come to Dallas.
So they will get, you know, whoever does put their name on it, it's going to get significant exposure. Detroit renovated its convention center, and it got, I believe, 1.5 million a year. I think it works out to about $33 million over the next 20 something years. Is that aligned with what you're seeing? I figure I've I've heard 10 to 30.
Yeah. And I think it depends on who and what and, um, and how prominent and how prominent, because, you know, it is. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Right. And we need to honor her. And so we've got to figure out that. But, um, I, I think that we've got. I know that there's people working that and hopefully we'll be knowing something soon because that is part of our overall budget.
Dallas City Council Member Paula Blackman, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. Harris County's budget could top $3 billion for the first time in the next fiscal year. And right now, leaders are facing tough choices to close a major shortfall. I spoke with Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis to find out why they're facing a deficit for the fifth straight year.
00:15:00.100 — 00:15:53.150
The deficit could be anywhere from 129 million to 287 million, depending on on how you set the tax rate. What sort of cuts will be necessary to close that gap? I met with the budget office a couple hours ago. I think we're somewhere in the neighborhood of about $180 million is what the deficit will be. So we're going to institute a number of measures.
We're looking at selling off some property that we have some excess property. Tough decisions will make in that regard. We're going to institute hiring freezes. We're going to come up with a number of one time fixes to help us get through this. The option of raising revenue won't be on the table. We simply not going to do that.
But we're just going to have to live within our means, you know. We're required to have a balanced budget and that we will have.
00:15:54.470 — 00:15:56.750
What about addressing this long term?
00:15:57.910 — 00:18:23.630
I think it's a real simple issue. We gotta live under the laws that the state puts on us. And if we have to cut back on services, some of them, in my judgment, are essential services. We're going to have to to do that. Uh, I think when you have a deficit that many years in a row, at some point you have to go ahead and admit it's a structural issue.
Uh, there's some reimbursements that are coming from federal government that will help us once they get in, but we're going to have to make some some tough decisions. Or at some point, uh, none of my colleagues would have to decide under state law, if we want to give the citizens the option of paying for more services, if they want more, they got to pay for it.
It has to go to voters, and if they don't approve it, it won't happen. Have you submitted a proposal to fully fund the DA's Investigation into the deadly shooting involving the Ice agent. I have, and I thought it was important. I thought it was the right thing to do. For many years, while I was in the state Senate, a couple of years here in county government, I chaired the board of Innocence Project out of New York.
I know how important it is for the public to have confidence in law enforcement. In order for I find law enforcement figures to do that job. They have to have the confidence. People have to believe them. They have to trust them. The harsh reality is in this environment is very difficult for most people to trust the Department of Justice because of the political politicization that's going on from the white House.
So I thought, it's important you can't do it on every case. But on this case, I thought it was important to do that. I had a casual conversation with the district attorney after he made the decision that he was going to do his own investigation. And I said, look, uh, just know that whatever resources are within reason that you need.
I'm going to be one of those advocating for it, and so I. It was my call. I said, look, I think we'd have a press conference and put it on the agenda. So it's clear that we're going to give you the resources that you need. I got a preliminary number. I don't want to announce it, uh, on TV before, uh, my colleagues see that it's on the agenda.
But I think we have a pretty good idea. Uh, and it's about an enablement of what I thought it would cost to go into it. All right. Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, sir. Thank you for your time. Always good to be with you. Thank you.
00:18:24.830 — 00:18:29.550
And stay with us. We'll bring our roundtable back to talk more politics right after the break.
00:18:31.670 — 00:21:38.770
Back to the roundtable now to talk more politics. We have contributor Abby Livingston. We have WFAA political reporter Natalie Hadad and Kvue political director Ashley Goudeau. Natalie in East Texas data Center project was recently polled, and they cited Governor Abbott's position is one of the reasons.
Could this complicate his idea of making Texas the epicenter of AI development? I think Governor Abbott finds himself in a really tough position. He wants Texas to be the capital of AI, and then he also has to listen to those in rural Texas who don't want anything to do with data centers. For the most part, as we've seen in our reporting.
And I think he is having a really hard time. I think he expected there to be friction when he shared, uh, new calls for a different, uh, restrictions and things of the like for data centers. But I don't think he expected a company to come out and say publicly that in part, they are pulling a project because of him.
And so I think it's going to be really interesting how we, you know, see data centers really form moving forward because of what Governor Abbott is now asking for, compared to, say, what he was asking for a much earlier when he was still pushing for Texas to be the capital of AI. And, Abby, you said you've seen people making their voices heard in ways you haven't seen before.
How could this play out in the midterm? This issue is moving at light speed. And so, you know, it's amazing to me that Governor Abbott is feeling the crunch of it. But where I've been hearing about it is local officials, we've seen some outside of Texas directly lose reelection because of their votes in pushing these data centers.
But I'm also hearing concerns from local officials inside of Texas as well. And, Ashley, you know, when I know that some of the developers are now starting to run pro data center ads, I guess it was only a matter of time before they started pushing back on this idea. I mean, sure they have, but let's just go back to this one company that pulled out they candidate, Governor Greg Abbott, a gift.
Okay, folks in rural communities and some urban communities don't want data centers to come. And he put some rules in place. And they said, look at these rules that he put in place. We can't come there now. That's exactly what the people who live there want to hear. It's a gift to Abbott. And that's just one company.
I promise you, there are hundreds more that are going to do what they need to do to be able to build in Texas. And there's going to be a big push come January when the legislature is in session with these lobbyists. These data centers are not going to take this lying down. They want to build their centers. They want to build them here in Texas.
And they've got the money to try to get some lawmakers on their side. Yeah. And then obviously, then you've got these community town halls and everything else, right, Abby, that you're seeing all these people like speak up and say we don't want it. Absolutely. It's driving up electric bills. It's it's somewhat of an eyesore in communities.
And, uh, you know, and they it's noise pollution. And so I expect consultants to really feel the jam of the, of the special interests and then their constituents. All right. I want to thank our panel. Ashley. Abby, Natalie, thank you all so much for bringing that bit of context and expertise. Thank you for watching Inside Texas Politics.