In the March 29 episode, U.S. Representative Craig Goldman explains why he’s not opposed to the war in Iran and whether he’d support boots on the ground. State Representative Ramón Romero Jr. tells us why he supports the new FWISD Superintendent installed by the state and why he’s okay with Texas removing the name Cesar Chavez. And former DISD Board President Miguel Solis discusses the district’s proposed $6.2 billion bond, which would be the largest in state history.
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Straight ahead, the soaring national debt. President Trump once vowed to eliminate it. Instead, it has more than doubled since his first term. Republican Congressman Craig Goldman on that looming issue, the war in Iran, and whether he supports boots on the ground. Plus Dallas ISD asking for something that no district in the state has done before, why local leaders want voters to say yes this spring.
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Republicans are moving fast to eliminate Cesar Chavez from textbooks and as a state holiday, but state rep Ramon Romero says one thing should not be lost. And in Corpus Christi, crisis on top of crisis, a looming water shortage and now a push to remove the mayor. Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely starts now. Welcome to the program here.
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A lot to get to, but let's begin, as always, with the headlines. It is crisis on top of crisis for Corpus Christi. The city is struggling to find new water sources there in the coastal bend, and now city council has voted 5 to 3 to begin removing the mayor, Paulette Guardo. They accuse her of misconduct and tilting a hotel deal towards one developer. The mayor denies it. No criminal charges filed, but councils still moving forward toward an impeachment trial.
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The pastor at Secretary Pete Hegseth's Church says he wants James Talarico quote crucified with Christ. The pastor made the comments on a podcast recently. Talarico, of course, a Democrat, a seminarian, and will take on either John Cornyn or Ken Paxton in the US Senate race this November, leaving Republicans, many of them quite concerned right now.
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And even though President Trump has practically eliminated illegal immigration on the southern border, his administration will still install hundreds of miles of floating barriers along the Rio Grande. This is going to start in Brownsville, 536 miles of it in all, but experts tell the Texas Tribune that the border buoys could intensify flooding and change the river's course. All right, let's start with a staggering milestone we passed over the last week.
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The United States is now $39 trillion in debt. Republicans have railed against it for years, yet it continues to grow even a decade after President Trump vowed to eliminate it. Our first guest, Congressman Craig Goldman, a Republican from Fort Worth, but we began with him with the ongoing war in Iran. Congressman, welcome back to the program here. You support the president's strategy with Iran, the attack on Iran here.
< spk_0 - 00:02:46.7880000 >
I'm curious what you understand the exit strategy to be and more importantly, the timeline.
< spk_1 - 00:02:52.9190000 >
Well, one regime change, and no one can predict what that timeline is. I mean, bottom line is you're talking about a country that chanted Death to America by its leaders. They had nuclear capabilities. We were building them. There's no question about that. The ballistic missiles that they were building. Strictly to fire not only on our allies overseas but also thousands of Americans based overseas. So the reason for being there is a good one.
< spk_1 - 00:03:20.2250000 >
And until we get complete regime change and put Someone in charge who is somewhat friendly to the United States and look, there's millions of Iranians we know that are stuck in their homes hiding, if you will, scared because the last time they came out to protest their government, over 30,000 of them were murdered.
< spk_0 - 00:03:40.1300000 >
But what's it going to take for this revolt to begin? You know, when these bombs started dropping originally, everyone thought that the revolt might begin then, but this has been going on for several weeks now. The leader has been taken out. His son has now taken over. What's it going to take for regime change there?
< spk_1 - 00:03:56.3890000 >
Well, again, I think it's going to take for the people to rise up, but again, they're scared, and I don't blame them one bit. I mean, when 30,000 of them get murdered by their own government for protesting. They're scared and the problem is the people in government are armed and the citizens are not.
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The Pentagon is sending more than 2000 soldiers to the Middle East from the 82nd Airborne there in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There's already US Marines on the ground there in the Middle East too. Do you support boots on the ground inside Iran?
< spk_1 - 00:04:24.9400000 >
Well, look, no one has said that that's absolutely going to happen, so, you know, let's see where we are in a couple of weeks, but there's no guarantee and no one has ever said that we're going to have boots on the ground in Iran. Is that something you'd back though? Look, I'm not in the Situation Room. I don't have advice from the Joint Chief of Staff. Certainly the president does, and Secretary Hague says. So I'm at a level, you know, of any knowledge of what's going on over there.
< spk_1 - 00:04:52.3900000 >
I don't have intelligence debriefing the way they have for me to answer that question.
< spk_0 - 00:04:58.0890000 >
Let's talk about a number that escaped a lot of headlines here recently. President Trump is going to release his new budget this coming week. And the United States just passed $39 trillion in debt. I'm curious if you expect to support this budget without any substantial cuts in it.
< spk_1 - 00:05:16.2600000 >
Well, I, you know, I've always been a conservative. I've always voted for balanced budgets in Austin when I was there for 12 years. Um, in fact, we have, you know, billions of dollars in surplus in Texas and in Austin budget. Uh, different here. I hate, um, you know, how we have the 37 to $38 trillion in debt. Uh, Again, being a conservative Republican, it drives me crazy.
< spk_1 - 00:05:40.9700000 >
Um, so I'm all for making as many cuts as we possibly can in the budget, um, you know, and, and so I'm gonna fight and advocate for that as long as I'm here.
< spk_0 - 00:05:50.9500000 >
Here's what struck me though about this, this headline. An additional $1 trillion of debt just happened in the last 5 months. I think back about what President Trump and Republicans ran on here, especially Doge. I mean, we all remember what happened with Doge in the first few months that we're going to, you know, cut the fat and waste, fraud and abuse out of government, but there's another $1 trillion of debt that's been stacked. Well, let's be very clear,
< spk_1 - 00:06:12.8090000 >
Jason. Yes, but let's be clear where we are. So we are 1 year in the Trump administration. The, the big beautiful bill that we passed and he signed on July 4th was the start of Doge. So there were a lot of, you know, 11 committees went in there and said, where can we cut the waste, frost and abuse that, uh, that you had the oversight of in all your committees. So that was passed and signed on July 4th. That wasn't even a year ago.
< spk_1 - 00:06:39.6900000 >
Uh, then we came back and, and spent all the fall passing the Trump budget. So the Trump budget really just got approved in January, uh, minus the approval of the Health and Human Services, um, so I mean, I'm sorry, the Homeland Security. So, um, so we're just in the Trump budget. It has just begun. So cutting the waste front abuse and, and trying to cut down on government spending is in the Trump budget. It just doesn't happen overnight.
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It's going to take months, if not into next year.
< spk_0 - 00:07:11.2200000 >
Congressman, always good to see you. Thanks for the time.
< spk_1 - 00:07:13.4590000 >
Thank you, Jason. Appreciate it.
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Alright, let's bring in the roundtable to talk about politics of this. Bud Kennedy is here from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Natalie Haddad, political reporter at WFAA in Dallas, and our friend Ashley Guo, political director at KVUE in Austin. Bud, let's stay in Washington and talk about the Republicans from the state legislature who went to the White House and they got criticized by Steven Miller for not trying to stop undocumented children from attending public schools in Texas. Miller even said, does Texas have a RINO problem?
< spk_0 - 00:07:43.9800000 >
Is he suggesting that Texas Republicans are RINOs?
< spk_2 - 00:07:47.8200000 >
Well, you know, a RINO these days is anybody who has a conversation with a Democrat must be a rhino. It takes rhinos, if that's what a rhino is, it takes rhinos to run the state to get bills passed. to run to agree on a budget, to agree on how the state's going to be governed, anybody who says anything nice or cooperates with the Democrats is called a RINO. This is the kind of hardline government that's proposed by the Trump administration. That now against immigration.
< spk_2 - 00:08:17.4400000 >
Texas has always accommodated children. It was a 5 to 4 vote. They had to have, they had to allow the immigrant children to go to school in Tyler, Texas has accepted them and said, well, uh, it's the federal government's decision on whether they're going to stay here. If they're going to stay here, we're going to teach them
< spk_0 - 00:08:31.7090000 >
in school. And Natalie, you and I have watched every single one of these sessions in the past few cycles. Every legislature is more conservative than the last.
< spk_3 - 00:08:39.8800000 >
Yes, and to piggyback off of what Bud was saying. Saying we have seen this before in the Supreme Court. Public education is not to be denied to anyone despite immigration status. So I think we should, you know, Texas House Republicans should really just let go of the theatrics of a political litmus test and uphold the law. This is what voters asked them to do, so they really should not think twice about what the president's aide thinks of them.
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So do we expect Ashley, the House to respond to the president's aide next session?
< spk_4 - 00:09:11.8900000 >
Well, it may not be the House, but I think depending on who wins that attorney general's race come November, we could have a very real answer to this, you know, I had the opportunity to talk to Republican Congressman Chip Roy. You guys know he's in the runoff, uh, for May for the Republican side of that ticket for that race. He says that that Supreme Court decision that requires it is one of the top things he wants to look at challenging if he becomes the Attorney general of Texas, but I think we also have to take a moment.
< spk_4 - 00:09:38.8200000 >
To step back and think about the actual ramifications of if something like this were to happen, what that would look like in Texas and what that would do to our state, and I would think that people on both sides of the aisle would agree it's not gonna be pretty. Yeah,
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how many children would remain out of school if this happened, what it would look like to public schools too, guys, thanks so much. Back to you in just a moment. A lot more ahead here, including this. When we come back, Texas is moving quickly to eliminate Cesar Chavez from textbooks and as a holiday, but state rep Ramon Romero says one thing should not be lost.
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And Dallas ISD asking voters for $6.2 billion in bonds for improvements that will touch every single campus. Inside Texas politics back in a moment. Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics. These are unprecedented times at the Texas Education Agency. The state is running 7 different school districts across the state after taking them over for failing campuses.
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Our next guest, state rep Ramon Romero, a Democrat from Fort Worth. I'm curious your thoughts on the TEA. You know, it, it's supposed to oversee. Provide oversight to the state's 1200 school districts across the state, but here it is running Houston ISD, the state's largest school district. It's running Fort Worth ISD now. That's, you know, the two largest so far, but there are others that is also taken over. What's your, uh, your thought about the capacity that the TEA can take on?
< spk_5 - 00:11:12.8690000 >
That's an excellent question, Jason. Uh, here, Lake Worth ISD just at borders, Fort Worth ISD is one of those that's also been taken over. Uh, you do have to question at what point, uh, can the state continue? Uh, I think that, uh, Commissioner Marath has his hands full. Uh, I, I, I think that there's, there's reason for concern, uh, throughout the state.
< spk_5 - 00:11:36.9400000 >
But there's also lots of highlights to point to that there's no longer the failing schools in, in Houston ISD. They may not, uh, uh, they may not be the highest performing, but they're certainly performing higher than Fort Worth is. And Dallas is performing higher than Fort Worth is, and they're performing much higher than Lake Worth is. Uh, maybe folks are not gonna be happy, uh, with small incremental change, but we have to start pointing the arrow in the right direction.
< spk_5 - 00:12:03.7890000 >
Since COVID, uh, we have, we've only made slight improvements, especially with those children, uh, that are from free and reduced. lunch. I don't know what his full capacity is, Jason. I just hope, uh, that we bring the best people on the field, the best coaches to our, to our school districts, uh, and that they can do what I've asked them to do here in Fort Worth, which is get the job done and, and get us, get us back on track and give us back our school board. The,
< spk_0 - 00:12:28.1500000 >
the TEA, uh, let me ask you about some of the, the other headlines that have been in the news lately. The Texas Education Agency, uh, has announced that schools should remove any lessons or activities that refer to. Uh, Cesar Chavez, the labor rights leader, uh, after allegations that he sexually abused women and children, what's your reaction to this?
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I think that their reaction is very similar to um to elected officials like myself. uh, for me, knowing Dolores Huerta, uh, uh, I, I believe her and it's that simple for me. I believe her and I think we have to create an environment where women are believed, they are trusted, they are respected, uh, so that they can come forward when something so evil like sexual assault happens, uh, so that my daughters and my granddaughters don't have to suffer this same type of environment.
< spk_5 - 00:13:18.4790000 >
I, so I am cautious about TEA, and how far they go. They should not erase the farm workers' movement. If they want to eliminate the name, I am OK with them eliminating the name, but don't eliminate the movement because the real change in people's pay. Their education, their political power, all of those things were real changes that occurred through the farm workers movement, and I will say that Cesar Chavez did not create that movement alone.
< spk_5 - 00:13:46.1500000 >
He was right alongside Dolores Huerta as a co-founder. So as we move past removing him, we should also place in the importance of the movement.
< spk_0 - 00:13:55.3490000 >
Governor Abbott has also said the state's no longer going to. Observed Cesar Chavez day. Is that removal, removal of history happening too fast? I mean, the GOP is the very party that is so afraid about erasing history, especially when it comes to Confederate statues, things like that.
< spk_5 - 00:14:13.1400000 >
That's another excellent point, Jason. Listen, I, I'm, I welcome Governor Abbott, uh, to invite me as he takes down a Cesar Chavez sign, and I welcome him to invite me when he takes down monuments from the, the, the, the grounds of the Texas Capitol. Uh, this is a stain right now on the memory of Cesar Chavez, not the movement.
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The Confederate statues that are still on our grounds, whether that be the county courthouse or the state capitol, those are still stains on our reputation nationally. That too will change over time. For now, I would certainly invite Governor Abbott to just start with one monument, and we'll, I'll join him whenever he wants to take down the sign of Cesar Chavez.
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Representative, good to see you. Thanks for the time.
< spk_5 - 00:14:58.4090000 >
Thank you, Jason.
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In a little more than a month, Dallas ISD is going to ask voters to approve the largest bond package in Texas history, $6.2 billion. Our next guest is the former Dallas ISD board chairman Miguel Solis. Miguel, it's good to see you again. Great to be here, Jason, as always.
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If passed, this bond will build 26 new campuses, replacement campuses, renovates and modernize all the rest of the schools, eliminate 700 remaining portables there on campuses across the, uh, district, and buys new school buses. It's the largest bond in Texas history. My question is why all at once? This is a big thing to bite off
< spk_6 - 00:15:39.2890000 >
every student. Every campus in some form or fashion is going to be positively impacted by this bond. Um, the number 6.2 billion, when you really break that down, the biggest portion of the bond is gonna go to rehabilitating campuses. It'll go to, as you mentioned, 26 new campuses. Let's give some context though. The money is needed just for those 26 campuses alone. The average age is 70 years.
< spk_6 - 00:16:08.0800000 >
LBJ for a school campus, the average age of those 26 campuses that are gonna be rebuilt is 70 years old. That's that goes back to LBJ's presidency. Those campuses could qualify for Medicare today. We're trying to teach kids artificial intelligence, and those campuses, they're having a hard time with artificial lighting. So it's time to invest in campuses like that and to ensure that across all Dallas ISD kids have a 21st century education and 21st century facilities.
< spk_0 - 00:16:37.9500000 >
This bond is actually going to create a 1 cent tax increase for property owners. Nobody likes paying property taxes. They're sky high in this state. What, what does that actually mean? How much more am I going to pay if voters decide they want to pass this? So
< spk_6 - 00:16:50.8690000 >
that 1 cent tax increase, here's what it's gonna feel like. How much do you think a cup, an average cup of coffee costs today, Jason?
< spk_0 - 00:16:56.6690000 >
5
< spk_6 - 00:16:56.8300000 >
dollars
< spk_0 - 00:16:56.8400000 >
or $6.
< spk_6 - 00:16:57.6690000 >
Well, that's if you're drinking a skinny vanilla latte, mocha choco, whatever you, but the average, the average, uh, price of a coffee across the United States of America is a little more than $3. This one cent tax increase to the average homeowner is going to be $2.79 a month. Over the course of a year it's 33 dollars.
< spk_0 - 00:17:15.3100000 >
There's no organized opposition against this that I've seen so far, but critics do question whether the district should be taking on this massive amount of debt with ongoing declining enrollment. Are they wrong about that?
< spk_6 - 00:17:26.6700000 >
The argument I would make is Enrollment declines when people don't believe in schools. The fact in Dallas ISD is actually enrollment increased the last time that they took a snapshot of their enrollment. Why is that the case? The case is because they have improved as a
< spk_0 - 00:17:45.5400000 >
school system. So you think this would help turn around enrollment.
< spk_6 - 00:17:47.4640000 >
Well, I 100% believe that's the case. I think the other thing is when you drive around the Dallas ISD district and you look at facilities, you are looking at campuses that I believe, and I think voters are looking at campuses that they believe something good happens
< spk_0 - 00:18:03.3240000 >
there. Miguel, thanks for the time. We appreciate it. Yeah,
< spk_6 - 00:18:05.5840000 >
thank you very much.
< spk_0 - 00:18:07.4390000 >
The roundtable is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics. All right, back now with the roundtable. Bud, Ashley, Natalie all back with us as well. Bud, let's start with you. The Attorney General Ken Paxton is sparring with the acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock. At one point, Paxton calling Hancock quote an incompetent loser. What's this about?
< spk_2 - 00:18:28.7500000 >
Well, up front this is about the voucher system and whether the state. Will allow students to have vouchers to attend Islamic schools. Hancock wants to ban them, as does Governor Abbott. They say that Attorney General Paxton hasn't done enough to prevent that, that he didn't argue hard enough in court, and that he hasn't come in and actually shut down these schools. Paxton says he's not sure he can do that.
< spk_2 - 00:18:54.6400000 >
They say he's been lenient on Islamic schools in general, but what this is all about really is Paxton trying to get back at Abbott. Two years ago, 3 years ago in the impeachment trial, it was Paxton's lawyer Tony Busby who said the Bush political dynasty ends today. It didn't end that day. Paxton wants it to end May 29th in Texas.
< spk_0 - 00:19:14.8690000 >
And Natalie, if this is about getting back at Abbott, I mean Paxton must see this in some way as helping him with voters. Does it really?
< spk_3 - 00:19:21.9490000 >
Yes, I would describe this, if this is the case as a power struggle, excuse me, I would describe this as a power struggle. Excuse me, I'm losing my words. A power struggle dressed up as a policy disagreement. There we go. Excuse me. And so I think Paxton is just leaning into his unapologetic and almost combative nature, and that does pose the risk of being a little too chaotic for his future endeavors.
< spk_0 - 00:19:48.3800000 >
Yes, and there is a long time to go before the election. Let's. Off here, uh, Ashley and talk about the Republican National Committee talking about a midterm national convention and potentially holding this one, in Dallas, Texas likely sometime this fall is this anything other than an opportunity for President Trump to rally Republican voters to get out there to limit losses in Congress?
< spk_4 - 00:20:11.6890000 >
I, Jason, you, you literally said what it was. I mean that's it. I, I, I have nothing else to say about what, what it is. That's what it is. What else could it possibly be? I mean, especially in a state, um, that is, is so red, I think there is a lot of momentum behind Democrats, uh, right now heading into the midterms. I think the, you know, independents, in my opinion, are gonna play a really, really big role in. What happens in the midterm elections and I think that Republicans know that.
< spk_4 - 00:20:39.4540000 >
I think they've kind of seen some races not only in Texas but in other parts of the country where seats have flipped and they're a little worried so the president kind of needs to rally the troops if he's gonna hold on to his power
< spk_0 - 00:20:51.2550000 >
and to put on another show there, Natalie, though, the RNC does have a lot more money than the DNC and has for a while, should we expect Democrats to have something similar?
< spk_3 - 00:20:59.3900000 >
I mean I think they would certainly be smart to, but I kind of want to talk about what Ashley was just saying because I don't know if I completely agree. I almost think that because Texas is so red that Republicans are coming here and trying to get Democrats to probably do something, not because they are worried about Texas, but because being in an area where the outcome is or people coming out is such a. Huge topic and is needed. They want to show that Texas is in charge. This is a very red state and the RNC wants to remind people of that.
< spk_3 - 00:21:26.0600000 >
And if the Democrats, you know, were on top of their game, they would bring something forward too.
< spk_0 - 00:21:30.3000000 >
We'll see if the RNC spins something up and if the DNC responds too. Guys, thanks so much. We're back again next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics. Hope you can join us then. Take care.