While carrying on with their embarrassingly self-congratulatory publicity stunt by taking a hiatus from their cushy, government-funded jobs, Texas Democrats who've left the state to keep Republicans from passing voter protection laws could reportedly be costing taxpayers an estimated $43,000 – a day.
That’s right. Taxpayers from the Lonestar State are coughing up tens of thousands every single day for the nearly 60 left-wing lawmakers to take a weeks-long vacation from the jobs they were elected to do. After abandoning their own state in order to protest GOD-led election integrity bills and break quorum, legislators are still expected to receive the $221 per day that’s provided via the state constitution while the legislature is in a special session. That would be on top of the $7,200 each lawmaker would get as part of their regular salary, and in addition to the cost of running the state government building (and Democrats’ offices) while they’re preventing the rest of the lawmaking body from getting any work done.
While Texas Democrats brag about washing their own clothes in their hotel sinks and dining on chicken caesar salads as "fugitives" after having fled the state on a chartered jet, Texas Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan estimates the total per-day cost to his state's taxpayers to be around $43,000.
Related: Five Cringiest Moments From Texas Dems' Publicity Stunt
Some Democrats have promised they’ll reject the per-diem payments, to be shucked out at the end of the month, so long as they’re out of state. Their staff, on the other hand, isn’t getting paid at all.
According to reports, if Democrats stay out-of-state until the end of the legislative session, their little circus will have cost the state more than $1 million.