Bill Massacre: Texas House Kills Its Own Proposals With Late-night Talkfest

AUSTIN -- A dawdling, fractious Texas House approached its first and biggest bill-passing deadline of the session late Thursday with Democrats stalling in a bid to stop bills banning donation or sale of fetal tissue after abortions and requiring fetal remains to be buried or cremated.Republicans did most of the Democrats' work by openly feuding over whether a dozen diehard staunch conservatives were being punished in petty ways - or simply reaping just desserts for their session-long obstructionist tactics and attacks on Speaker Joe Straus and his allies.The spectacle of intra-GOP dissension brought shy smiles to the faces of Democratic leaders such as Grand Prairie's Chris Turner.The abortion bills Democrats were most eager to block, barring certain procedures and taking more shots at Planned Parenthood, had about 70 bills ahead of them on the House calendar as of nearly 10 p.m.  Continue reading...