Democrat Lawmakers, With Beer And No Masks, Fly Out Of Texas To Halt Voting Bill

by Gary Leff

Texas Democratic legislators left the state in order to break quorum during a special legislative session and prevent Republicans from passing new voting legislation. This is the special session that was supposed to pass the bill the legislature ran out of time on when Democrats broke quorum last time.

They took two chartered flights on Monday from Austin to Washington D.C. to “apply pressure to Democrats in the U.S. Senate” to pass federal voting legislation to trump moves by Texas and other states. Their breaking quorum is expected to slow down the legislative process in Texas, but not stop it.

On the way to the flights it appears they brought Miller Lite with them. There’s nothing illegal about the beer of course. As Texas legislators, no doubt their REAL ID-compliant drivers licenses prove they’re legal drinking age. But… Miller Lite?

And they violated the federal transportation mask mandate.

Federal transportation mask mandates apply to charter flights operated under 14 CFR Part 135, as well as to private jet terminals (FBOs). They do not apply to Part 91 aircraft operated for personal, non-commercial service.

Nearly three quarters of formal passenger incidents reported to the FAA this year have centered on masks. The FAA has proposed fines up to $10,000 per person. Does anyone want to take bets on whether the administration seeks fines against the passengers on this flight since not a single one appears to be wearing a mask?

Anti-maskers are keeping alcohol out of coach on Texas-based American Airlines which has been lobbying against the Texas bill. No wonder they flew private!

This would have been an amazing PR stunt, but flying maskless they give up part of the news cycle and undermine their messaging.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Looks like a Spirit flight right before the “I ain’t wearing no mask” brawl breaks out. Suppose they are mirroring their core constituency.

  2. Private planes do not have to enforce the mask mandate. The money for the planes was raised in a few days, over $500,000 so far. It is not voter legislation, but voter repression, completely different. I am sorry that someone drinks Millier Lite.

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