Texas Tribune
Strict rules over delta-8 and delta-9 likely for Texas’ booming hemp industry
by By Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-31 13:49:12
SUMMARY: Texas state Sen. Charles Perry is addressing issues stemming from a 2019 hemp legislation that unintentionally advanced a psychoactive hemp market in Texas. The legislation allowed the sale of low-dose THC products, leading to a surge in retail cannabis dispensaries. Despite Perry's warnings, the market's lack of regulation led to widespread availability of products enticing to youth and difficult to distinguish from illegal marijuana. The Texas Senate is now considering stricter regulations, including age limits, childproof packaging, and third-party testing. The aim is to better balance medicinal cannabis needs with market safety, amid ongoing debates on legalization and regulation.
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When Texas state Sen. Charles Perry sat down this week in a packed room at the state Capitol to hear testimony on whether to ban some psychoactive hemp products from being sold in the state, he already knew what was coming.
The Lubbock Republican's 2019 agricultural hemp legislation — a bipartisan, farmer-friendly bill — had opened up the state's hemp industry and, in doing so, touched off a massive new consumable hemp market in Texas as well.
Perry had suspected at the time, he said at a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, that the new law would eventually be exploited by an expansive and unregulated retail market dealing in psychoactive products.
Sure enough, the sale of cannabis products in Texas soared as the loopholes Perry worried about in his own bill remained open for the next five years.
“I told these retailers, ‘If you guys screw this up by being cute and getting people high off it, there will be consequences,' ” he said during a Texas Senate State Affairs Committee interim hearing on consumable hemp on Wednesday. “I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised that we are here today.”
Retail cannabis dispensaries sprang up by the thousands in the wake of Perry's legislation — an enabling statute that followed a similar federal farm bill the year before. Now, state lawmakers are waking up to a hemp-boom hangover and realizing that the time has long-since arrived to start getting a handle on an exploding market.
Five years after hemp sales were greenlit by state and federal regulators, Texas is home to more than 7,000 registered consumable hemp retail spots — in gas stations, store fronts, bars, coffee shops, strip malls and mobile trailers — selling gummies, candies, drinks, and smokeables with low-dose tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
That certainly, Perry says now, was not the intent of the legislation. While stopping short of suggesting an outright ban on those products, Perry indicated that the burgeoning industry was in for some much stricter regulations — at the very least — when lawmakers convene in their regular session next year.
“With statute, we can clean this mess up that the industry chose to do,” Perry said. “Because clearly it was foretold this could happen, and now we've got people getting high off of something in Texas we have said we don't do, and it's by virtue of a very ‘cute' industry making a lot of money at people's expense. I hope we fix this. It's time. It's past time, actually.”
Consumable hemp products contain industrial hemp or hemp-derived cannabinoids, including the non-intoxicating cannabidiol known as CBD. They may not contain more than 0.3% concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the intoxicating part of the cannabis plant that comes in forms known as delta-8, delta-9 and THCA.
The difference in the legal and illegal products lies in the plants from which they come. Hemp and marijuana plants are both cannabis plants. Marijuana plants have high THC. Hemp has low THC.
Texas is one of about a dozen states that has not legalized marijuana in any form for broad use. The state's very narrow Compassionate Use Program allows medical marijuana, which can contain up to 1% THC by weight, to be prescribed and distributed for a short list of conditions. About 8,000 people participate in the program.
But state and federal law allow dispensaries in Texas to sell hemp-derived products that look, taste and sometimes intoxicate similar to their more potent sibling — with no age limits, loose and inconsistent testing requirements, and no limit on the number of licenses allowed in the state.
And because only one THC form, delta-9, is singled out in the laws, products made with other types of THC — the synthesized molecule known as delta-8 with similar structure and effects and another one called THCA that's derived from immature plants — can be produced and sold within the gray area of the law and with no limits at all. There are at least 10 cannabinoids in the market right now, experts testified, and yet only one is regulated.
Absent that clarity, state health officials' attempts to regulate those products through agency rules have been met with lawsuits and injunctions.
Meanwhile, Texas rakes in taxes and fees as retailers thrive among increasing public calls for better research on and access to potential health benefits of low doses of THC and its non-psychoactive relative, CBD.
While the state comptroller's office doesn't keep track of how much sales tax the hemp industry brings in specifically, retailers testified that they are without a doubt contributing to the state's robust economy.
“We have already paid $1 million in state taxes, and we are one small fish in a big pond,” said Kyle Arora of Texas Happy Club LLC and Green Genius Supplies in Houston, who said he supports “a forward thinking approach that aligns with Texas' pro-business ethos.”
But some in the medical and scientific community warn that the products are often found to contain heavy metals, pesticides and fungus — not to mention much higher amounts of THC than the law allows.
They also expressed deep concern about how the brightly colored, sweet-tasting gummies, chocolatey brownies, and fizzy drinks in bright-colored cans are enticing to young people and sold in locations that are easy for them to find.
The situation finds Texas lawmakers struggling to balance constituents demands for medicinal cannabis products with a wildly growing market that is outpacing meaningful regulation, enforcement and safety standards.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gave them some direction, as well as an indication of his interest in the issue, earlier this year when he told the State Affairs committee to look into the sale of consumable hemp in Texas before lawmakers meet in 2025.
His charge to the panel included possibly banning products containing delta-8 and delta-9 or looking into more regulations on those products, as well as investigating their marketing to and access by children.
Banning any of the delta products outright was met with a smattering of support by anti-drug advocates and some parents, but saw mostly opposition from the witnesses this week.
The notion of better standards and more resources to enforce the law, however, was an idea that few people — from retailers to consumers, doctors to chemists to law enforcement to the lawmakers themselves— argued with during the five-hour discussion in Austin.
If they address the issue during the next session, lawmakers could consider age limits, childproof packaging, advertising restrictions, strict third-party testing rules, adjustments on how the THC is measured inside the products, and licensure of retailers instead of simple registration.
Several argued for regulations in conjunction with making the medical marijuana program more accessible, saying the state should keep both avenues available to those seeking their benefits.
“Many veterans prefer delta-8 and delta-9 because it's cheaper and more accessible,” David Bass, president and founder of Texas Veterans for Medical Mariuana. “Common sense regulations …are, in my opinion, more logical than banning them.”
Texas health and law enforcement officials painted a complex picture of their attempts to separate the legal from the illegal, to find useful ways to enforce vague laws with no dedicated staff, and to protect the rights of businesses owners and consumers to defend their access to a legal product.
Texas state troopers charged with enforcing drug laws find it difficult to determine if someone's vape pen, gummy or even smokeable flower in a pipe is the illegal marijuana or the legal consumable hemp — and therefore it's nearly impossible to enforce those laws, said Major Mark Melson of the Texas Department of Public Safety's criminal investigation division.
“There's a lack of clarity in current law,” Melson testified. “There are no roadside presumptive field tests that distinguish the differences. Drug-sniffing canines are unable to make the distinction between hemp and marijuana, and from an officer's perspective, it's not possible to make a distinction between legal and illegal based on sight and smell.”
State health and agriculture officials, who oversee the state's consumable and agricultural hemp industries respectively, said they have rules on the books that allow them to enforce things like the allowable level of THC in the legal products, the testing of those products, and whether a retailer or manufacturer is legally licensed or registered by the state.
But their staff is stretched, said Tommy Stevenson, who leads the Texas Department of State Health Services' consumer protection division. With the agency's six enforcement officials, he said, the state could do a visit to every retailer about once every five years. Another six are being trained to join them and that will help drop that to three years, he said. Most of the enforcement right now is complaint based, he said.
The hearing on Wednesday included a broader discussion over the potential expansion of the Compassionate Use Program and the potential for pot to be eventually legalized in Texas for recreational use as a way to raise state income, reduce competition with legal weed states, and decrease criminal activity around the black market.
State Sen. Jòse Menendez, D-San Antonio, said it's time Texas begin considering “the reality” of cannabis demand by residents, whether it's for medical or recreational uses, and potentially join other states that have passed cannabis laws that allow consumers to be able to trust that they're getting good products.
“We need to come to the realization that we opened the door,” Menendez said. “I'm not trying to be argumentative, but people have been getting high in this state for a long time. So people feel that by going to a vape shop and buying something, they're buying something that's safe. And the reality is that it's probably safer for them to use a product that's not currently legal in this state, and we need to have a long conversation about that.”
Both of those ideas, while supported by some grassroots on both ends of the political spectrum, have an uphill battle in socially conservative Texas.
“We had a conversation about that in 2019, and we were clear that in Texas we do not want to legalize pot,” said Perry, who supports the state's limited medical marijuana program but not wider expansion of marijuana laws.
There is a much higher chance, however, of movement on hemp, which has a less-divisive public persona thanks to its place in the wellness market, as well as the support it has in the agricultural community as a money crop for industrial use, such as for clothing and rope.
Consumers and retailers, who filled the committee hearing and an overflow room on Wednesday, argued passionately for the ability to continue buying and supplying products they argued had, in some cases, saved their lives, their marriages, their health and their mental states.
The current unregulated environment only serves bad actors, the retailers say, and lack of oversight threatens their industry's ability to survive long-term. On the flip side, a total ban would be no better, they argued.
“The impact of a ban would be far reaching and devastating,” Mary Tello, Co-Founder Green Haus Wellness in Austin, told senators. “Banning delta products would not only jeopardize businesses like mine but also undermine the economic and social fabric of our community. I urge policymakers to consider broader implications, and work toward solutions to support both public health and economic vitality.”
Medical marijuana advocates and industry insiders argue vehemently against the state allowing any sale of those products that would encourage replacing the medical-grade, higher-THC marijuana extracts and gummies that a few thousand Texans can obtain through the Compassionate Use Program, the state's narrow medical marijuana program.
The heavily regulated products in that program have much more research and oversight than the consumable hemp products in question, both on the state and federal level, and Texas probably has “one of the safest compassionate use programs in the country,” said Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original, the leading medical cannabis provider in the state.
Consumable hemp products with THCA and delta-8 and 9, by contrast, have not been approved by federal regulators for health uses — and nor has there been any federal stance taken against their health claims, underpinning the uncertainty around those products and opening the door to wide interpretation of their benefits.
The state has no jurisdiction over the out-of-state labs used to test the consumable hemp products for the legal limit of delta-9 and so no way to verify the results — and no legal requirement to test the levels of any other THC compound in the products, Richardson said. As a result, many products enter the market with THC levels well over the legal limit, he said.
Meanwhile, patients are exiting the medical pot program in droves because the regulatory environment surrounding it — while making the product safer — makes it a more expensive product and much harder to access than consumable hemp since it can't be distributed in dispensaries like hemp can, Richardson said.
The number of patients in his program, for example, has dropped by half since 2022, Richardson said. That threatens the existence of the program and puts patients at risk, he said.
“The intoxicating hemp industry in Texas has been marketed as something that's legal, safe and capable of self-regulation,” Richardson said. “However, many hemp products are highly intoxicating, more potent than what's offered in the medical CUP program, and dangerously unregulated.”
The committee plans to meet at least one more time to consider the issue and begin developing some plans for new legislation, senators said. Perry blasted the retail consumable hemp industry for what he described as its refusal to support regulatory changes in the past while now seeming “shocked at what's been happening.”
“This industry knew exactly who they were marketing to and how they were going to get that market opened up,” Perry said. “Now we've got their attention.”
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Texas Tribune
UT-Austin offers probation to students arrested in protests
by By Asad Jung, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 17:44:44
SUMMARY: The University of Texas at Austin is disciplining students arrested during pro-Palestinian protests in April by offering “deferred suspension,” allowing students to avoid suspension by proving educational growth. Deferred suspension requires students to take an exam on university rules and avoid appealing the decision. Some students, like Ari Lenahan, see this as a relief compared to harsher penalties faced by peers at other universities. Over 130 protesters were arrested, but Travis County Attorney Delia Garza declined to pursue criminal trespassing charges. The university's heavy-handed response has sparked criticism from students, faculty, and free speech advocates.
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The University of Texas at Austin has begun disciplining students who were arrested in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in April, scolding them for their actions but offering them a path to avoid suspension.
In letters sent out to students this week, first reported by KUT, university officials said it would be appropriate to suspend them for their actions during the protests but would give them the option to take “deferred suspension” instead, a form of probation that would allow students to remain in class and keep the disciplinary action from appearing on their final transcripts.
“Recognizing our commitment to educational growth, we want to offer you an alternative path to avoid suspension by proving that you have learned from this experience,” reads one of the letters obtained by The Texas Tribune.
Students who choose deferred suspension must agree to take an exam testing their knowledge of the university's rules and agree not to appeal the decision. The status would be active until July 7, 2025.
Those who decline that option would be suspended, the letter says. Students may also appeal the disciplinary sanctions through a university hearing.
Ari Lenahan, a UT-Austin student set to graduate in December, said he was relieved the university offered him deferred suspension since students at other universities across the country are facing harsher punishments after participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. He said it may be the best choice for him since he aims to graduate this year.
“It's a lot clearer where I stand now, at least in the university's eyes,” he said.
Lenahan still has a hold on his account preventing him from registering for classes in the fall but said the letter he received Wednesday states any holds will be removed once his case is resolved.
Anne-Marie Jardine, a recent graduate, received a sanction letter concerning her involvement in an April 24 pro-Palestinian demonstration. Jardine was told she would be under deferred suspension for one year if she were to re-enroll at UT-Austin. Jardine said she hasn't received her official diploma from the university yet.
Many other students under investigation have not yet been informed about how the university plans to move forward with their cases. Sam Law, a PhD candidate who was arrested on April 29, said that he expects the university will contact him soon.
More than 130 protesters were arrested at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on UT-Austin's campus in late April. In resolute efforts to dispel the protesters, law enforcement at the time deployed pepper spray and flash-bang explosives and charged students with horses. State troopers were deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott to help quash the protests and had a hand in the arrests.
Those arrested were charged with criminal trespassing but Travis County Attorney Delia Garza declined to pursue those charges.
In the aftermath of the protest, many students, faculty and free speech advocates questioned UT-Austin's heavy-handed response to the protests and criticized state GOP leaders' support of the arrests. Just a few years ago, Abbott had championed state legislation that protected free speech on college campuses, leading free speech advocates to ask who gets to enjoy free speech protections in Texas.
UT-Austin leaders, meanwhile, have vowed to carry out discipline against students who violated campus policies. Seniors in the class of 2024 were afraid their diplomas would be withheld, though they were permitted to join graduation ceremonies in the spring.
Sneha Dey contributed to this story.
Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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Texas Tribune
Hurricane Beryl likely to hit Texas coast Monday
by By Emily Foxhall, Berenice Garcia and Stephen Simpson, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 16:47:07
SUMMARY: Texans are being urged to prepare for Hurricane Beryl, expected to make landfall as a Category 1 or 2 storm along the Texas coast on Monday. Currently crossing Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Beryl could hit anywhere from northern Mexico to the mid-Texas coast. Officials stress vigilance and preparation, especially for those along the Gulf coast, and advise stocking up on essentials like food and water. Emergency measures include distributing sandbags and readying evacuation plans. Beryl, an unusually strong early-season storm, has already caused significant Caribbean damage, with forecasters predicting a highly active hurricane season exacerbated by climate change.
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Texans need to prepare for Hurricane Beryl, which is likely to make landfall on the state's coast as a Category 1 or 2 storm on Monday, state emergency officials said.
The record-setting storm was moving across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, leaving forecasters still unsure exactly where along the Texas coast will see the worst rainfall and wind.
As Beryl left behind a trail of destruction across Caribbean islands, state officials urged Texans along the entire Gulf coast to pay close attention and prepare for a dangerous storm, particularly people vacationing during the July 4 holiday weekend.
“Everyone along the coast should be paying attention to this storm,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a news conference in Austin. Patrick is serving as acting governor as Gov. Greg Abbott travels in Asia on an economic development trip.
Residents should be gassing up their vehicles and making sure they have food and water for themselves and their pets, Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said.
“A lot of people are out having fun right now, and that's a good thing, and we want them to continue to do that, but we also want them to prepare,” Kidd said. “We need a prepared community, not a panicked community.”
Boarded windows at the H-E-B Plus! grocery store in Brownsville on July 5, 2024.
Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
Officials in the Rio Grande Valley and Corpus Christi have been distributing thousands of sandbags to help people prepare for potential flooding. South Texans have been eager for rain because the two major reservoirs on the Rio Grande have reached near or record lows in June.
Forecasters on Friday expected Beryl to make landfall anywhere from northern Mexico to the mid-Texas coast. The storm appeared likely aimed for South Texas but experts warned its path could shift north to Corpus Christi or Matagorda Bay.
Tropical storm-level winds would likely arrive Sunday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. Areas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi faced the greatest wind threat under the current forecast.
Heavy rain could begin Sunday and last through Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center predicted four to eight inches to fall along the South Texas coastline, with higher amounts in some spots, and up to six inches from Corpus Christi to Matagorda Bay. Forecasters expected the storm to slow over land, which would increase the risk of flooding.
Rip currents and high seas starting late Friday will make coastal conditions dangerous.
In the Rio Grande Valley, officials were preparing for possible flooding.
The eastern part of Hidalgo County tends to be hit the hardest during heavy rains, but the county was taking steps to mitigate flooding there, said Ricardo Saldaña, Hidalgo County's emergency management coordinator. Officials have placed water pumps near flood-prone areas and worked with contractors to prevent flooding at drainage project sites by covering up excavation holes.
Saldaña warned residents to make their own preparations by stocking up on food and water, preparing an emergency kit, and making arrangements with friends and family to relocate if necessary.
Sandbags at a county facility in Brownsville on July 5, 2024.
Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. recommended that people in recreational vehicles leave county parks.
“If you don't feel safe, evacuate,” said Tom Hushen, Cameron County's emergency management coordinator.
If there is flooding, Hushen said they were prepared to mobilize fire trucks and ambulances to help people evacuate. But high winds could pose another threat. Winds of more than 90 miles per hour could cause those vehicles to topple over. In that scenario, county officials would have to deploy larger vehicles like dump trucks.
Hushen said any power outages would prompt the opening of emergency shelters. He also advised residents to tie down any loose items in their yards and to bring in all patio furniture because high winds could turn those objects into projectiles.
“Listen to the warnings,” Hushen advised residents. “Things could change at a moment's notice.”
Beryl has astounded meteorologists with its strength so early in the summer. Warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures helped Beryl rapidly strengthen into a Category 4 storm in late June — becoming the first recorded Category 4 storm to form in June, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Beryl strengthened into a Category 5 and tore across the Caribbean, causing devastation in Grenada and Jamaica. It pushed onto the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday as a Category 2 storm.
“Beryl is so out of place historically given how early in the season it is and how strong it got,” said Houston-based meteorologist Matt Lanza, who helps write a blog on tropical weather called The Eyewall. “Typically you don't see that sort of thing until August — not the end of June, beginning of July.”
Federal forecasters expect this hurricane season, which began June 1, to be a bad one. They predicted to see 17 to 25 named storms form, which was more than they had ever forecast before a season's start. They believed four to seven of those would be Category 3 storms or stronger.
Climate change driven by people burning fossil fuels is causing oceans to warm and makes hurricanes more likely to be stronger. Scientists also say climate change may make rapid intensification of storms more likely — as happened with Beryl.
“To look at a satellite on June the 30th or July the 1st and to see a storm of Beryl's magnitude is almost unbelievable,” said Michael Lowry, a hurricane expert for WPLG TV in Miami.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Michael McCaul seeks waiver to stay Foreign Affairs chair
by By Isaac Yu, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 05:00:00
SUMMARY: U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul seeks a waiver to extend his chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. During his term, McCaul, a Republican from Austin, led efforts to ban TikTok, supported Tibetan self-determination, and condemned the Chinese spy balloon. He also played a crucial role in passing a bipartisan Ukraine aid bill and has been active on global issues, including Ukraine and Taiwan. McCaul aims to maintain U.S. strength abroad amid growing isolationism in his party. Facing a six-year term limit, he needs special permission to continue, with several colleagues aiming for his position. His leadership's fate will be decided by the Republican Steering Committee.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul isn't quite ready to give up his gavel.
In his two years as chair of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Austin Republican has been busy; he spearheaded the charge to ban TikTok, authored one resolution on Tibetan self-determination and led another condemning the infamous Chinese spy balloon. Just last month, he helped shoulder a bipartisan Ukraine aid bill through Congress over many colleagues' loud objections. He's also traveled the globe, shaking hands with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine, receiving a blessing from the Dalai Lama in India, and gifting Taiwan President Lai Ching Te with a cowboy hat.
To keep his leadership post on one of the most coveted committees in Washington, he'll need special permission, having hit his six-year term limit. Several colleagues are already gunning to replace him.
McCaul confirmed last week that he would indeed seek a waiver to serve another term as top Republican on his committee, which would need approval from a steering committee and then the full House Republican caucus.
“It's not time to change horses right now,” McCaul said in an interview. “It's a dangerous time where the world is on fire.”
If his quest is successful, McCaul pledges to keep supporting key allies around the globe and stay aggressive on adversaries like Russia and China. If not, defense hawks in Washington could lose a powerful voice in charge just as the GOP prepares to redefine its approach to foreign policy under a potential second Trump administration.
Closing out his twentieth year in Congress, McCaul is well-connected and one of the most experienced members of the Texas delegation, having chaired the Homeland Security Committee from 2013 to 2019. The Foreign Affairs Committee under his leadership has been the most productive House committee this term, his office said, with 67 measures and 18 bills passed by the full chamber.
McCaul is making the case that his relationships on the Hill — including a friendship with Speaker Mike Johnson that helped push Ukraine aid over the finish line — justify him staying on an extra term.
Johnson had voted against sending aid to Ukraine before becoming speaker, part of a growing wing of conservatives who believed foreign aid came at the expense of funding for border security. McCaul, a steadfast supporter of Ukraine, helped sway Johnson's thinking and the speaker ultimately threw his support behind a package to send $60 billion in aid to boost Ukraine's arsenal against Russia.
The decision was opposed by a majority of Republicans and drew the ire of hardline conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, who filed a motion to vacate the speaker, which failed.
“I think I feel compelled to do it not for myself, but I don't think anyone would be able to do what I do or shepherd the [Ukraine] supplemental the way I was able to,” McCaul said.
McCaul has also been a leading China antagonist this term, leading an effort to force the sale of TikTok to an American company. His visits with Taiwanese leaders and the Dalai Lama, who China views as a separatist threat, have drawn strong condemnation and sanctions from Beijing.
His efforts on Ukraine, Taiwan and elsewhere are linked by a desire to project U.S. strength abroad, even as the isolationist wing of his party grows.
“If we abandoned Ukraine and allowed [Vladimir] Putin to take over Ukraine and threaten Eastern Europe, that would be a big mistake, and it would send a message to Chairman Xi [Jinping] that Taiwan's fair game,” McCaul said.
House Republicans set six-year term limits for committee chairs, including years spent as ranking member when the party is the minority. The GOP last voted to keep the term limits at the beginning of the current term.
Waivers are rare. Only one was granted last session, to Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, who stayed an extra term chairing the House Education and Workforce Committee. Before Foxx, the last waiver was granted in 2012, to former Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin.
McCaul's fight comes as Texan influence in the House is on the decline. The state delegation, which includes more Republicans than any other state, will see the retirements of Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who stepped down from her powerful perch as Appropriations chair, and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Denton, who will give up the Rules Committee gavel less than a year after gaining it.
Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, will remain the top Republican on the Budget Committee. And Rep. Brian Babin, R-Woodville, is currently the only Republican running for the top spot on the Science, Space and Technology Committee.
Committee assignments are determined by the Republican Steering Committee, made up of party leadership and regional representatives, and then approved by the full conference. The 36-member Steering Committee, which always includes at least two Texans, has been stingy with waivers in the past, even when considering chairs like McCaul who have spent most of their time in the minority.
The decision could depend in part on how McCaul's committee feels about his leadership. Foxx had the support of every Republican on her committee in seeking a waiver, including from the next-highest ranking Republican who would have replaced her.
None of McCaul's 26 Republican colleagues on Foreign Affairs have made endorsements yet, but at least three members — Ann Wagner of Missouri, the committee's vice chair, Darrell Issa of California and Joe Wilson of South Carolina — have already confirmed they are running against McCaul for the top spot. The committee includes three fellow Texans: Reps. Nathaniel Moran of Tyler, Keith Self of McKinney and Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, none of whom responded to requests for comment.
It's not immediately clear whether any of McCaul's announced rivals would diverge greatly from his policy positions, and all three supported foreign aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this year.
Matthew Choi contributed to this report.
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