The Latest Breaking News from Tony Gonzales

Texas Republicans refuse to back continued aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without a major hardening of border security policy.

In late September, Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, set the internet ablaze with his visit to the Texas-Mexico border to provide what he called an “unfiltered” perspective on the border crisis as thousands of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, crossed the Rio Grande River.

Reps. Kay Granger, Tony Gonzales and Jake Ellzey were firm in their opposition to Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.

U.S. Reps. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Tony Gonzales of San Antonio and Jake Ellzey of Midlothian were among 22 other Republicans and all Democrats voting against Jordan in a third attempt at electing a new speaker this week.

The move would let the House act on legislation amid the Israel-Hamas war and other priorities, but several Texans recoiled at the idea, saying it would hand power to Democrats and break trust with supporters.

Jordan remained 18 votes away from becoming House speaker during a vote Wednesday. Meanwhile, activists in Texas are pressuring Republicans to fall in line behind Jordan’s effort.

Reps. Jake Ellzey, Kay Granger and Tony Gonzales joined 17 other House Republicans to block the Ohio Republican from the gavel.

A divided House Republican Conference returned to the Capitol on Monday night amid urgency to fill its leadership vacuum.

The members are sick of the leverage the rule has had over the conference, saying it pushed leadership into the hands of the most extreme right-wing members.

Texas has by far the largest Republican delegation in the House, and gaining their support would be a major boost for any candidate as the conference meets to pick new leaders next week.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has reached out to Mexico for help confronting the spike in migration.