Crenshaw, Fletcher spar in rare clash
Republican calls cut in 911 funds ‘common sense’; Dem says it’s ‘gotcha amendment’
Ever since Republican Dan Crenshaw and Democrat Lizzie Fletcher entered Congress together in early 2019, the Houston-area representatives have avoided clashes with one another while occasionally issuing joint news releases that contain mutual praise.
But that all changed Monday during an exchange that drew in at least three other members of Congress, brought a rebuke from a House committee chairman and resulted in Crenshaw taking to Twitter to slam Fletcher on an entirely unrelated point.
It started when an agitated Crenshaw attacked some Democrats during a marathon meeting of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is work shows ing on the massive “Build Back Better” spending bill that Democrats are pushing. Republicans offered an amendment that could have blocked 911 funding for police in states where cities have considered reducing funding for law enforcement, as the city of Austin did last year after the death of George Floyd.
After several Democrats objected to the amendment as political theater, Crenshaw went off on them like he was on a radio talk show. The former Navy SEAL, a regular on conservative talk who has a big presence on social media, accused Democrats of lying and said they and their policies were the reasons for a rise in crime in American cities.
In Fletcher, Crenshaw couldn’t have drawn a more different combatant. During her time in Congress, Fletcher has typically worked behind the scenes, rarely doing national television interviews and often using social media to offer nonpartisan takes on issues. But there she was on Monday immediately calling out Crenshaw for engaging in nonserious partisan “gotcha” tactics.
Crenshaw started it all when he explained why Republicans wanted to make Democrats vote on a Defund the Police amendment.
“This amendment is common sense, just like all the previous amendments,” Crenshaw said. “They expose the hypocrisy and contradictions that are present on the other side of the aisle. That is the purpose of this, to expose how insane this actually is. To expose the reality that if a city is defunding the police, they probably
don’t need more money for 911 centers, now do they?”
Crenshaw didn’t stop there.
“So spare me the outrage on the other side because we’re for exposing what your side says all the time,” Crenshaw said, raising his voice.
Then Crenshaw committed a no-no in Congress by specifically invoking the names of three Democrats who were not present in the room to defend themselves. Crenshaw referenced Reps. Ilhan Omar, DMinn.; Alexandria OcasioCortez, D-N.Y.; and Cori Bush, D-Mo., as leaders of the Democrats who he said have been heading the movement to defund police departments.
“If that makes you mad, too bad,” Crenshaw said shouting into the video feed. “Don’t direct your anger at us, direct it at your own people. They’re the ones you should be mad at.”
The three belong to the “Squad,” a group of leftleaning female representatives who drew attacks from President Donald Trump in 2019.
It was too much for Fletcher, who asked to be called on to respond.
“As someone who has practiced law for more than a dozen years, I can tell you that this amendment is not common sense,” she began. “This is not a smart amendment.”
Fletcher said the language is so overly broad and vague that it makes it impossible to follow or enforce. She said the way it is written, if just one person on a city council considered a plan to defund police, it would make the whole city ineligible for additional 911 funding.
She said a better route would be writing “thoughtful legislation” instead of what she called a partisan “gotcha amendment.”
“Which is effectively what Mr. Crenshaw just told us — that they filed this amendment, not because they think that it’s good policy but because it can call out some hypocrisy on the left,” Fletcher said. “That is not serious governance.”
Crenshaw also triggered a gentle rebuke from committee Chairman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.
“I’ve been letting members have a lot of leeway here,” Pallone said. “I really would prefer if members didn’t refer to other members by name, particularly if they’re not in the room. Let’s try in the future not to mention other members by name, particularly if they are not here and can’t defend themselves.”
But Crenshaw wasn’t done. He asked to be recognized a second time to respond to Fletcher, who had mentioned him by name.
At first, Pallone refused because Crenshaw had already spoken. But another Republican asked to be recognized, then gave his time to Crenshaw.
Pallone warned Crenshaw again not to mention members by name again if they aren’t on the committee to defend themselves.
“I’m not sure what Ms. Fletcher’s point about common sense was,” Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw then defended the amendment again, saying it was a serious one.
“This isn’t disingenuous,” Crenshaw said. “The opposition to it is disingenuous.”
Then another Democrat asked to be recognized to speak and lent his time to Fletcher to respond.
Fletcher repeated that the legislation was overly broad and unenforceable. Then, moments later, another member pointed out that the way the language was written in the amendment could keep an entire state from getting additional 911 funding if just one city were found to have defunded the police. Because Austin cut police budgets, Texas would not be allowed to get federal 911 funding to spread out to other cities such as Houston, where police funding has increased. Republicans questioned that interpretation for several minutes before Democrats eventually stopped the amendment from being added to the bill.
Earlier in the debate, Crenshaw slammed Democrats and blamed them for crime in the cities.
“People are literally dying day after day because of Democrat policies and only because of Democrat policies,” Crenshaw said.
The exchange lasted nearly 15 minutes.
But it didn’t end there. That night, Crenshaw used Twitter to mock Fletcher as not really being a moderate and accusing her of voting to destroy the oil industry because she expressed concerns about proposed fees on methane to fight climate change opposed by the oil and gas industry but didn’t oppose the provision in the Build Back Better bill.
“‘Moderate’ Texas Democrats like Lizzie Fletcher (who represents HOUSTON) voting to DESTROY our industry and make America dependent on foreign energy,” Crenshaw wrote.
Fletcher did not respond.
It is all light years away from where these two were a year ago. Both were elected to Congress in 2018 and have tried to find bills to jointly work on. Last year, they paired up on post-Hurricane Harvey recovery money and praised each other. Fletcher back then said she was “glad to partner with Congressman Crenshaw.”
Crenshaw responded with his own praise back.
“I’m proud to join with my colleague across the aisle, Rep. Fletcher, to help Texans who are still rebuilding after Harvey,” he said.
Crenshaw, 37, and Fletcher, 46, represent districts in Congress that border one another. Crenshaw represents the heavily gerrymandered 2nd Congressional District that includes parts of West Houston, goes north to Spring and snakes out east to pick up areas around Humble. Fletcher represents the 7th Congressional District, which stretches west from downtown along the Katy Freeway to the Fort Bend County line.