The Texas legislature’s special session ended in chaos and confusion early Wednesday, when a marathon filibuster failed — but so did a Republican effort to pass a bill that would have greatly restricted abortions in the state.
The Republican-dominated Senate needed to vote “yea” on the bill by midnight to send it to the governor to sign into law.
But at 3 a.m., Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst stepped to the Senate floor to declare the bill dead and the special session over.
And thus ended a night of intense drama that both sides of the abortion debate followed breathlessly, in large part to cheer — or jeer — the efforts of a lone lawmaker who talked for 10 straight hours to run out the clock.
Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis tried Tuesday to block the abortion bill by attempting a 13-hour filibuster, but fell short by about three hours when the chairman ruled she had gone off topic.
The packed gallery of the session erupted in boos. And for 15 minutes — as the clocked ticked toward 12 a.m. — their raucous chants and shouts of “Shame, shame, shame” drowned out the proceedings.
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