WASHINGTON — Fourteen Texas Republicans voted Wednesday against a deal negotiated by their party and the White House to raise the debt ceiling. The group included three far-right members — Reps. Chip Roy of Austin, Michael Cloud of Victoria and Keith Self of McKinney — who said the deal violated an agreement to reduce federal spending in exchange for their support for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The other Republicans who voted against the bill, all of whom supported McCarthy in January, were U.S. Reps. Wesley Hunt of Houston, John Carter of Round Rock, Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, Tony Gonzales of San Antonio, Nathaniel Moran of Tyler, Beth Van Duyne of Irving, Pete Sessions of Waco, Morgan Luttrell of Willis, Lance Gooden of Terrell, Pat Fallon of Sherman and Randy Weber of Friendswood. Several cited concerns from constituents over the ballooning national debt. view article

President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced a debt limit deal Saturday, with a vote expected Wednesday in the House of Representatives. Heritage Foundation experts scrutinized the text of the 99-page bill, including provisions related to spending, pro-growth policies, student loan cancellation, and work requirements for welfare. The following is their latest analysis of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. view article

WASHINGTON — Four Texas Republicans vowed Tuesday to oppose a deal by their party and the White House to raise the debt ceiling, saying it violated an agreement to reduce federal spending in exchange for their support for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. “We were a unified Republican Party standing up for the things we actually run on, actually trying to change this place, actually trying to secure the border,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, told reporters Tuesday. “Unfortunately last week, there was a breach.” Roy made the remarks flanked by members of the House Freedom Caucus, including Texans Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, and Keith Self, R-McKinney. The lawmakers vowed to do everything in their power to kill the debt ceiling deal as crafted by McCarthy and President Joe Biden, arguing that it insufficiently reduces spending and effectively gives up a major bargaining chip for Republicans. view article

As local school districts join a nationwide lawsuit against some of the largest social media companies, the educational leaders aim to bring awareness to the negative effects these apps and sites have on teenagers and children and hold the businesses accountable. “We’re alleging the public nuisance legal theory, which allows government entities to hold companies liable for unique damages caused by a company’s conduct,” said Ronald Repak, partner at Dillon McCandless King Coulter and Graham, LLP. view article

A slew of school districts across the country are suing social media companies, alleging that the tech giants are contributing to a youth mental health crisis. Catch up quick: The first of the lawsuits was filed in January by Seattle Public Schools, alleging that social media companies had intentionally designed and marketed their platforms to attract youth and had violated Washington state's public nuisance law. view article

While a bill that would limit transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice at public schools awaits the governor's signature, a number of school districts across the state hope such a law will guide them as they write into policy practices they have been following for years. Many of those districts are also waiting to see if updates to federal law expected in May will clash with this bill, leaving administrators to decide whether to comply with state or federal law. Such a clash would put funding from both levels at risk. view article

There is a growing and disturbing trend of anti-intellectual elitism in American culture. It's the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility. Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, says in an article in the Washington Post, "Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture; a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism."  view article

A Mississippi school district has been ordered to desegregate its schools after what the Justice Department called a five-decade-long legal battle. The Cleveland School District, about two hours northwest of Jackson, was told that it must consolidate its schools in order to provide real desegregation for students in the city of about 12,000. view article