A governor who disagrees with lawmakers shouldn't defund them: Austin American-Statesman editorial

No doubt tempers were running high. Republicans were furious that Democrats killed a controversial voting restrictions bill by walking out of the Capitol in the final hours of the legislative session.

But Gov. Greg Abbott’s threat Monday afternoon to veto the Texas Legislature’s funding – to defund a coequal branch of government, one that provides checks and balances on his own powers – marks a scandalous withholding of government funds to punish political foes, an authoritarian response trampling over the very idea of a government of the people.