Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s immediate moves against the oil and gas industry produced a “chilling effect” against energy workers around the country.
“With this flurry of executive order activity, it sends a chilling effect, not only to the industry, but hard-working individuals throughout our country that rely on these jobs to put food on the table, and it’s a meaningful issue for them and is sometimes lost by coastal elites,” Bush told “America’s Newsroom.”
Biden’s early actions including canceling the Keystone Pipeline at the cost of 11,000 jobs and suspending new oil and gas permits on federal lands. Republicans have blasted Biden for what they view as pandering to the left on environmental causes and reducing U.S. energy independence.
Bush said he wanted to give Biden the “benefit of the doubt” but said the new president had shut out the oil and gas industry from having meaningful discussions.
“I’m afraid that we’re going to have to be in the courts to find redress,” he said.
Voices of Texas is a series of exclusive conversations with the people who make the Lone Star State what it is, discussing the important topics of today and looking toward the future.
AUSTIN, Texas — From his name alone, it seems George P. Bush was destined to go into politics. Currently, he serves as Texas Land Commissioner, and he said he’s determined to pave his own path in public service.
A native Texan, Bush graduated from Rice University, then became a school teacher before going to law school at The University of Texas. In 2014, he was elected as Texas Land Commissioner, and he’s taken the lead on historic projects like the remodeling of the Alamo and helping Texans rebuild after Hurricane Harvey.
With issues like COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, and police reform taking center stage, Bush said it’s time for Texans to come together to help one another.
Spectrum News recently sat down with Bush to hear his vision of the future.
What does being a Texan mean to you?
“Well, I think the Texas spirit is all about being tough. It’s about being independent. It’s about being strong, and it’s about being proud. And so when I think about the current environment, the new normal that we live in, I see the Texas spirit every single day at the Land Office… I’m just proud to be a Texan. I’m proud of the spirit and the ingenuity and the innovation that’s taking place in our state.”
What sets Texas apart from the other states in the country?
“We have a unique history in the fact that we established our own Republic. We, of course, have our six flags and have a storied history, whether it’s the Spanish crown, the Mexican Republic, or even the Texas revolution that resulted in the Texas Republic. And that’s one of the coolest aspects of being land commissioner is that I serve as the custodian of many of these historic items, and I serve as the day-to-day manager of the Alamo, the most visited site in the state of Texas. So it’s really an everyday experience for us to not only live this history, but to teach it. Now as the father of two who are seven and five years old, I consider it a personal mission of mine to continue to teach Texas children, whether we’re doing it remotely or in person, now with the new realities of COVID-19, to speak to this history and make sure other generations understand it.”
What do you think Americans get wrong in their assumptions or understanding of Texas and Texans?
“Well, I think that sometimes they don’t understand our independent viewpoint and how we view the world. We’re very much individualistic in that we roll up our sleeves, and we just get things done. And you know what I thought was remarkable after Hurricane Harvey was the rest of the country just admired our spirit. They admired the Cajun Navy; they admired people helping each other out whether you were white or Black or brown it didn’t matter. We helped out our fellow man and responded to this crisis. As somebody who helped the governor, helped our communities recover and still do, I just thought it was remarkable that that spirit was unique and the rest of the country saw it as uniquely Texan. They misinterpret that as braggadocio or swagger, as my uncle would say. Sometimes it’s just, you know, in Texas we’re just walking, and that’s swagger, so that’s who we are. Sometimes it’s misinterpreted, but you know I think it’s, again, one of the reasons why we’re considered to be such a great state.”
Following Hurricane Harvey, about 30,000 Texas residents fled their homes to seek safety in emergency shelters with potentially hundreds of thousands evacuating to stay with family and friends. Approximately 10,000 sheltered in the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. Today, this situation would create another problem – the threat of “super spreading” COVID-19.
Experts are predicting an above-normal hurricane season with 13 to 19 named storms and three to six major hurricanes of Category 3 or greater with wind speeds of more than 100 miles per hour. These storms not only bring wind and flood damage, they can displace hundreds of thousands of coastal and inland residents.
When a large-scale natural disaster strikes, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) first provides Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA), which moves displaced residents from emergency shelters into temporary, non-congregate locations such as hotels. Following TSA, FEMA’s standard post-disaster short-term housing program is the temporary placement of travel trailers and manufactured housing units, or MHUs.
When the recent audio tapes surfaced that showed top Empower Texans officials attacking Governor Greg Abbott in profane, obscene and offensive language, the group’s executive director, Michael Quinn Sullivan, publicly stated that he was shocked by these comments.
He shouldn’t be. For years, he and his organization have distorted the truth and attacked officeholders who don’t seek his approval. I know because I am one of them. And the comments that have been made about me have been just as extreme and untrue as what was heard on the audiotape. The only difference is they’ve been made publicly.
As the only statewide, non-judicial, elected official in Texas who has not received an endorsement or a contribution from Empower Texans, I am uniquely qualified to say: enough is enough. Enough of the lying. Enough of the crude comments made in public and in private about fellow Republicans.
It also means more school choice, vocational education and additional resources.
As our state begins a new year, we face a familiar challenge: How do we better prepare the next generation of Texas leaders?
As a former public school teacher, I think the answer to that question is found in our schools. The workers of tomorrow are being trained in the classrooms of today. So, are the leaders of tomorrow adequately prepared in our classrooms?
The Texas General Land Office is one of the largest financiers of public education in the state. As land commissioner and a former educator, I felt it was important to get an inside look at what our students are doing in the classroom, lend a helping hand, and speak with administrators and teachers. Too often, we strive to enhance education without understanding exactly where the need resides.
This past year, I decided to personally invest my time and energy in Texas students and schools. During the Texas General Land Office’s Year of Education, I visited with more than 80 administrators, 60 teachers and almost 4,000 students from across the state. I didn’t limit these visits to one region or one type of school. Rather, I visited educational environments of all types: public, private, charter, home-school, rural, urban and suburban.
For most of these lessons, I taught a class on Texas history featuring primary source material from the GLO archives, like a historic map of Texas. But what I found to be most rewarding were the moments not when I was talking, but when I was listening. And after hearing from so many administrators, teachers and students, some of the next steps our state needs to take in improving Texas education became clear.
AUSTIN — As a navy intelligence officer who served in Afghanistan, George P. Bush saw the lengths to which radical Islamic terrorists went to spread their hateful ideology.
Then, on Aug. 3, terror hit home when a mass shooter killed 22 people in El Paso to repel what he called “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Bush, the Texas land commissioner, had seen silence follow similar attacks. He didn’t want that to happen again.
“There have now been multiple attacks from self-declared white terrorists in the U.S. in the last several months. This is a real and present threat we must all denounce and defeat,” he said in a tweet hours after the shooting. “I am praying for the victims of the shooting in El Paso. And I am asking that all Americans stand firm against all forms of terrorism.”
As Texas voters grow more diverse and Republicans begin searching for a broader appeal to voters of color, Bush’s quiet leadership on the issue puts him in position to play a leading role in the party heading into the next decade — especially in a post-Trump era.
Other Republican officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and even President Donald Trump followed Bush’s lead after the attack and publicly denounced its white supremacist roots.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican George P. Bush, the only member of the Bush dynasty still in public office, condemned Thursday recurring episodes of what he described as racist or hateful rhetoric within the Texas GOP, and ripped what he called false accusations fanned by his Hispanic heritage.
Bush, Texas’ land commissioner, first denounced a white GOP state legislator who suggested “Asian” challengers on the ballot in 2020 were motivated by race. He then joined others Saturday in calling for the resignation of a Republican county chairwoman near Houston who used a racial slur in a text message about a black party organizer.
But his latest rebuke was personal: in a tweet Wednesday, Bush questioned whether critics had falsely accused him of plotting to erect a statue of Santa Anna — the Mexican general whose troops killed Texas independence fighters at the Alamo in San Antonio in 1836 — because his mother, Columba Bush, was born in Mexico. He called the accusation “flat out racist.”
Bush is the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, who died last year, and the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was a presidential candidate in 2016.
Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes construction. From the towering high-rises going up in our cities to the growth of residential housing across the state, building is one of our strongest businesses. In recent years, the construction industry has contributed $91.2 billion to our powerhouse economy and accounted for more than 726,000 jobs. And this will only continue to increase as our population grows by a thousand new Texans every day.
Since Hurricane Harvey, Texas builders have been a major part of the recovery effort, readily assisting with public outreach, charity and rebuilding. Harvey’s winds were brutal in the Coastal Bend, and the 27 trillion gallons of rainfall flooded countless homes in and near Houston and across southeast Texas. We heard from thousands of families displaced by tragic flooding. It was devastating, but seeing construction trucks and loads of drywall heading to homesites gave us hope.
The only member of the Bush dynasty still in public office says he and former President George H.W. Bush’s 16 other grandchildren grew up in awe of the man they knew as “gampy.”
George P. Bush told mourners Thursday that the former president would challenge his grandkids to games like “the first to sleep award.” The line drew laughs at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where the Bush family worshipped.
The 42-year-old George P. Bush holds the office of Texas land commissioner. He joined former Secretary of State James Baker in eulogizing the 41st president, who died last week at age 94.
George P. Bush is the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. He was easily re-elected in November to a second four-year term in Texas.
He’s dashing. He thinks fast on his feet. He’s a member of a political dynasty. And he can charm in flawless English and Spanish.
George P. Bush, at 38, has the rather obscure-sounding title of Texas land commissioner. But the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and nephew and grandson of U.S. presidents, is anything but obscure on the national stage.
After barely 30 days in office, he’s already headlined high-profile rallies on broad issues such as abortion and school choice.
Bush, whose state office administers Texas’ vast public lands and mineral rights, insists he’s not yet eyeing any moves up Texas’ political ladder. But the newest Bush in politics has wasted no time becoming a leading voice for top conservative causes and seizing the spotlight in a state already full of powerful Republicans.
“He’s a rising star in our state and nationally,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist based in Austin. “He’s going to be in very high demand this year. They’re going to have to get good at saying no.”
His grandfather and an uncle are former presidents.
In the past, the land commissioner’s post has led to loftier political heights in Texas. David Dewhurst served in it before his 12 years as lieutenant governor, which ended last month. Bush’s more immediate goal might be to buoy his father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, if he seeks the White House in 2016.
The son could help the father build a political beachhead in Texas, where Jeb Bush’s brother and George P. Bush’s uncle, George W. Bush, served as governor from 1995 until becoming president in 2000. It’s also a state where Jeb Bush may have to battle two Texans with probable presidential designs: former Gov. Rick Perry and tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz. Another likely GOP candidate, Sen. Rand Paul, represents Kentucky but grew up in Texas.
