Truth vs Lies
LIE
Gary VanDeaver voted against teacher pay raises and school funding.
TRUTH
Gary VanDeaver voted TWICE during the regular legislative session to increase teacher pay student funding. He even Joint-Authored one of those bills which included over $14 billion in new funding for our public schools. Since it did not include a voucher, the voucher lobby said no.
Sources: (88R) HB 100 & (88R) SB 9
TRUTH
Gary VanDeaver voted with other rural Republicans to remove vouchers from an omnibus education bill and leave the bill solely as a massive public education funding bill, which included teacher pay raises and testing reforms. The author of the bill, upset that the voucher was removed, returned the bill to committee and vote was never taken. With the voucher language removed, Gary would have voted yes on the bill to give our teachers and schools the funding they so desperately need.
Source: 88(S4) HB 1
LIE
Gary VanDeaver voted against school choice.
TRUTH
Gary VanDeaver supports school choice and the parental right to choose the best option for their children – public school, private school, charter school, or homeschool. Texas already has school choice! Gary DOES NOT support the diversion of taxpayer dollars away from public schools to private schools with no accountability, transparency, or open enrollment requirement. The proposed voucher program came with a $2 billion dollar price tag that could lead to increased taxes and had no provisions stopping illegal immigrants from receiving the voucher. Additionally, a voucher program would create more government interference in both private schools and homeschooling options.
You can read more about the voucher debate here.
Source: 88(S4) HB 1
LIE
Gary VanDeaver voted to give taxpayer dollars to hospitals performing gender modifications on children.
TRUTH
Gary VanDeaver Co-Sponsored and passed Senate Bill 14, which BANNED gender modification procedures for minors.
Source: 88(R) SB 14
TRUTH
The amendment was unnecessary because the passage of SB 14 already banned ALL gender transition surgeries and treatments for minors in Texas.
LIE
Gary VanDeaver voted to allow men into women’s restrooms.
TRUTH
As the father of two daughters and three grandchildren, two of whom are girls, Gary NEVER voted to allow men into women’s restrooms.
TRUTH
Gary helped pass bills that ban men in women’s sports, gender modification surgeries on minors, explicit books in libraries, and underage drag shows.
Sources: 87(S3) HB 25, 88(R) HB 900, SB 12, SB 14, & SB 15
LIE
Gary VanDeaver supports explicit materials in school libraries.
TRUTH
Gary VanDeaver helped pass House Bill 900, the READER ACT, which bans sexually-explicit materials in school libraries. This bill bans these materials in school libraries, requires each book to be rated, and gives more power to parents of the materials their children read.
Source: 88(R) HB 900
LIE
Gary VanDeaver voted against a border security plan.
TRUTH
Gary VanDeaver has voted to expand border security funding by over 500% and passed many critical measures to help secure the border such as banning sanctuary cities, expanding law enforcement presence across the state, and allocated billions to erect razor wire and finish wall.
Sources: 85(R) SB 4, 88(R) HB 1, & 88(S4) SB 3
TRUTH
As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Gary helped craft the budget which led to record funding for border security.
Sources: 88(R) HB 1
TRUTH
Gary helped pass the strongest border security bill ever passed in the United States, Senate Bill 4.
Source: 88(S4) SB 4
LIE
Gary VanDeaver is weak on the Second Amendment.
TRUTH
Gary VanDeaver has co-authored and helped pass numerous pro-gun policies in Texas. Gary co-authored and passed Texas’ Constitutional Carry Law, made the state a Second Amendment Sanctuary State, banned any government entity from prohibiting the sale or transportation of firearms or ammunition during a declared disaster or emergency and much more!
Sources: 87(R) HB 1500, HB 1927, & HB 2622
