Texas Governor Greg Abbott intensified his confrontation with Democratic lawmakers who have spent a second week outside the state to block a mid-decade congressional redistricting plan. The Republican governor told CBS News Texas that maps designed to capture five additional GOP-leaning U.S. House seats could be expanded to as many as eight, arguing Texas is merely matching partisan tactics used in Democratic-controlled states. Because more than 50 House Democrats remain in Illinois, the 150-member chamber is still four members short of the two-thirds quorum required to conduct business. The impasse again prevented a vote on the maps on 11 August. Abbott has vowed to keep calling 30-day special sessions after the current one ends on 19 August and has asked the Texas Supreme Court to remove 13 absent legislators from office. The court set an expedited briefing schedule that runs through 4 September. House Speaker Dustin Burrows escalated pressure by authorizing civil arrest warrants and creating a toll-free hotline with the Department of Public Safety for Texans to report sightings of the missing lawmakers. State police have been posted outside legislators’ homes and other locations, although none has yet been returned to Austin. Republicans also advanced five bills intended to speed recovery from the 4 July Hill Country floods that killed at least 137 people, positioning the measures for a vote the moment a quorum is restored. Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said his members would return only if disaster relief is taken up ahead of redistricting. The showdown, encouraged by former President Donald Trump, has drawn national attention. California Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democrats have urged Texas Republicans to abandon the effort and have hinted at retaliatory mid-decade map-drawing in their own states. Texas Senate leaders say they will attempt another vote on the maps when the chamber convenes at 11 a.m. on 12 August.