'Get to work': Phelan charters plane, demands Democratic lawmakers head back to Texas from Washington, D.C.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) said a plane is ready for lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to head back to Texas after they were trying to throw a vote in Republican voting restriction bills. 

"A plane will be waiting Saturday in Washington for my colleagues ready to get to work. The State of Texas is waiting," Phelan said in a Twitter post. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott branded the Dems "straight-up" hypocrites for their actions, he said in a Fox News article. 

"If the Republican leadership has private jets just laying around, maybe we should save them to fly in emergency supplies when we have our next state-wide power failure," Rep. Gene Wu said in a Twitter post. 

Abbott said everything they're doing is "perfectly legal," according to a Fox News article. 

Phelan has chartered a plane and demanded the lawmakers return to Austin, according to a KVUE article. 

Phelan has also asked those who fled to Washington to yield constitutional per diems for the time they have been away, a KVUE article said. 

There's an additional complication now related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Six of the Democrats have now tested positive for COVID-19, according to an NBC News article. 

One of the Democratic lawmakers from Texas has made a stance on the mask mandate in the state.

"With classes starting next month, it’s time to stop political games. Families deserve clear guidance and policies to keep students, teachers and staff safe. Most students haven’t received vaccine, masks must play a critical role. Abbott should lift ban and let school set rules," Texas State Rep. Donna Howard said in a Twitter post. 

According to a Fox News article, Howard was maskless and one of the Texas Democrats who fled to D.C.