While many across the nation were taking time off from work to honor the fallen over Memorial Day weekend, the Texas legislature was burning the midnight oil, attempting to pass a new voting reform bill. It had passed in the state Senate on a party-line vote, but Democrats in the state House were using every parliamentary tool in the book to delay the vote. When that failed, they simply stood up and left, leaving the chamber without a quorum to move forward with the vote. But the Democrats weren’t the only ones with a few tricks left up their sleeves. Governor Greg Abbott responded by pulling out his own pen and threatening to veto Article 10 of the recently passed budget. That’s the section that funds the legislature and pays the salaries of the lawmakers.

Democrats vowed to continue to fight a Texas bill that would put new restrictions on voting as the state’s Republican governor threatened to cut off funding for the Legislature if they do so.

“I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature. Article 10 funds the legislative branch,” Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday. “No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities. Stay tuned.”

The threat to lawmakers came after Texas Democrats on Sunday night used every parliamentary tool at their disposal to stop the bill, ultimately staging a walkout to prevent a vote from being held before a midnight deadline.

When I flipped on CNN this morning, John Berman was waxing poetic over Texas Democrats “playing the hardball they need to play” amid the GOP’s “assault on voting.” I’m noticing a very different tone on this issue than we’ve heard in previous legislative debates. When Senate Republicans employed the filibuster to stop another massive Democratic spending package, there were calls for the GOP to “do your jobs” and bring the legislation up for a vote. But now that members of their own party are walking off the job and refusing to cast their own votes, it’s somehow being portrayed as a heroic act.

Abbott is saying that the bill will be reintroduced in a special legislative session that has yet to be scheduled. Of course, operating a special session may prove difficult if the legislature isn’t being funded. (I suppose they could always vote by candlelight if the utility shuts off the power over unpaid electricity bills.)

The proposed changes to Texas’ voting laws have clearly proven controversial and the debate broke down along strictly partisan lines. I won’t pretend to understand what motivated some of the changes, but that’s a matter for the state’s elected officials to determine. For example, ensuring that there are poll watchers from both parties at polling stations (which is included in the legislation) seems like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you want to increase confidence in the process by having bipartisan inspectors overseeing the handling of the ballots? For some reason, however, the Democrats seem to think that’s a bad idea.

Other measures don’t seem as obvious to me. I can definitely understand why you might want to limit the number of absentee and mail-in ballots after the disaster we witnessed last year. But the bill also eliminates 24-hour polling stations, drive-through voting, and voting before 1 pm on Sundays. Those all seem to be measures intended to make it more convenient to vote, particularly for those who work late shifts or have mobility or transportation issues. Still, as I said, that’s a call for Texans to make.

One thing that the Democrats in the Texas state House might want to keep in mind is that this Band on the Run act can’t last forever. They may manage to avoid voting on the bill under discussion, but they will also be unable to vote on anything else. And if Abbott makes good on his threat, they may be about to endure some economic hardship of their own.