On Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott made good on his threat to veto a bill funding the state legislature, asserting that taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for legislators who fail to do their jobs. “Texans don’t run from a legislative fight, and they don’t walk away from unfinished business,” Abbott insisted. “Funding should not be provided for those who quit their job early, leaving their state with unfinished business and exposing taxpayers to higher costs for an additional legislative session. I therefore object to and disapprove of these appropriations.”

Recall that last month, the Republican-led legislature put forward a bill to enhance election integrity in the state. The legislation rolled back some pandemic-related expansions of voting conveniences, though it included a generous two-week window for early voting. It also created a new ID number-based system for authenticating absentee ballots rather than the notoriously unreliable system of trying to match signatures. Rather than debate and vote on the bill, Democrat state lawmakers snuck out of a legislative session prior to a scheduled vote in an underhanded move to prevent the bill’s passage. Abbott blasted Democrats and vowed to withhold legislative funding until the election integrity bill receives a vote.

“Abbott vetoed Article 10 of the state budget approved by the legislature Friday,” The Daily Wire reports. “Article 10 not only funds lawmakers’ salaries, but also the salaries of staff and maintenance workers, and it funds legislative agencies such as the Legislative Reference Library.”

Predictably, Democrats cried foul, falsely accusing Abbott of acting as a dictator. State Representative Chris Turner (D), the chair of the state’s Democrat caucus, even asserted that Abbott’s actions were unconstitutional and vowed to take him to court. “Our constituent services are the lifeblood of our public service, something Abbott should try learning about,” Turner lamented. “By placing a termination date on the employment of all legislative staff, the governor is cutting off service to millions of Texans.”

That’s an ironic charge, given the fact that it was Democrats refusing to do their jobs that created this situation in the first place. Abbott is simply holding the legislature to account and looking out for taxpaying Texans who expect their state lawmakers to do the job they were elected to perform.

Of course, the crux of the issue is protecting elections, which Democrats have falsely painted as a Republican effort at “voter suppression.” What the bill actually does is work to promote greater integrity in the vote and thereby instill more public trust in the state’s election process. Obviously, Democrats prefer a system rife with fraud, the keystone of which is their bulk-mail ballot strategy.

Coupled with his announcement last Wednesday of a $250 million down payment on Texas’s plan to “build a border wall … to help secure the border,” Abbott is showing himself to be a bold leader. He’s not afraid to stand against the Democrats and their leftist anti-America, individual-liberty-eroding agenda, and other Republicans should take note.