AUSTIN – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued this statement today following the completion of the State Auditor’s audit of all impeachment spending costs:

“Today marks 1 year, 6 months, and 3 days since I called for an audit of all impeachment spending by the Texas House and Senate. I swiftly turned all the Texas Senate’s records over to the State Auditor right after that. As I said from the very beginning, taxpayers have a right to know how much of their tax dollars were spent on former Speaker Dade Phelan’s failed political gambit.

“The Senate spent taxpayer funds as prudently as possible, only spending $435,087 on the entire trial. This included $135,000 in printing fees of the journal, as required by Senate rules.

“Former Speaker Phelan left the speakership withholding the House’s impeachment records, despite repeated widespread calls for him to release the records in the name of transparency. When I asked new Speaker Burrows to release the House’s impeachment expenditures, he gave me two boxes of documents almost immediately, which I promptly handed over to the State Auditor on March 6, 2025.

“The State Auditor’s report is exactly as expected. Former Speaker Phelan was hiding $4,436,498 in expenditures from taxpayers. He caused taxpayers to lose $5,110,038 in total costs. What a complete waste of money! The House’s total was more than 10 times the Senate’s expenditures.

“Now that taxpayers have the facts about how former Speaker Dade Phelan frivolously wasted taxpayer funds for an ill-fated political gambit, we can put this shameful epoch of our state’s history behind us. I thank Speaker Burrows for releasing the House’s records and for his commitment to transparency.”