A Texas House committee voted along party lines Friday to force Democratic members who broke quorum last year to pay thousands in fines and penalties that the full chamber had imposed on them last year.

The move was the latest in a drawn-out battle over whether members who fled had a constitutional right to break quorum, which temporarily delayed the House from passing a contentious congressional redistricting plan.

The House Administration Committee voted to decrease the original assessment of $9,200 per member to $8,354, factoring out two Sundays during the quorum break. The actual payment of the fines won’t be required until the quorum-breakers are formally notified of the committee’s vote. State Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican who chairs the panel, provided no timetable for when that will occur.

State Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who leads his party’s caucus in the House, said the committee’s the action was more political retribution.

“This entire thing is just the point is to wear us down and drain our resources,” he said before the started of Friday’s closed-door hearing.

Houston Rep. Jolanda Jones called the proceeding “a sham.”

“I have been denied both my United States and Texas constitutional rights,” Jones told the panel, according to written testimony she shared with reporters. “I did not intend to impede House business. I intended to follow the directives of my constituents who duly elected me.”

Wu said Democrats should ignore a rule from Republican leaders that they pay the fine out out of their personal funds. He pointed to a section of the law that allows elected members to use privately raised money, such as campaign contributions, to cover some legislative-related expenses.

“State law trumps the House rules, period,” Wu said. “There’s no mincing words about that. That’s the law.”

Wu said he plans to personally pay any penalties, but that other members may choose not to.

The redistricting plan that Democrats tried to stop was prompted by President Donald Trump and meant to give Republicans five more winnable U.S. House seats in this year’s midterm elections. 

The quorum break, which gained national headlines, prompted California and other Democatic-led states to push their own redistricting plans. Democrats presently hold 43 of California’s 52 congressional districts. Republicans, meanwhile, dominate the Texas delegation by a 25-13 margin.

Friday’s committee hearing was held mostly in secret, before a public 6-5 vote, with all Republicans in support of enforcing the fine. Several Democratic House members who are not committee members were allowed inside the meeting.

Some Democratic members who attended the hearing said they intend to pay the fine and close the books on the matter. Jones said she would not, even if that means that the House will reduce the amount of money she is allocated for office staff and upkeep.

“I’m going to appeal this all the way up as far as I have to appeal it because I didn’t do anything wrong,” she told reporters. “I literally did what elected officials are supposed to do.”