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Drastic measures necessary to defend our Republic

Senator Jason Holsman

The end of every session plays out like a Shake-speare sonnet. There exists the proposition of a problem, the turn and ultimate resolution.

By its very nature, the formation of law is the management of conflict.  Conflict is, and has always been, an inherent component of the legislative process.

In rare instances, this struggle is existential and holds no resolution. The minority members of each legislative chamber must cautiously determine which issues fall into this category.  Failing to do, paralysis creeps into the legislative process; look no further than Washington D.C.

The Missouri General Assembly faced such an existential conflict the last week of session when Senate Republicans forced a vote on HB 116, commonly referred to by conservative special interests as “Right to Work”. 

Right-to-work laws prohibit payment of union dues or fees as a condition of employment.  These laws create a “free-rider” problem, in which non-union employees benefit from collective bargaining without paying union dues.  Right-to-work laws cripple labor unions and, in the process, damage middle class workers.  Right-To-Work laws are wrong for working families and wrong for Missouri.  

The House passed Right-To-Work with 92 yes votes, 17 votes short of the necessary number to override the Governor’s veto.  The final senate vote was 21-13, with four Republicans joining Democrats in opposition, 2 votes short of an override.

When the Republicans brought Right-To-Work to the Senate floor, they didn’t allow any Senator, other than the bill sponsor, to offer amendments.   We weren’t given the chance to make the bill better; no chance for negotiation in a legislative body expressly designed to foster compromise.  Then, after a few hours of debate, the Republicans used the “nuclear option.”

A previous question (PQ) motion, referred to as the “nuclear option”, cuts off debate by a majority vote. The PQ is a tactic often used in the House but has been exercised very rarely in the Senate.

Historically, using a PQ to end debate on legislation has had disastrous results for the decorum of the Senate.

From 1973 until the Democrats lost control of the Missouri Senate in 2001, no bill became law by utilization of the Previous Question. During that time, the motion was twice used when a Senator offered an amendment and subsequently left the building.

The other instance, SB 820 (Busing, 1982) was passed by means of a PQ only to be withdrawn two weeks after that PQ motion carried.  In all three cases, the PQ was not the mechanism used to pass the legislation.

By comparison, over the course of 28 years (from 1973 until 2001) the Democratic Majority never used the PQ as a means to truly agree and finally pass legislation.  However, over the last 14 years, the Republican majority has used the PQ to ultimately pass 9 highly controversial, partisan bills.

George Washington once told Thomas Jefferson that the Senate was the saucer to cool the hot tea from the House.  Free and fair debate is the foundation of a Senator’s equality. No issue should rise above the institution.

After the Republicans didn’t allow amendments to be offered on Right-To-Work, they used the nuclear option to abruptly end debate, the immediate result was a functional shutdown of the Missouri Senate. In the end, the forced passage of Right-To-Work killed 24 conference committee reports and 148 house bills. Both Democrats and Republicans lost priorities due to the leadership decision to use the nuclear option.

Catherine Schuyler sets fire to her fields

During the American Revolution, Catherine Schuyler, wife of Major General Phillip Schuyler, set fire to the wheat fields of the Schuyler estate to keep the British from feeding their army. We set fire to our own legislation in order to preserve the senate as an institution.  Sometimes drastic measures are necessary to defend our Republic. 

What does this mean going forward?

The answer is still uncertain. The resistance will continue until we come to an understanding as a body.   In my opinion, only a change in Senate rules or leadership has the potential to thaw this nuclear winter.