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MO GOP approves RTW resolution

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — While Missourians wait in anticipation for a September veto session that might see Republicans attempting to override a gubernatorial veto of Right-to-Work legislation, the Missouri Republican Party is hoping to jockey support with their own resolution.

The Missouri Republican State Committee approved a resolution last Saturday supporting Right-to-Work legislation, despite the fact that it has largely been Republican resistance that has kept the issue from becoming law.

‘The fact that the committee made a stand on this is huge,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, R—Springfield, a vocal supporter of RTW and past sponsor of the bill. “It’s also worth it to know that 80 percent of our caucus supports this issue.”

Burlison said he couldn’t comment on whether or not the resolution would encourage more cautious members of his own party, or shore up a guarantee that an override vote would be held at all. But he did say that the committee issuing a resolution of this nature wasn’t common, and spoke well to the increasing unity among Republicans on the issue of labor.

Despite veto-proof majorities in both chambers for several years, Republicans have been unable to get RTW bills across the finish line thanks to the handful of pro-labor Republicans that consistently break ranks on the issue. The resolution approved by the GOP state committee urges the Republicans in the House and the Senate to work to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto, a fairly tall order.

In the House, RTW got 92 votes on its final passage, well short of the more than 100 needed to override. In the senate, the bill was short by two votes. Nixon has since vetoed the bill at several high profile events and appears prepared to spend much of his summer campaigning against an override, an increasingly common summer activity to the Democratic governor.

You can read the full text of the resolution here.