Missouri Republicans have been waging a bitter fight over a piece of Right to Work legislation that peaked last night and today turned into a filibuster that lasted 8 hours.
The fight began as members of the press and public were denied the right to maintain any record of a senate hearing on the affair. Stripped of the ability to record audio or video of the events, phones were taken from those who wanted to take a photo of the proceedings.
The moment press was shut out, the fight began to spin out of control.
After extended debate, reporters were finally allowed audio recording, but those present were stripped of cell phones and attempts to take photos resulted in expulsion from the body.
The fight lasted into the night and grew more bitter this morning, as Senate Democrats took to the floor to launch a filibuster against the legislation. Senator Richards (Joplin) had made it clear how he felt about the issue:
http://politicmo.com/...
But when legislators return on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard said he is tired of playing nice. He said Friday that he will bring up the “right-to-work” bill before many other bills, including a measure with wide support that would extend Missouri’s Federal Reimbursement Allowance program which provides the state about $3 billion for Medicaid each year.
“There’s priorities on both sides of the aisle. If mine don’t make it, nobody else’s is going to either,” Richard told reporters. “We’re going to do our stuff first, which is my stuff, which is ‘right-to-work.’”
Republicans got around the filibuster by calling for the previous question, a move that has rarely occurred - and caused some of those in favor of the legislation to worry about the standard it sets for future debate.
http://www.lebanondailyrecord.com/...
The vote came after a more than eight-hour filibuster by Democrats and some Republican opponents. Republican Sen. Bob Dixon, of Springfield, supports right to work and voted for the measure but warned that using the "previous question" to force a vote — which has happened only 14 times in the Senate's history — would harm the decorum of the Senate.
"The impact and the imprint that it can have on future legislative sessions can be tremendous," Dixon said.
The measure had prior passed the house 91-64, not enough to sustain a veto override, though Missouri Republicans seem to believe that they could sustain such an effort in the face of an inevitable veto.