Page 141 - Quorum News Today

Debate. the house speaker jeff fitzgerald anticipates they will be able to vote on the controversial budget repair bill today. jenna: the senate democrats theyve remained absent as theyve been mentioning. is there any way to compel them to come back to madison? >> reporter: its interesting when you look at what the republicans are doing. they met in the senate organization committee yesterday and decided on a rule that if a sends misses two or more sessions he or she needs to come to the senate ...

Week since we first reported right here on "america live" that democrats in the wisconsin state senate had fled the state in an attempt to block a vote on governor walkers budget bill. the 14 senate democrats are still awol. and they say they will continue to stay away "indefinitely." is that legal? do the people of wisconsin have any redress here? richard eisenberg is a constitutional law expert and assistant at marquette university law school. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me....

Isnt going to extradite them. in theory, it would be possible to go to court and get an injunction, good to civil court. i suspect that a court might conclude its a political question. megyn: what is the redress for the people of wisconsin who are sitting there not getting any of the peoples business done right now? >> there are a couple of things that i think can happen. first of all, these folks can be censured. that could strip out the nonfiscal provisions of the bill because our state consti...

It is illegal. are you really that cavalier do you really think that its okay for the presiding officer not to recognize numbers, to ignore the rules? apparently you do. i look forward to that debate. martha: this is incredible what were watching here, this is a marathon debate going on in the assembly, going on since noon yesterday, still no end in sight as this fight wages on. watch this: >> friday, saturday, we let the democrats figure out that theyre trying to shut down government. i mean, t...

Compel absent members to attend through whatever means and penalties they prescribe and, in fact, the wisconsin state senate, including these 14, have adopted rules which say that if there is no quorum that the clerk of the senate will identify those absent members to the sergeant of arms who will bring them in. megyn: it looks like thats happened, right? we talked about last week how the president of the senate in wisconsin had ordered them back and the state patrol was out looking for the demo...

Martha: loud and clear but from who knows where. that was senate minority leader mark miller along with his 13 fellow senate democrats, in their undisclosed location, believed to be somewhere in illinois at this point. mike tobin is live to us in madison, wisconsin. mike, we hear the assembly has really been the active chamber in the wisconsin legislature. whats going on there? >> you know, effectively, what you have going on in the house, or the assembly as its called in wisconsin is a filibust...

Building? >> nobody was trying to lock anybody out. the state highway patrol made a determination early in the day trying to manage the crowd. they are expecting a larger crowd and there was events already booked in the capitol. as the crowd started to come, they were able to put people into the capitol. it was not an issue. >> greta: what is different with ohio compared to indiana and wisconsin, you do not -- you have enough republicans that you dont need democrats for a quorum? so your democra...

The protesters out of the building? >> nobody was trying to lock anybody out. the state highway patrol made a determination early in the day trying to manage the crowd. they are expecting a larger crowd and there was events already booked in the capitol. as the crowd started to come, they were able to put people into the capitol. it was not an issue. >> greta: what is different with ohio compared to indiana and wisconsin, you do not -- you have enough republicans that you dont need democrats for...

That, even if you up and bolt, everyone would be rambling around. >>judge napolitano: this rule require as two thirds quorum for a majority plus one to enact legislation. normally a quorum is just majority plus one, republicans have that but they do not have the two thirds. >>neil: they would have the two thirds in the house assembly but not the state senate. >>judge napolitano: and they only have it if the democrats come back. >>neil: could they change the rule? >>guest: they probably could but...

Saying this is reagan moment for air traffic control. >> but tactics have to be different. what he can and ought to do is take out of the bill the parts that dont have to do with the fiscal matters. the heart of the issue is take away bargaining rights. he doesnt need a quorum of 20, he doesnt need democrats. he can do that. the he passes that, then all that is left the give-back with the union made on the money. there would be no reason for chicago democrats to stay in chicago and hide. he has ...