Thomas B. Reed was the Speaker of the House from 1889 to 1891 and again from 1895 to 1899. In 1890 Reed was responsible for ending a practice that had become common on the House floor, the practice of the disappearing quorum. Whenever the minority party (the Democrats for most of the era) wanted to block a vote, they would refuse to answer the roll call and thus, a quorum not having been met, no vote could take place.
Reed recognized that this was not at all what the Founding Fathers had intended, nor was it what the Constitution said. The rights of the minority are not protected by a refusal of elected officials to act as they have been elected to do; the rights of the minority are protected by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and other Amendments, and by the Courts. While there are rules in the Senate that allow debate to proceed virtually indefinitely, thus producing the filibuster, the intent was to generate sound and comprehensive deliberation, not prevent any action at all.
Reed noted that legislatures are not simply seated to discuss problems and then do nothing, that the people have elected them to act. And they must act according to democratic process, not by simply avoiding votes.
Reed fixed his particular problem by simply having the Master-at-Arms record who was present in the chamber at the time of a roll call, thus generating a quorum and moving forward with a vote. (It is worth noting that when Reed later had to preside over a vote in support of President McKinley’s move toward war against Spain, a war Reed had come to oppose, Reed was offered the suggestion that if he opposed it he could bend the rules and block the vote, because he knew that if it came to a vote the bill would pass. Reed refused to do, and later resigned from the position of Speaker and from Congress.
Yesterday we heard that the Democratic members of the Wisconsin legislature had walked off the floor and fled the state in order to prevent a vote by the majority of the Wisconsin legislature. That vote would reduce the overall benefits of the state employees and mandate that they would need to pay more for their healthcare.
The lesson of Speaker Reed – 120 years ago – speaks to us today. Legislatures are put in place to do the will of the people, locally, in state capitals and in Washington. They are not elected to avoid their duties or avoid the unpleasant tasks of a republic when there are dangers or difficulties. Wisconsin has fiscal problems. The citizens of Wisconsin have noted the same and elected the majority of its legislators, as well as its new governor and given them the mandate to fix these problems. That is what the majority has said. Now, in an effort to thwart that majority, a majority which is in no way threatening the fundamental rights of the individual, nor in any way threatening good order, the community as a whole, or the survival of the state, or in fact in any way threatening any of the rights and freedoms in either the US Constitution or the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, the Democratic legislators have chosen to ignore the citizens of the state, thumb their collective noses at the democratic process, and violate their oaths of office that calls for them to uphold the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin (Article IV, Section 28), and instead are pandering to a small segment of their constituency.
It is worth noting that the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin (Article IV, Section 7 – quoted below in its entirety) suggests that except for standing rules of the Assembly, the present members could simply vote and be done with it. Additional rules exist to ensure that there is representation from all parties whenever an important vote takes place.
“Organization of legislature; quorum; compulsory attendance. SECTION 7. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide. “
But these particular legislators have chosen to disregard their Constitution. Why? Berhaps because they believe that the compensation package that state employees receive should not be amended so that they pay more for healthcare and retirement plans then they currently do. Perhaps they are pandering to a particular voting block. There is certainly much to debate about healthcare costs and retirement plan costs. But the fact remains that the state is going broke. At some point the benefits of a minority segment of any society have to be weighed against the cost of those benefits. That is what the voters did last November. This is not going to be pleasant. But the fact remains that the state needs to put its fiscal plans in order, the citizens have recognized that fact, and the legislature must act on the will of the voters. What the Democratic legislators of Wisconsin are now doing is simply an attempt to usurp the authority of the voters of that state.
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