Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden stripped a group of hard-right senators of their committee chairmanships on Tuesday, an extraordinary punishment aimed at breaking the gridlock gripping the chamber.
The move from the Senate’s top Republican leader sidelines members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, who have used procedural tactics and personal attacks to push conservative legislation in ways that have angered the overall GOP majority.
“The beginning of the 2024 legislative session in the Senate has been nothing short of an embarrassment,” Rowden, who is running for secretary of state, told reporters minutes before Tuesday’s session began while flanked by GOP senators in a show of support.
“A chamber designed to be occupied with civil, principled statesmen and women has been overtaken by a small group of swamp creatures who, all too often, remind me more of my children than my colleagues.”
Sen. Jason Bean, a Holcomb Republican and the assistant majority leader, told reporters that the Freedom Caucus have not “followed the tradition of respect and integrity.”
“They have used the floor of the Senate for their own personal interest, make political speeches and obstructed the process in which legislation and issues are debated and passed,” he said.
Rowden’s decision provoked an immediate backlash from the six-senator Freedom Caucus, a group spearheaded by Sen. Rick Brattin from Harrisonville, Sen. Bill Eigel from Weldon Spring and state Sen. Denny Hoskins from Warrensburg.
Eigel, Brattin and Hoskins were among the senators removed from their chair or vice chair positions. At least two, Eigel and Hoskins, also had their parking spots stripped and moved further away from the Capitol.
Hoskins, who is also running for secretary of state and was removed from the Senate budget-writing committee altogether, compared Rowden’s punishment to criminal cases against former President Donald Trump.
Eigel, who is running for governor, told reporters that Rowden’s move was historic and disappointing.
“No matter how much they throw sticks and stones, no matter how many names they call us, no matter how uncomfortable we make them because we’re willing to be bold about fighting for our issues, we’re not going to give up the fight,” Eigel said.
The punishment comes after the Missouri Senate collapsed into a complete meltdown last week amid Republican infighting.
The Freedom Caucus has held up more than two dozen nominees of Republican Gov. Mike Parson, effectively holding the appointments hostage until senators advance a divisive proposal to make it harder to change the state constitution.
Shortly after Rowden’s announcement, senators returned to the Senate floor and Freedom Caucus members began fighting with Rowden. In one exchange, Hoskins accused Rowden of attempting to “stack the deck” and silence him as his opponent in the race for secretary of state.
Senate Democrats have largely stayed out of the fray amid the Republican infighting. But Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, in a statement called on Republicans to focus on issues that matter to Missourians such as health care funding, teacher pay, child care and passing a budget.
“The Republicans’ fighting is masking their failures, as they are failing to address the issues Missourians truly care about,” he said. “Senate Democrats will continue to move a pro-Missouri commonsense agenda forward, and we invite all our colleagues to join us.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2024, 1:46 PM.
A reporter for The Kansas City Star covering Missouri government and politics, Kacen Bayless is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri with an emphasis in investigative reporting. He previously covered projects and investigations in coastal South Carolina. In 2020, he was awarded South Carolina’s top honor for assertive journalism.
January 24, 2024 at 02:46AM
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‘Swamp creatures.’ Top MO Senate Republican strips hard-right senators of leadership posts - Kansas City Star
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