SALEM, Ore. — At a rally Tuesday morning on the steps of the Oregon Capitol, a group of people demanded that Republican senators end their walkout and return to work.
GOP senators left the capitol Monday, part of a boycott of an upcoming floor vote on a cap-and-trade bill that passed out of a joint committee earlier that morning. They did not return to work on Tuesday and GOP members of the House joined them in their boycott.
The bill would lower the amount of carbon dioxide Oregonians put into the atmosphere each year. It’s an effort to fight climate change.
“This bill is ready to go. Its more than ready to go!” said democratic Senator Michael Dembrow from Portland. Dembrow has worked on the bill for years.
“Those who are seeking to short-circuit this process represent just a third of the population of this state,” he said at the rally.
In a statement, Oregon's Republican senators said they had "no other option" than to boycott and deny quorum. But organizers of Tuesday's rally said there's a lot to do during the legislative session and the absentee GOP senators "should get back to work now."
"This is not about a single issue. Oregonians oppose wasteful, costly walkouts, and deserve representation in the Legislature," the No More Costly Walkouts Coalition said in a press release.
During the rally, a big truck drove around the capitol blasting its loud horn. It was countered by a demonstrator with a noticeably smaller air horn.
This is the third time in the past 10 months that GOP lawmakers have walked out in opposition to legislation pushed by Democrats, who were voted in to supermajorities in both the House and Senate last November.
The No More Costly Walkouts Coalition consists of the following groups:
- Causa Oregon
- Climate Solutions
- Democratic Party of Oregon
- Fair Shot for All
- Family Forward Action
- Forward Together
- Naral Pro-Choice Oregon
Oregon AFL-CIO - Oregon AFSCME
- Oregon League of Conservation Voters
- Oregon Nurses Association
- Our Oregon
- Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN)
- Renew Oregon
- SEIU Local 49
- SEIU Local 503