JEFFERSON CITY — In its first test Wednesday, the Missouri Senate’s new Freedom Caucus fell short.
Less than a week after celebrating the launch of their new alliance, the splinter faction of hard-line Republican senators failed to enact changes in how the Missouri Senate conducts its business.
Led by gubernatorial candidate Bill Eigel, a senator from Weldon Spring, members of the newly formed coalition were unable to muster outside support for a new Senate rule that would require last-minute changes to legislation to be set aside for 24 hours in order to give lawmakers more time to study the language.
Eigel, who has openly warred with Republican leadership in the upper chamber, said the change could address the Senate practice of loading up bills at the end of the legislative session, often leaving little time to determine if there are flaws.
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Today the MO Senate rejected my rule change requiring bills to sit for 2 days before coming to a vote.
— William Eigel (@BillEigel)
Senators admitted on the floor today they voted last session on bills without reading them and STILL voted against me.
JC needs a Reckoning.
“We’re creating a buffer here,” Eigel told his colleagues. “This is a small, easy step.”
But, after more than two hours of debate, he convinced no one in the Senate outside his own caucus — — to support the initiative. It failed 23-7.
Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, suggested that Eigel’s gubernatorial ambitions were driving him to suggest the changes.
“You are running for governor, not that that has anything to do with it,” she said during a testy exchange with Eigel.
Senate President Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said senators already have the ability to slow down the legislative process by standing and asking questions or using the filibuster to delay action.
“You’ve done it. You’ve stood up and read a book,” Rowden told Eigel, just hours after the two sparred on social media over who is more conservative.
Among others scolding Eigel was Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, who said senators already have the tools to delay action.
“I don’t believe in tying the hands of the Legislature,” Trent said.
Although the lengthy debate did not interrupt any pressing business of the Senate, it signaled what could be another session interrupted by Republican infighting between those who support GOP leadership and the six members who comprise the hard-line bloc.
The , which held a kickoff event Friday in St. Charles, is part of the larger State Freedom Caucus Network, which provides “the high-level staff, strategy, and community conservatives need to take ground across the country,” according to the network’s website. It’s an outgrowth of the House Freedom Caucus, launched in 2015 by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and other hard-right Republicans in Congress.