Brinksmanship, walkouts signal government dysfunction

The best cure for Oregon: Make mutual trust part of legislative leadership

In recent weeks, we’ve witnessed the bitter fruits of split government and perpetual minorities. The aftertaste suggests our government isn’t working as intended.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House refused to raise the national debt limit without significant spending cuts, forcing a lengthy stalemate that threatened a national default.

Oregon Senate Republicans have staged a four-week and ongoing walkout that denies a quorum to conduct Senate floor votes, threatening to abort the 2023 legislative session and killing hundreds of bills in the process.

In both cases, Republicans defended hard-ball tactics as necessary to curb the excesses of Democrats, whether it’s federal deficit spending or passage of pro-abortion and gender-affirming care legislation.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says voters gave Republicans a majority, albeit a slim one, to rein in Democrats who control the White House and U.S. Senate. The debt ceiling was their instrument to force spending concessions.

Oregon Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp believes his 13-senator legislative minority has few options. Walking out is the only way, he says, to overcome the “tyranny of the majority” – hyper-partisan bills, bad faith by Democratic leaders and unchecked power by the Senate President to deem whether an absence is excused or unexcused.

Political brinksmanship isn’t new in Congress. However, Oregon legislative walkouts have become a favored weapon for Oregon Republican lawmakers, prompting voters to approve Measure 113 in the 2020 election to penalize absentee legislators by denying them re-election eligibility.

There are no legal penalties for congressional gridlock. The constitutional penalty for unexcused Oregon legislative absences may be flawed and not work as intended. Senate Republicans are betting its wording won’t match its backers’ intent. The Oregon Secretary of State has asked the Oregon Department of Justice to clarify what the measure’s language does mean.

Governor Kotek’s attempt to bring both parties together failed to woo back absent senators. Fining the absent lawmakers won’t bring them back either.

Deep political divisions in America prevent either major political party from an enduring hold on the White House and congressional majorities to push a sustained agenda. That’s not the case in Oregon where Democrats maintain an unbreakable grip on statewide offices and the legislature because of Willamette Valley’s population density.

One-party control has persuaded rural Oregonians to explore joining “Greater Idaho” where their policy views and lifestyle would receive greater respect by Oregon’s deeply red-state neighbor. Put another way, they would like to be in a state where they are the perpetual majority.

Split control is inevitable in Washington, D.C., but there may be more options for Oregon to accommodate perpetual minorities. Nonpartisan guidelines could be adopted to determine when an absence is excused. Budget bills, like tax increases, could informally require three-fifths majority votes to encourage bipartisan collaboration on spending priorities.

The choices are narrower for dealing with issues like abortion rights, gender-affirming care and gun regulation. Partisan constituencies push divisive legislation. Red states have passed bans on abortion and gender-affirming care. It isn’t surprising that blue states like Oregon take an opposing view. As long as we have culture wars, these issues will stir passions and spur party-line votes, with minority parties as losers.

Building inter-party trust involves more than modifying parliamentary mechanics. Knopp pointed to a lack of trust in Senate President Rob Wagner before the session and in connection with the lockout. Wagner assumed the Senate presidency following two decades of leadership under Senator Peter Courtney, who gained the office in a 15-15 Senate and maintained the trust of Senate Republicans throughout his tenure. He is a tough act to follow.

There is no procedural path to ensure trust. Trust is simple to understand but hard to achieve. It is an elusive quality that is earned. The onus is on legislative leaders to create a bipartisan effort to cultivate mutual trust. The potentially aborted 2023 session is painful evidence of what happens when they don’t.

Trust grows out of respect, and respect is gained by listening, learning and frank conversations. Majorities have a responsibility to fulfill their promises to their constituencies. But that doesn’t mean running roughshod over minorities and their priorities. Minorities have constituencies that expect them to represent their views, not go AWOL.

Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley hold townhalls every year in every county in Oregon to listen and learn. Governor Kotek adopted a similar approach when she took office and has received positive marks listening more than talking during her visits.

Listening is only as good as learning what you hear. Wyden and Merkley pursued federal initiatives in response to their listening tours. For example, Merkley authored the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act that provides long-term, low-cost loans to make rural water projects feasible. Kotek is championing funding to address longstanding drinking water contamination in Eastern Oregon.

An Example to Follow
Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget and former staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, was credited by McCarthy for her essential role in the debt ceiling compromise after she was added to President Biden’s negotiating team. “Everybody in the Capitol knows her and respects her greatly,” McCarthy said.

Young told NPR, “We saw the partisan process play out. Now we needed to pivot to a bipartisan process.” In an interview with The Washington Post, Young explained her approach: “The most important thing is to know what they have to have. You have to be clear about what you have to have. I want to know their value statements and they need to know mine. And we have to find a middle ground. They shouldn’t have to compromise their values, and neither should we.”

It took a week and a half after Young joined the negotiating team before Biden and McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle”.

Working together is harder than shunning each other. Finding shared interests and common cause takes time, patience and dedication. If we want a state rich in diversity, we need to start recognizing and responding to that diversity. If we don’t, legislative walkouts could become the harbinger of more drastic departures to redder pastures.

Gary Conkling has been a newsman, congressional aide and public affairs professional for more than 50 years.

Tomorrow, Mark Hester will offer other suggestions on fixing government dysfunction.