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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Dispatches State Troopers to Find Senate Republicans Who Skipped Out on Climate Vote

Some of the lawmakers reportedly fled the state in a bid to keep a climate bill from moving forward.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has sent state troopers to find nearly a dozen Republican state senators who reportedly fled to prevent a climate bill from being able to move forward, The Oregonian reports. Eleven GOP senators are reportedly hiding in order to keep the state senate from having enough people present to vote on the bill, with some out of the state. Senate President Peter Courtney asked the sergeant at arms to search the capitol for the missing members upon realizing they were missing, then requested that Brown dispatch troopers to find the senators. “It is absolutely unacceptable that the Senate Republicans would turn their back on their constituents who they are honor-bound to represent here in this building,” Brown said in a statement. “They need to return and do the jobs they were elected to do.” The Senate Democrats announced that the lawmakers would be fined $500 per day, but an online fundraiser gathered over $3,000 in support of the Republicans.