Word: quorums
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...extend martial law for two months in 19 provinces. Under the circumstances, the margin of victory was surprisingly high: only two days earlier, the government of Premier Bülent Ecevit narrowly survived a censure vote by boycotting a session of the lower house, thereby preventing a quorum. With just 209 seats in the 450-member lower house, Ecevit's Republican People's Party depends on the uncertain support of independents to maintain a slim majority. Meanwhile, Ecevit is under constant attack by burly, gladhanding former Premier Süleyman Demirel, whose Justice Party has 177 parliamentary seats...
These accomplishments, however, were shadowed by a host of internal and organizational problems. Low attendance plagued the assembly--over the year, attendance hovered between under the 50 per cent quorum and about 70 per cent. This show of apathy fueled students' criticism of assembly members as "resume-stuffers," but Pfeffer noted that "committees are where the real work is done, and they are almost always well-attended...
Meeting in an office of Dallas Senator Oscar Mauzy, the dozen agreed simply to vanish from the 31 -seat state senate, thus blocking any senate action by preventing the necessary quorum of 21. The next morning ten of the Bees (two others simply left the state) began hiding out in a 12-ft. by 20-ft. room in a garage apartment that had only two beds, a shower, a toilet and a sink-and a peephole in the door. Most of the Bees figured that they would be there only a short time until Hobby agreed to drop the bill...
...during the Easter recess. House Speaker Tip O'Neill is leading one group to Ireland; House Whip John Brademas is taking another to the Soviet Union. Members of the House Narcotics Committee are on their way to sunny Colombia. So many Congressmen are traveling to China that a quorum call might just succeed in Peking. The Easter recess, in fact, is turning out to be considerably more lively than the session, which so far has set a record unmatched in two decades for legislative inactivity. Critics have already dubbed the 96th the "do nothing" Congress, the same fighting words...
Because about 30 people--less than half of the assembly delegates--attended last night's meeting, there was not a quorum...