The Senate was supposed to be in session bright and early this morning (at 9:30 a.m.) to start passing budget bills. It's now 11:30 a.m. and the Democrats are all in place. The Republicans are nowhere to be seen.
The minority has been behind closed doors in a no-staff conference for hours now. There's no indication of when they might emerge and if they'll be ready to play budget ball at that time.
The Democrats have had enough, apparently. Travis Proulx, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith just showed up at the door of the DN office and said:
"We're gaveling in, we've been waiting on the Republicans for two hours. It's up to them whether they want to show up."
In other words, the Democrats plan to start passing the budget without the minority in the chamber to debate the bills.
It's an odd way to legislate, some might say. If you wanted to see what this all looks like, take a look at this video from less than an hour ago of a half empty Senate chamber.
Oh, Albany...
