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Capping a dramatic turn of events, the Wisconsin state Senate on Wednesday night passed a new, stripped-down “budget repair bill” — which now excludes all the fiscal elements of the original budget repair bill, and simply includes the original’s provisions to roll back the collective bargaining and organizational rights of Wisconsin’s public employee unions.
Meanwhile, state Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate has released this statement, vowing to recall all those Republican state Senators who are eligible under the state’s recall laws, which require at least one year of a term to be completed — and to recall Walker next year:
“Using tactics that trample on the traditions of our Legislature, the Republican leadership has betrayed our state. Republicans have rubber-stamped the desire of the Koch Brothers and their godshead Scott Walker to cripple Wisconsin’s middle class and lower benefits and wages for every single wage-earner in our state. The vote does nothing to create jobs, does nothing to strengthen our state, and shows finally and utterly that this never was about anything but raw political power. We now put our total focus on recalling the eligible Republican senators who voted for this heinous bill. And we also begin counting the days remaining before Scott Walker is himself eligible for recall.”
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, denounced tonight’s actions as illegal and said he planned to contact the attorney general to request an investigation.
“It is a continuation of a pattern of a naked abuse of power,” Barca said.