Wisconsin GOP Senators Pass Stand-Alone Anti-Union Bill Without Democrats Present
Watch the live feed from Madison here.
Give $25.00 to support the recall effort: here.
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.
If THIS doesn’t FIRE UP every national Democrat, we’ll know they no longer stand for working men or women.
Then, I’ll have no problem abandoning every fucking coward amonst them.
Prez on down!!!!!!
Protesters took over the capital building again last night. There are also calls for a general strike. The Assembly is supposed to meet today at 11 am to pass the stand alone collective bargaining bill. I expect high drama. I am confused as to the timing. I thought momentum was going Walker’s way especially with some of the crappy compromises he had floated (we’ll only take away most of your rights). I wonder why he would like to light another fire under the opposition at this time.
Ezra Klein has a good post explaining what happened.
Click that link to support the recall of 8 Republican Senators. The Koch bothers have deep pokerts so we’ll need a shit load of $25 donations.
But it does make clear that the Wisconsin effort to eliminate collective bargaining had not one damn thing thing to do with budgets.
Fire ’em all and hire Mexicans that want to work! And make Spanish the official language.
That’s true Cassandra. From this start this was just a power play. I think it is starting to sink in that it isn’t just the unions that are the targets, but the entire middle class.
I’m trying to get my podcast guest from last week back on the line today to give his impression of events – but in the meantime, everyone needs to contribute some little bit to the Democrats in Wisconsin who are pushing forward with the recalls.
The great reveal of the Koch brothers’ strategy may just have made all of this worthwhile. Suddenly we’re hearing about them all over the MSM. This is far from over and November 2012 is drawing close.
It seems that the legislature by acting on this bill, which Walker had held up as a fiscal issue, proved the point that it wasn’t a fiscal measure (which required the quorum).
They basically took the bad parenting stance of “because I said so…”
SHAME
I hope this lights a fire here with working people, too, because this is a now a national problem.
The Whiz and Michelle are hosting a summit on “bullying” at the WH right now.
Wonder if he’ll make any comment on the bullies of Wisconsin taking away workers rights?
I doubt it.
Whiz is a SOFT cheese.
I thought the timing was ironic. The President is going to argue that bullies can be reasoned with if you endure enough punches and kicks?
This looks awfully similar to how health care was passed.
3/5 rule. Health Care: Senate filibuster. Wisconsin: Cloture rule needed to pass a budget bill.
How the 3/5 rule was bypassed. Health Care: Reconciliation. Wisconsin: Stripping the union bits from the budget bill.
Protestors: Health Care: Tea Partiers. Wisconsin: Union members.
Both were politically damaging to those who passed it. I mean, you guys reaction right now perfectly matches with those of the right during the health care debate.
Finally, just like with the health care bill, it’ll be near impossible to repeal the law once it is passed. Even if the three Senate Republicans are recalled, as with Walker, you still have the heavily dominated Republican assembly. Plus, issues, like health care, subside over time. Yes, union members across the nation are in Wisconsin, but will they maintain pressure for the next 4-6 years needed to regain the majorities in the house and Senate? This issue will lose salience relative to other issues that may pop up in the next few years…
Libertarian my ass.
One last bit: “elections have consequences”. The only polls that matter were on election day and Walker won about the same percentage of the vote as Obama did.
Also, I think the main sticking point was the mandatory collection of Union dues. Walker’s emails stated that he was willing to concede on the bargaining stuff and the Unions were willing to concede on the pay cuts/benefit cuts. The only thing neither side conceded was the mandatory collection of union dues for all state workers.
Jason,
Did you even read my response? Or did you just see it was written by me and responded.
No. Yes.
I’ll stop doing it when you admit that you are a Republican who voted for Bush twice and McCain once.
DelLib- The TEABAGGERS are a misguided group lead by the 400 ELITE.
We, on the other hand, are the middle class uniting together to take back our country.
The PEOPLES PARTY, as Robert Reich calls us.
The Democrats, who once stood with us, better get on the bus with us.
The Earth quakes beneath us. This movement will grow exponentially.
Soon the Tea-party will join US!
PEOPLE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!
you’re an idiot.
the healthcare bill was debated for months, it was something that the democrats said they would do if elected, they had to muster the votes to pss it and chose NOT to pass the bill a secret way that they could have done without the republicans.
in Wisconsin, they kept their union-busting agenda secret from the voters, had not debate, tried ot hold the vote when duly elected representatives were not available to vote against it, then passed a union busting provision that DOES NOT balance the budget using a parliamentary trick.
“How the 3/5 rule was bypassed. Health Care: Reconciliation”
total lie. you are a liar. i am calling you a liar to your face. LIAR.
just like a libertarian. what disingenuous and ignorant political philosophy. It is even more delusional than Anarchy. at least they have the balls to not demand roads and a fire department and an army.
I voted for Bob Barr in 2008, I even donated to him. I voted for Coons and the libertarian candidate for house in 2010. Yes, I did vote for Kovach (special), Travis, Cloutier, Wagner, Bonini last election. I don’t know what I can do to prove this to you.
As far as 2006, I was too young to vote by a few days…
I mean as far as 2006, I was too young to vote by a few dayss…
Socialistic Ben,
The Democrats split up the bill and then passed the fiscal parts through the 50 vote rule, otherwise known as reconciliation. The house voted on the Senate bill, but after Brown’s election, the senate passed the fiscal part of the bill through reconciliation.
For all the hysteria, public unions (and we’re only talking about public unions) CAN STILL COLLECTIVELY BARGAIN OVER WAGES AND BENEFITS. The bill only deals with non-wage issues and says unions can’t collectively bargain over non-wage issues. The story behind the story is that the Teachers’ Union refused to allow certain desired non-wage reforms to go through (like allowing layoffs to occur for reasons other than strict seniority).
you’re being mind numbingly disingenuous with the comparison. You still have to answer for the fact the Wisconsin R’s kept this union bashing agenda secret from the people and allowed no debate on the matter….. they simply used government power to strip citizens of their rights…. something that if you were a true libertarian you would be up in arms against…. but you arent. you’re just another conservative who thinks its trendy and cool to vote for that spoiled whack-job fraud, Ron Paul.
There was 10 years of debate on HCR leading up to the dog and pony show… you say you were too young to vote in 06, but you obviously are too lazy to look into just how long health care reform has been talked about. I knew the Bags were going to try and defend the thug tactics of the Wis. legislator by comparing it to HCR, congrats on being one of the first here to really attempt it. Unfortunately, as with EVERYTHING, reality betrays your Rush-issued talking points.
Isn’t there a rule someplace that says that people indulging in an Everybody Does It argument is wrong 9 out of 10 times?
For the ACA — the House passed a bill the Senate didn’t like. The Senate passed its own bill. The compromise was to have the House pass the Senate bill and then deal with negotiated compromises to the Senate bill with a package of amendments. Said amendments were kept to budget items and passed via reconciliation rules.
“public unions (and we’re only talking about public unions) CAN STILL COLLECTIVELY BARGAIN OVER WAGES AND BENEFITS.”
Do you have a link for that? I have not been able to find a source claiming that benefits are included; they were excluded in the former bill, and wages were restricted to inflation growth — in other words, ground lost could never be made up in the future.
To paraphrase one of the other class traitors, go ahead and say it: “We hate the middle class we are a part of.”
If you “collectively bargain over wages and benefits”, you are WORKING class. Stop dreaming about this “middle class” crap, Geezer.
One of the real achievements of unions was the movement of their members into the middle class. The current effort by employers is to completely destabilize all of that. What is the saying I saw the other day? Together we bargain, divided we beg.
There is no difference between the two terms, delbert. Your ignorance is not my problem, it’s yours.
Geezer you absolutely right. What most dont know is this bill gives the governor the ability to get rid of towns, their managers their councils. Gives Walker the ability to sell off State owned assets to his corporate bosses. This deal is much bigger than most think. Wisconsin will be destroyed if this illegal act stands. Its time for labor leaders to call for strikes and lets see what those desperate neandrathals come up with next. Walker is making a play garnering national attention, dont be sure this guy wont run for Prez if he succeeds in Wisc.
I wish M Moore would give me some of his $$$. i’m a working class guy to. word.
You can use one name or you can be gone. There won’t be a second warning.
Capitol Chaos: Walker Says He’ll Sign Collective Bargaining Bill Today; Rescinds Layoff Notices
By Jay Sorgi and the WTMJ News Team
Story Created: Mar 11, 2011
MADISON – The battle in the state legislature over Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill has subsided, as the Governor says he will make it law on Friday.
“Once the bill gets to us today, we will absolutely sign it,” said Governor Scott Walker on TODAY’S TMJ4’s Live at Daybreak.
He also said he was rescinding layoff notices.
“First thing I’m going to do this morning is send out notice to the unions that we are no longer issuing a warning about layoffs beginning in April. That what this is really about, saving $30 million for the remainder of this year and another $300 million for the state in another two years and about $1.5 billion (for local governments). This is about protecting middle class jobs and protecting middle class taxpayers.”
Still, Democrats and pro-union groups say the war to kill the bill is not over.
Idaho Passes Law to Curb Unions’ Collective Bargaining Rights
Yahoo news ^ | March 10 2011 | Todd Jacobs
The Idaho state legislature passed a bill into law Tuesday that will restrict the rights of the state’s public school teachers. Yahoo! News reports, via Reuters, that the Idaho law will restrict collective bargaining rights similar to laws that are being pushed in Wisconsin, Michigan and many other states.
The law will eliminate many union-implemented rights such as teacher tenure and reduces the length of teacher labor contracts to one year. The law also removes seniority as an overriding factor in considering layoffs. The law is the first to be passed among the many states working to push through new collective bargaining rules and to weaken the unions.
Wisconsin is Most Publicized Battle Between State and Union
Wisconsin has gained the most attention as this budget cutting movement gathers steam. The public battle between Gov. Scott Walker and the states Democrat senators has escalated to childish extremes. The Democrat senators have left the state in an effort to block the passage of a similar bill to the one passed in Idaho on Tuesday.
The Wisconsin battle has become a lightning rod for union organizers who feel Wisconsin is an important state to make a stand. The union organizers have been distracted by Wisconsin and now other states have already begun to pass similar laws without little resistance.