MADISON, Wis., (Reuters) – The Wisconsin state Assembly early yesterday passed a Republican plan to curb public sector union power, setting up a showdown with Senate Democrats who have fled the state to prevent a vote in that chamber.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators from inside and outside the state have converged on Madison in the last two weeks to fight the proposal, which they fear could encourage similar measures in other states and cripple the U.S. labor movement.
After debating the proposal into a third consecutive night, the Republican-dominated Assembly abruptly ended all debate before dawn yesterday morning and approved the bill by a vote of 51 to 17. Republican Governor Scott Walker says approval of the plan is vital for Wisconsin to prepare a restructuring of outstanding debt to help eliminate the current budget deficit. He also has threatened immediate layoffs without approval.
While the deadline was met in the Assembly, it was not clear what would happen in the Senate, where the absence of 14 runaway Democrats has prevented a vote.
Walker commended fellow Republicans for the vote he said would fix the budget for this fiscal year and future budgets.
“Now all the attention is on the Senate,” Walker said in a statement. “The 14 Senate Democrats need to come home and do their jobs, just like the Assembly Democrats did.”
Republicans hold a 19-14 Senate majority but need a quorum of 20 to vote on spending bills. All the Senate Democrats left the state for Illinois last Thursday because they feared they could be compelled to attend the Senate if they remained.
Wisconsin Republicans sent police on Thursday on an unsuccessful search for the runaways. But Republican leaders have said they lack the power to force the Democrats back.
In an interview yesterday for the program “Democracy Now,” state Senator Chris Larson, one the 14 lawmakers who fled the state last week, said he and his Democratic colleagues had no intention of returning to Wisconsin any time soon.
“Until we are able to engage in a real debate, until we’re able to throw this bill out and actually move forward with a budget repair bill and move forward with the real business of Wisconsin, we can’t come back,” Larson said.
“We saw what happened in the Assembly late last night,” Larson said, “and it’s just unacceptable.”
