Wisconsin Dem. Senators fight back

I am very happy that the Dem's are showing more backbone. The GOP is a party that claim's to be "for the people" yet they are trying to pass a bill that would do harm to countless working families. Due to this, the Wis. Dem senators refused to show up to the hearing, blocking any advance on the proceedings.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wisconsin_budget_unions

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Updated On: 2/18/11 at 01:07 AM

I wish Democrats would show that kind of backbone on a National level. I'm looking at you Obama.

Yes Goth...taking a page right of the GOP playbook. Finally!!!

I see this happening in NJ in a couple of months...actually I am kinda hoping for it to happen

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This fight has NOTHING to do with budget deficits and EVERYTHING to do with busting the unions. From the Madison, WI, paper:

A Jan. 31 memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the state will actually finish the fiscal year on June 30 with a $56 million surplus. That is $54 million more than state administrators estimated and far more than the $137 million in red ink that Darling and Vos refer to.

Neither Vos, R-Rochester, nor Darling, R-River Hills, responded to requests for comment for this report, but those accounting differences have Democrats claiming Republicans are overstating the depth of the problem to push a hard-right agenda and break public worker unions.

"In our conversations with the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, it has become blatantly evident Governor Walker has manifested this fiscal crisis as a Trojan horse in order to enact unfair public policy in the name of fixing the budget," says state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison.

Scot Ross of the left-leaning group One Wisconsin Now went a step further, calling the Walker plan a "handout in special interest spending to his corporate pals."

Ross was referring to $117.2 million in tax breaks approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature in January. Those items making health savings accounts tax deductible, tax deductions for businesses that relocate and tax exclusions for hiring new employees.

Ross and others have said those tax breaks alone have created the shortfall through the end of this budget cycle that Darling and Vos have cited. But the $117.2 million figure cited by the Fiscal Bureau refers to the cost of those tax breaks over the next 2.5 years, not just the next few months.


Madison.com

John Boehner is shocked- SHOCKED!- to hear that Democratic organizations are helping the protesters.

“I’m disappointed that instead of providing similar leadership from the White House, the president has chosen to attack leaders such as Gov. Walker, who are listening to the people and confronting problems that have been neglected for years at the expense of jobs and economic growth,” Boehner said in a statement. “I urge the president to order the DNC to suspend these tactics.”

Hypocrisy, thy name is REPUBLICAN.
DNC playing role in WI Protests

Yes Violet. The GOP has managed to convince their constituents that union members are over paid, lazy pigs sucking at the public teat at the expense of those poor millionaires who are being taxed to death.

Boner should shut his pie hole and go back to his tea bagger caucus.

I said it a year ago when Christie came in, and I'm still saying it now -- it's only a matter of time before the next Civil War starts. My wife has called me crazy for saying it. Today, after seeing what's happening in WI, she's finally said "You might be right about a war coming."

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"he has more to do than stick his nose in business that concerns a state."


He has every right to stick his nose in where hard working people are getting screwed by Republcans.

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I'm just glad to see people are finally waking up. Boner looks like he's getting nervous!

Anyone else find it kinda funny how Goth is condemning the dem's for "running away"
Goth, thats ALL YOU DO

And yea, when the bill that screws many hard working families is about to be passed and the options are limited, they should run. But I would not even call it "running away" that would imply they have no plan, and are scared. They are taking a stand against a bunch of redneck hicks who somehow became elected into office and saying "Eff you guys, we're not letting this happen"

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It's weird seeing what's playing out on the national level so much of what Michigan's been went through since 2000. We finally got rid of our obnoxious, obstructionist GOP Senate leader last election cycle and things have been so much more civil since then.

Boehner's scared because Ohio's watching and responding to what's happening in Wisconsin. We'll see how far they take it.

Updated On: 2/18/11 at 09:45 PM