Democrats challenge Wisconsin governor over budget bill
February 18, 2011 2:43 p.m. EST
Teachers protest at state capital
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: White press secretary says Obama is understanding of the need to reduce spending
- NEW: He says Obama is also concerned about the potential for an assault on worker rights
- Democratic, GOP lawmakers spar over a bill from across state lines
- Milwaukee public schools are closed due to teacher absences.
The opponents, most of them Democrats, say the bill is anti-union.
"We will return and do our job, but the governor had to do his job," said state Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, one of 14 Democrats and two Republicans who left Madison to stall a vote on the controversial bill.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker is looking to slash $131 million from the state budget. Walker has called on the 16 lawmakers to return to the state Capitol to vote on the measure Friday.
CNN affiliates WREX and WTVO reported that several of the AWOL lawmakers fled to Rockford, Illinois.
The defecting lawmakers say they won't return until Walker agrees to negotiate with the teacher's union on the governor's proposals to reduce the state's budget deficit by cutting benefits for its members. They also want language removed from the bill that critics say threatens the existence of all public employee unions in the state.
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Walker called on the absent lawmakers to return to Madison "out of respect for the institution of the legislature and the democratic process."
"Their actions by leaving the state and hiding from voting are disrespectful to the hundreds of thousands of public employees who showed up to work today and the millions of taxpayers they represent," Walker said.
Bryan Kennedy, president of the Wisconsin chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, called the lawmakers' decision to skip town "courageous."
"The same could be said of the U.S. Senate," Kennedy told CNN. "A small minority continues to constantly filibuster every piece of legislation and bring that body to standstill. We don't have a filibuster here in Wisconsin.
"The only thing these brave senators could do was to leave the state so that they could not be forced or compelled to bring a quorum to the body," Kennedy said. "They stood up for worker rights."
Kennedy blamed Walker for refusing to meet with union representatives.
"We are willing to come to the table and negotiate," Kennedy said. "He is the one not willing to come to the table. He wants to strip our rights and then dictate exactly what the terms and conditions of employment are."
Wisconsin Assistant Senate Majority Leader Glenn Grothman, a Republican, said Walker shouldn't have to negotiate.
"We had elections last November," Grothman told CNN. "The idea that Gov. Walker or the state legislature can't have public employees contribute toward their pensions without Bryan Kennedy signing off is absurd."
While the legislators skipped town, thousands of people came to Madison to protest the bill for a third day, including many teachers, who stand to be strongly affected by the bill. On Thursday, demonstrators spilled into the state's Capitol building, chanting, "This is our house" and "Forward not backward," voicing their opposition to the bill.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney addressed the continued protests Friday, saying President Barack Obama "is very understanding of the need for state governments, governors, state legislatures to reduce spending to make tough choices to be fiscally responsible."
But he added, "He also feels very strongly that we need not to make this an assault on the collective bargaining rights of workers in any given state.
"He understands public employees need to make sacrifices just like everyone else."
Schools were canceled for the third consecutive day in the state's capital, Madison, because of anticipated staff absences.
In Milwaukee, public schools also were closed due to a high number of absentee calls from teachers.
"With these staff shortages, we will not be able to provide safe and appropriate class settings," said schools Superintendent Gregory Thornton.
Showdowns over local and state budgets -- hurt by lower tax revenues and other trends of the economic downturn, including federal budget cuts -- are occurring from California to New York.
"There are some tough decisions that are going to have to be made on the revenue side and the spending side," said Elizabeth McNichol, senior fellow at the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In Illinois, for example, Gov. Pat Quinn unveiled a $35.4 billion budget Wednesday that depends on state lawmakers approving $8.7 billion in new borrowing largely to clear a towering stack of unpaid bills. That happened a month after state legislators approved a massive tax increase.
In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented budget plans Thursday that could eliminate more than 6,000 teaching jobs in the next fiscal year. The mayor of crime-ridden Camden, New Jersey, announced layoffs last month of nearly half of the city's police force and close to a third of its fire department.
And in California, Gov. Jerry Brown imposed a statewide hiring freeze across all government agencies.
Thirty-five U.S. states and Puerto Rico reported projected budget shortfalls for fiscal year 2012 totaling $82.1 billion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The budget battle is somewhat unique in heavily unionized Wisconsin, where collective bargaining began. Many workers don't take kindly to what they see as a frontal assault on workers' rights.
Walker, who says the state is in a crisis, is asking legislators to pass his Budget Repair Bill to combat a $137 million shortfall through June 30. An upcoming two-year budget for 2011-13 must address a pending $3.6 billion deficit, he said.
But the state's Legislative Fiscal Bureau -- similar to the federal government's Congressional Budget Office -- reported last month that tax cuts passed late last year by Wisconsin's newly elected, Republican-led legislature had helped add more than $200 million to the state's budget shortfall.
Walker's proposed legislation requires workers to cover more of their health care premiums and pension contributions, although supporters say local governments will decide on health care contributions for their employees.
The legislation also requires collective bargaining units to conduct annual votes to maintain certification, a costly procedure, and eliminates the right of unions to have dues deducted from worker paychecks.
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