Page 158 - Quorum News Today

Of madison and to the state capitol building itself this winter and spring protesting governor walker and the republicans action. the largest demonstrations at the state capitol in history. the state senates democrats hatched a plan to stop the republicans from passing the union-stripping measure by themselves fleeing the state so the wisconsin senate could not get a quorum, so the senate would not be allowed to vote on or pass anything. ultimately on march 9 of this year by unprecedented and do...

To the president today, talked to vice president several times. i think weve got a chance of getting there. i think is not helpful is the process were going through here on the senate floor having a show votes over live quorum, having a reluctance on the part of majority to have a vote on a measure they favor, which weve been prepared to vote on since last night. look, we need to be in a position where all of us in the leadership can come back here and say that we think weve reached a framework ...

Latest updates on this topic.

Latest updates on this topic.

In wisconsin, public opinion is very very strongly against that union stripping bill. the fight is not just electoral, it is legal. republicans passed that bill by taking the unusual step by stripping it out of the budget, even though they called it the budget repair bill. they relabeled the thing nonfiscal, said it did not therefore require a quorum to pass it. and though democrats said what they were doing was illegal, republicans noted on their own to pass it. the judge issued an injunction b...

In chicago. john, how did the republicans vote on this without the democrats being back in the state to have the quorum we thought they needed in order to vote on this? >> reporter: lawrence, you said it. this is an interesting parliamentary tactic. i am not clear how this fits into the rules of the wisconsin legislature, because what they did, they all did this within the past hour, the senate republicans created a conference committee, a house senate conference committee which usually as you k...

What do the democrats think? the democrats are enrageed. this story is changing every minute. it is far from over, -- mike is the latest? >> reporter: the abrupt manner in which this -- these limits to collective bargaining were muscled through reflect the exasperation that wisconsin republicans were feeling with their democratic counterparts. reflected by the statement made by the senate majority leader today after this legislation was passed. he said enough is enough! the manner in which it ha...

Hours or so. it looked last night as you read the e-mails that they were actually very, very close to a possible negotiated settlement of this, and as they appeared to be closer than ever to negotiated settlement, suddenly we have this breaking in exactly the other direction. were the democrats completely taken by surprise by this, or did they feel overnight some of this might be coming? >> reporter: they were taken by surprise. they were meeting as the senate conference committee met, the house...

Protesters storm the capitol accusing republicans of using dirty tricks to pass the bill. 46 left the state to block the vote. needed one democrat to come back to have the necessary three quarters quorum for any bill that includes spending. they took the spending measures out of the bill. passed just the part limiting union rights. they can do that with a 50-plus one. democrats claim this proves their point that the budget repair bill as they called it was about union busting, not the budget. >>...

Discovered through the governors e-mails that had become public in the last 48 hours or so. it looked last night as you read the e-mails that they were actually very, very close to a possible negotiated settlement of this, and as they appeared to be closer than ever to negotiated settlement, suddenly we have this breaking in exactly the other direction. were the democrats completely taken by surprise by this, or did they feel overnight some of this might be coming? >> reporter: they were taken b...