Page 161 - Quorum News Today

And it passed. 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...

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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 senate conference committee met and it went to the floor. they were meeting, trying to figure out what to do tonight. they had had ind...

Do. good evening. the 14 missing wisconsin democratic senators now face being arrested if they are found in wisconsin. republican senate majority leader scott fitzgerald signed 14 separate orders finding each of the democratic senators in contempt of the senate. it is the result of a resolution passed earlier today that said if any of the 14 senators did not appear in the senate by 4:00 p.m. today then that member shall be held guilty of contempt and disorderly behavior by the senate and the m...

About, any willingness to budge, to compromise, from your side or theirs? >> oh, yeah. weve actually obviously been willing to compromise. theres a compromise on the table that balances the governors budget and he hasnt publicly acknowledged that even. >> i also understand that fitzgerald told cnn he had identified seven democrats, obviously one of them not being you since you werent there, who would like to return to madison but are facing the mounting union pressure to stay oust the state. do ...

Theres always bravado and people say it is never going to happen and it does. i havent seen one tiny bit of give on either side on this issue. >> im in touch with a lot of those people i think this is the inside story watch is happening. >> greta: i hope you are right. so far we havent seen them. what about the people of wisconsin? if indeed it is true they cant refinance the bond so they save whatever the huge numbers are, if that is a big hit for taxpayers someone has to pay the price for that...

Path that the only way they have left to win is essentially by employing bounty hunters like mr. dog. we all know how we got here, scott walker decided he wanted to strip union rights from public employees in wisconsin. even though there were existing unions and there was an existing right for them to bargain, governor walker decided to ignore that. he was just going to override those rights personally. he would not negotiate. he would not bargain. he would not even talk about it. he and the sta...

>> one of three things can happen here. one or more of the 14 democratic senators can come back to establish a quorum. the governor could negotiate and give in a little bit on the collective bargaining part of the bill or three republican senators could switch sides. democrats say thats their strategy as the game of political chicken continues. >> ted rowlands in madison, wisconsin. across the country people came out to show support for workers in wisconsin. >> save the dream! >> this is what ...

Able to have a quorum. >> if i may finish. they tried to bulldoze the bill. >> stand by both of you. inspired the run away 14 state t senators democrats avoided their debate on different anti union legislation much to the dismay of the republican speaker of the indiana house. mr. speaker what do you think of my idea they should come home and go to jail with their conviction. >> i am not interested in jail. we extended the offer for them to return to get to the state the democrats took a page out...

State. they denied the republicans the quorum needed to convene to pass the union-stripping bill. wisconsin rules are no bill with fiscal implications can be considered without a certain number of senators present. republicans needed at least one democrat to show up to the senate in order to meet that numerical threshold. democrats fled the state so the quorum could not be reached, so the bill could not be voted on. then tonight with no warning, republicans announced that they took everything bu...