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But you you so we have a disagreement in fact here. assemblyman vas that s part of the problem. there s a fair share agreement where you pay the dues either way. you pay the dues. we want to make sure people have an opportunity. so thank you very much. i think everybody understands the issues. spencer coggs, thank you very much for joining us by car. and assemblyman vos. this fight is on. they may shut down the government over this. and now boehner s raising the stakes. it could lead, i think, quickly to a government shutdown like newt gingrich and bill clinton. we know who won that one. i m betting on the president. you re watching hardball here on msnbc. ....
They are not able to be here protesting because they are out work. they don t that have right to take off today. let me go to senator coggs. is this a manufactured crisis? some people on the opposition, the democratic side of this fight, union side are saying that the governor could have balanced a budget other ways. he chose to create an imbalance so he could do this stuff to unions. is this manufactured or what? where do you stand on the simple question, do we have to go through what we re watching, this craziness out in wisconsin? let me make it clear, absolutely not. if you look at the legislative fiscal bureau, which is a nonpartisan bureau that works for republicans and democrats, they say in our current year, we have a surplus. the only imbalance we would have is because the last three governor the governor issues three bills that help so this is a manufactured crisis. senator, you know that s not true. first of all the money we allocated towards the savings ....
That we re finding are going towards creating jobs. they don t even take effect until after july 1st. this has nothing to do with what s going on. the fiscal legislative bureau says we have a surplus. no, we do not have a surplus. that s absolutely not true. we have a massive deficit. no, we don t. we have a $140 million deficit just in medicaid. just in medicaid. look at the fiscal bureau memo that came out after january 19th. we have a serious fiscal crisis. your party for too long kicked the can down the road. we re going to fix it once and for all because the people of michigan demanded change in november and it s going to happen because we cannot wait anymore. senator coggs, in all fairness, i ve not heard anyone in your state say you have a surplus. i ve seen figures in something of 135 million. i ve seen 3 billion. you re saying those deficits ....
Already a compromise. it s already a compromise because we allow unions to exist, they get to negotiate well, what we re looking at is not union the unions are not happy with that, sir. they want complete bargaining rights. in the bill we also say every single state worker has the right to join if they choose, but they can t be mandated. that s supported by the vast majority of wisconsin. well, i m with you on that one. that s not a hard one. do you think, senator coggs, should people who work for your state be forced to join a union? they shouldn t be forced. but is this a good compromise where you still keep collective bargaining rights and give back on the pensions and the health care. you accept, he doesn t. just to get the facts straight. do you have to join the union, senator, if you work for the state of wisconsin? no. ....
And people here will realize our proposal is modest. having a small contribution toward your health insurance and toward your pension is something that everybody in the private sector is doing. they re not able to be here protesting because they re out working. they don t have the right to take off today. let me go to senator coggs. is this a manufactured crisis? some on the other side of this fight are saying that the governor could ve balanced the budget other ways. he chose to create an imbalance so he could do this to the unions. is this manufactured, or what? do we have to go through what we re watching in wisconsin? let me make it clear. absolutely not. if you look at the legislative bureau, which is a non-partisan, both democrats and republican. they say we have a surplus. the only imbalance we would have is that the last three weeks the governor has issued three bills that help so this is a manufactured crisis. ....