AP: Facts in short supply in debate over Wi union bill (AP backs union)

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110226/D9LKM05G0.html

Feb 26, 3:18 PM (ET)

By SCOTT BAUER and PATRICK CONDON

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Facts are in short supply at the Wisconsin Capitol, where protesters and politicians have been engaged in a tense standoff over the governor's proposal to strip most public employees of their collective-bargaining rights.

Gov. Scott Walker insists the state is broke and must make drastic spending cuts. Unions believe Republican leaders are trying to wipe them out. Two weeks into the debate, The Associated Press assessed the claims on both sides in an effort to cut through the rhetoric.

Walker says his plan is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013.

The budget as it stands now is balanced, and Walker is under no legal obligation to make changes. But by mid-summer, the state could come up short on cash to pay its bills, largely because of a projected $169 million shortfall in its Medicaid program.

Walker's plan comes up with the money for this year by refinancing debt to save $165 million and forcing state employees to pay for half the cost of their pensions and twice their current health care premiums. That is equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut.

Those increases in benefit contributions would raise $30 million by July and $300 million over the next two years.

FULL story at link.


Gov. Scott Walker, second from left, is greeted by protesters as he arrives at the airport in Kenosha, Wis., to hold a news conference about his budget repair bill Friday, Feb. 25, 2011. Walker called on the missing Democratic state senators, including Kenosha's Robert Wirch, to return to the Capitol. (AP Photo/The Journal Times, Mark Hertzberg)

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