My Job is to Defend My Constituents
I want to share with you the facts behind why I have joined my Senate colleagues in blocking a vote on Governor Walker’s “budget repair” bill. It’s not a decision I took lightly, but the Governor’s unprecedented attempt to ram this extreme bill through the Legislature in a matter of four days required a drastic response.
While the Governor had said for months that he wanted financial concessions from state workers, he never hinted that he would try to take rights away from all public workers. It was a shock to hear the first details about this radical proposal – and even more shocking to learn that the Governor intended to pass the bill so quickly. The bill had only one public hearing, and the Republicans ended it abruptly, leaving hundreds of people in line who had waited hours to give two minutes of testimony. The bill passed the committee at midnight and was scheduled for a vote in the Senate the same day.
If it weren’t bad enough to strip public employees of their voice in the workplace, Governor Walker is also trying to grab the power to unilaterally throw seniors and working families off SeniorCare and BadgerCare without a vote of the Legislature. More than 59,000 people in Central Wisconsin participate in these vital prescription drug and health care programs. On top of all of that, the “budget repair” bill doesn’t even repair the budget – it leaves the current fiscal year deficit even deeper than before. And it raises the debt ceiling so the state can borrow even more money. No wonder more than 1,500 of my constituents contacted me in a few days, asking me to do whatever I could to slow this bill down or change it to address their concerns.
I and my colleagues urged the Governor to slow the process down so the impact of this bill could be studied and debated. He steadfastly refused. When we learned that Governor Walker was shutting down the attempts of even his own party members to amend the bill, it was clear that he had no intention of speaking with us, much less negotiating with us. Unlike the U.S. Senate, we do not have the ability to filibuster a bill. The only option left to us was a Wisconsin Constitutional provision to deny him a quorum in the Senate.
Since we took that action, public employees have stepped forward and agreed to the Governor’s pension and health insurance demands. These employees are willing to pay their fair share. They just want to keep their worker rights, rights they have had for half a century. This compromise now gives Governor Walker the money he says he needs to balance the budget. By accepting their offer and ending his efforts to silence workers, the governor could begin healing the deep divisions his bill has created.
Will Governor Walker take this opportunity? Will he listen to the state’s religious leaders, like Archbishop Listecki, who said there is a moral obligation to respect the legitimate rights of workers? Or will he continue to tell my colleagues and I to come back and “debate” the bill when he has no intention of accepting any compromise? The decision and the responsibility lie with Governor Walker.
I have heard some media commentators refer to this as a “vacation.” Believe me, it’s anything but. My work begins early each morning and continues until late into the night, as I speak with constituents and local elected leaders and work with my colleagues to try to find a way past the current impasse. I’m paying my expenses out of my own pocket, and trying my best to cope with being away from my husband and children and my home.
I miss my two daughters, but I hope they will learn a lesson from this experience. When the rights of people are threatened, each of us has a duty to act. My job now is to defend the rights of my constituents, and I intend to keep doing that job the best I can.
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/senate/sen24/news/Press/2011/col2011-003.asp">Link
(It's from the 22nd, But I haven't seen it posted)
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