Posted on 02/25/2011 11:46:10 AM PST by bigbob
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald today said he's not going to let Democrats debate the budget repair bill "ad nauseum" when they return from self-imposed exile.
Senate Republicans engrossed the bill today, rendering it unamendable as Dems continue to boycott a vote. For now, Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, says his caucus' attention has turned to the state budget while exploring ways to persuade Dems to come home.
After Sen. Dale Schultz declined to offer an amendment on the floor, Fitzgerald said he still has 18 solid Republican votes ready to support the repair bill. There are 19 in the GOP caucus.
"We're even stronger now since the Assembly vote last night," Fitzgerald said after the Senate's floor session today. "There's no negotiating on this bill at all."
Fitzgerald also said there are a couple of days outlined by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau as deadlines for the portion of the bill to refinance the state's debt, and that he couldn't say whether lawmakers would have to return to the bill to address the refinancing issue.
But Fitzgerald said impending layoff notices for state workers are real, and that he expects the governor to ask agencies to compile lists of names whose jobs are in jeopardy.
"As soon as those names are gathered, I would hope that it would sink in that this is real. This isn't some game of chicken," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald also said he's not concerned about the controversial early morning Assembly vote to approve the bill.
"The way it ended last night is the way the Legislature functions sometimes," he said.
Link to an audio interview can be found at the link above.
Is the "democracy at work" the libs keep babbling about? It sure isn't much of a representative republic when the minority party fails to do their jobs and engage in the legislative process.
[After Sen. Dale Schultz declined to offer an amendment on the floor, Fitzgerald said he still has 18 solid Republican votes ready to support the repair bill. There are 19 in the GOP caucus.]
Anyone know the cowardly Repulican who is not with the GOP caucus?
It’s Stinky Schultz
I think Gordon Lightfoot needs to write a new verse to describe the wreck of Sen. Fitzgerald.
I think you mean to imply your support of Sen Fitzgerald, for standing firm against the violence prone, unruly mobs of socialist demoRATs & unions. However your sentence doesn't say that. Unless you're blaming the wreck of the senate legislative process on Sen Fitzgerald instead of the 14 rat bastard senate demoRATS where it clearly belongs.
Let Stinky and the Dems take the heat when the State starts very real lay-offs of very real rank and file union members who will lose very real paychecks in addition to collective bargaining.
You’re right. I should have read the article more closely.
We knew what you meant ;-)
Here is the Head of the FLEE PARTY, recorded live from earlier this week “from an undisclosed location”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S_dXxTiQY4
A better train wreck Gordo hasn’t seen....he looks slightly less hung-over here than on another video that doesn’t seem to be online.
I guess we should have “compromised” after we won WWII too. These guys are just gutless chickens who can’t deal with the fact that “elections have consequences” and “we won”.
Sen. Dale Schultz EMAIL AT THE WISCONSIN SENATE****
Sen.schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov
Send this wimp an e-mail, suggesting he grow a SPINE.
That’s the irony here - the teachers are the ones making the big stink over this pending law, but the delay caused by the runaway Dems will redound to the state workers (i.e. layoffs). Walker has no ability to lay teachers off, as they are locally hired.
Either Schultz or Van Wangaard. Both are soft on principle.
F Scott Fitzgerald
Pubbies need to have a zero type blitz of deregulating, detaxing,etc. just keep it comming, we got your 6
If the state goes into shutdown mode, does this also mean that the school districts don't get their state funding? If they don't, then there are going to be school districts looking at layoffs as well.
I don’t think the state goes into shutdown. The issue that Scott Walker is facing with Wisconsin is that there is a law requiring a balanced budget. The current fiscal year ends June 30, 2011. Walker has to erase any deficit for this fiscal year by that date . . . hence the layoffs. He had several other things in the budget repair bill to clear up the projected deficit for this year, one of which was restructuring the debt, i.e. refinancing a loan that falls due in this time frame, at a reduced rate of interest.
Any state revenue sharing for local school districts on the chopping block would be in the next two-year budget (7/1/2011 thru 6/30/13). This is why the potential layoff notices were sent out - to meet a requirement that the teachers be notified by a certain date.
If the Democrats don’t come back to work, thousands of government workers will get pink slips. Now that’s liberal compassion in a weak economy - which is nothing but political cowardice. Boycotting the democratic process because you don’t disagree with the outcome is in reality making your irrelevant to it as the Democrats will soon discover.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.