Gov. Scott Walker refused to back down Sunday in his budget showdown with Wisconsin’s public-employee unions, saying the state is poised at a historic crossroads.
“We’re broke,” said the Republican governor, whose battle with unions in Wisconsin has landed him at the center of a national debate about government spending.
“I do believe that this is our moment in Wisconsin history,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, speaking on the same program, said the governor wasn’t interested in solving the state’s fiscal crisis, accusing Mr. Walker instead of wanting to break the state’s unions.
Mr. Trumka said the tactic is backfiring, and he predicted the public would support union rights in Wisconsin and in the 2012 presidential elections.
“He’s losing. If that’s the argument, it’s a loser,” he said.
The governor has shrugged off critics, including President Obama, pointing out that the new rules that would apply to state and municipal employees would be similar to the labor rules that govern federal workers.
Mr. Walker said he has rejected a proposed one-year budget compromise with Democrats and organized labor that includes many of the concessions sought by Republicans, but only for a single year because “we’ve kicked the can down the road, and we can’t do that again.”
The Republican governor, faced with a projected $3.6 billion shortfall in the state’s 2011-13 budgets, is backing a bill that would strip most state and local public employees of the right to collective bargaining on benefits.
In addition to helping Wisconsin close its budget gap, the bill also would give local government officials the tools needed to tackle their own fiscal problems, the governor says.
But the proposal sent a shock wave through organized labor and the state’s Democratic minority and caused the party’s 14 state senators to flee the state to stymie the Republicans by denying the legislative quorum needed to act on budget and spending bills.
In Madison, the demonstrations continued Sunday at the state Capitol despite a 4 p.m. deadline to clear the building, which sorely needed cleaning.
When it became clear Sunday night that demonstrators had no intention of leaving, Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs told reporters there was “no reason to consider arrests” as long as people continued to act “lawfully and responsibly.”
Mr. Walker, who opted out of the National Governors Association meeting in Washington this week to oversee the crisis in Wisconsin, said if the bill isn’t passed, the state will have layoffs instead of cutbacks.
“If we do not get these changes, and the Democrats do not come back, we’re going to be forced to do massive layoffs. … I would go to almost any ends to avoid layoffs,” he said.
View Entire Story© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
David Eldridge joined The Washington Times in 1999 and over the next seven years helped lead the paper’s coverage of regional politics and government, Sept. 11, and the sniper attacks of 2002. In 2006, he was named managing editor of the paper’s Web site. He came to The Times from the Telegraph in North Platte, Neb., where he served as ...
'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
From raising children to identifying educational and service options for your children, Speaking of Family is where you can write...
Born in 1930 in rural Missouri, Charles Vandegriffe, Sr., brings his time and place to the Communities.
In a world that is increasingly complex, we need to seek greater awareness of the blending of cultures and America's changing role in a global community.
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
13 Photos
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
18 Photos
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
11 Photos
