Madison, Wis., Feb 26, 2011 / 17:18 pm
As tens of thousands continue to protest in Wisconsin’s capitol city of Madison, Republican lawmakers have pushed controversial budget cuts through the local state Assembly and on to the Senate.
In the absence of local Democratic senators – who fled the state in order to stall voting on the budget proposal – the state Assembly voted on Feb. 25 to move the bill to the state Senate for consideration. The budget contains a controversial measure that strips public workers of collective bargaining rights and slashes funding for their individual health care and pensions.
Kim Wadas, associate director of education and health care for the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, explained that although legislative action on the measure is stalled because of the absent senators, the state assembly “decided to hold a floor session and take up the bill.”
“Once a bill goes through its third reading – and there's a passage on that third reading – it's no longer amendable and it can be messaged over to the Senate and taken up by the Senate,” Wadas said via phone on Feb. 25.