about how much healthcare costs they pay for. everything republicans wanted in terms of fiscal concessions from people that work for the state, they got them. public employees conceded. they gave republicans everything they asked for in terms of paid give backs, pension, healthcare, everything with budget impact, the public employees gave up right away, right at the outset. if it was really about the budget, then those concessions would have sort of solved the problem. would have been enough. but it is not about the budget. and so instead we have had 22 days of protests over what? over the stuff that s in the e-mails, the stuff that governor walker appears to be caving on now, finally after all this time. the fight they ve been having in wisconsin is not about money or about what people get paid. it was about union rights. it was about something that has no fiscal impact whatsoever. it is about stuff that scott walker is effectively conceding. it is not about the budget. they said it w
governor walker s office releasing e-mails to milwaukee journal sentinel. e-mails that show him caving on big parts of the union stripping bill, offering modifications, offering compromises. budging. this, of course, is not over yet. senate democrats in wisconsin have not returned to the state capitol. the begrudgingly e-mailed offers from the governor are not the same as legislation being withdrawn or new legislation being introduced. but essentially i won t budge has been forced to budge. he lost this one. and more importantly, he lost it on the substance, and he lost it publicly in a very big way. and the longer it goes on, the worse he loses it. it is all over but the shouting. wisconsin, you won. can we take a second to let that sink in a moment? okay. as i said, the out of state wisconsin senate democrats are still out of state. they are not claiming victory on this yet.
same thing a few years ago, slowing down, blocking, not pushing legislation forward because they didn t want the outcome of the vote to go the way the outcome was going to go, shall on the left criticized republican leadership for doing the same thing. this is no different. if you re going to be elected to office, then damn it, be the leader. stand in the well of the floor of the senate and the house and state your case. if you don t have the votes, then work your members to get the votes. you bring the voters to the table with you and say this is the reason why. the small business owner, the fired union worker sitting next to me, this is the reason why this is an important vote. you don t do it from another state. it is totally fair. i will grant you it is totally
your budget deficit. it is not about the budget. they say it is about the budget, it is not about the budget. in ohio, john kasich delivered his state of the state. mr. kasich and state republicans have sort of forgotten to make it look like it is their agenda has anything to do with the state s budget. they put forward a more draconian union stripping proposal than the one being tried in wisconsin. again, stripping collective bargaining rights is not a fiscal issue, it is a rights issue. but mr. kasich and ohio republicans outdid themselves on the it s not about the budget front by including a gay marriage ban in their supposed budget rescue bill. gay marriage is already banned, but this provides an extra, double quadrupal ban. what is the benefit for that? nothing. it has no budget impact. it is not about the budget. the columbus dispatch newspaper
spending to address their state s budget short falls. that is actually happening in some places. look what they are trying to do in michigan. rick snyder proposed a tax increase. michigan has a budget problem. he is going to do the responsible thing. he is going to raise taxes. he is going to raise taxes on seniors and on poor people. $1.7 billion in tax hikes for michigan seniors and michigan s poor people, and for people that want to make tax deductible donation to public universities. sorry, michigan has a budget problem. we have to raise a lot of money from you, poor people, old people, people supporting public schooling, you have to take the hit because the state needs to save that money. is the state saving that money? no, the state is not. governor snyder is taking all of that money that the state will gain and he is not using it to close the budget gap. he is giving it away in the form of $1.8 billion in corporate tax cuts. he is taking in $1.7 billion in higher taxes from poor