tens of thousands are keeping up their protest of the plan which strips state workers of most of their collective bargaining rights. the state assembly has passed the bill and governor scott walker is demanding senate democrats who fled the state in order to delay their vote return or else. nbc s mike taibbi is live in madison right now. so, mike, that is disappointing news. we re hearing dozens of teachers are already getting layoff wa warning notices. how is this playing out? reporter: the governor has been making those threats if fo days, trying to get those 14 awol democrats back from the other side of the illinois state line. they ve not come back, they vowed repeatedly they will not. they won t come back until the governor gives his budget address on tuesday night. that s kind of the line in the sand day, the real practical deadline for this story. because if he doesn t get the budget bill passed that he wants, he ll have to make good on the threats he s been making
passed the bill in a rapid fire vote early this morning enraging democrats. i think they took only ten minutes with that vote. nbc s mike taibbi is in madison. mike, you continue to watch all of the action? we re waiting to hear from the governor expected to speak from green bay shortly. it s crazy. it s just crazy out there. it has been crazy. who knows, andrea, exactly how this is going to end except if you look at the simple math which says if the republicans control the governor s mansion, the assembly as they do, the senate as they do, when those votes are ultimately taken the republicans will win. that s why those 14 senate democrats remain awol over the illinois state line, said again last night on the ed show on msnbc they will stay there, will deny the governor the vote he says he wants before he delivers his budget address next tuesday and that s why he said that these pink slips will go out for as many as 1500 state workers starting today. some of those notices of intent
people who didn t understand the debate lasted as long as it did when there had been a talk of limiting the amendments. a filibuster might be the right word, and as you say, the republicans pulled out a move just after 1:00 in the morning to end the debate summarily. it reminded me of that rob reiner movie where the president said, democracy isn t easy. it takes an advanced degree. it s hard work. i think on both sides the republicans trying to end this thing, at least in the assembly, the democrats trying to stretch it out. the state senate here still has to vote and they re not going to be able to vote while they remain over the illinois state line. they vowed again last night on d show and they vowed in interviews with us as well saying they re not going to come back. they re not going to give governor scott walker an easy
the governor is warning democrats about the unintended consequences of their actions. where do things stand? reporter: i don t know if the word unintended is any longer the right word because everybody now knows the consequences of what will happen if there is not a vote on the governor s bill in the senate by a deadline which now seems to be more monday or tuesday than today legally in terms of what might be lost. the governor is saying that unless they can reschedule some debt they ll lose $165 million and that will force him to make up the budget gap in a different way and he is going to do that by laying off as many as 1500 state workers immediately and perhaps as many as 12,000 by the end of the fiscal year june 30th. so that is a threat on the table. so that really is a set of the facts that everybody has to consider right now. the senate democrats as you just heard from senator lassa who is in hiding over the illinois state line is one they re holding to. they say they re not