member of the committee, but we understand that our republican friends continue to push for tax cuts as, you know, even they use the deficit as a cover to keep pushing for tax cuts. that s what my friend paul ryan is doing, but the attack on collective bargaining rights is a whole different phase in our democratic tradition. because people have spent the last 70 years and more trying to have the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to decent wages and benefits. that s all under attack right now. it s totally ideological, and they re trying to 1234506 crush workers, and this was just one moment. when i was sitting there in that committee meeting, i was thinking about the thousands of people i saw in wisconsin, the thousands i stood with in ohio, and the workers gathering all over america waiting for an opportunity to get an answer to the question, why did you go after collective bargaining? today we proved it wasn t a
shouts of protesters could be heard outside that dark conference room as they suddenly convened, suddenly voted and suddenly adjourned. after republicans lost public debate on this issue, after democrats in the anti-union stripping protesters won the public debate on this issue, after wisconsin took to the streets and democratic senators held out and won on the substance, and that most important result was nailed down and finalized, republicans tried to find a desperate way to ram it through anyway, after they lost the argument. protesters are reassembling at the capitol now. jon erpenbach, one of the 14 senators who remain outside the state. senator erpenbach, what is your understanding of what the republicans just did tonight? well, obviously what they did is they certainly violated open meeting laws in the state of wisconsin, and what represent barca had in his hands was something from a republican attorney general in the state of wisconsin, so odds are this probably will end up i
considered without a certain number of senators present. republicans needed at least one senate to show up to the senate in order to meet that numerical threshold. democrats fled the state so the quorum could not be reached, so the bill could not be voted on. then tonight with no warning, republicans announced that they took everything budget related out of what they were calling the budget bill, leaving only the union stripping provisions. republicans, of course, had insisted that union stripping was a fiscal issue, but tonight in order to try to pull this rabbit out of a hat, they decided it wasn t a fiscal issue any more, and therefore they no longer needed that pesky quorum, and with no warning, convened a conference committee, democrats say in violation of the state s open meeting law. the last minute conference committee passed that union stripping bill. here is what this looked like. this is absolutely nuts. watch this. i have consulted with the legislative counsel, the
more wealth than 50% of the american households combined. 400 people have more than 155 million people, combined! i m sorry, that s not the country i live in. i refuse to participate in this. i am going to do my part, whatever i can, to get the word out and get people involved. these protests do matter. in fact, this is one of the few times i can say that in my lifetime, actually going to a demonstration really has made a difference, and people have got to come out of their homes tomorrow in lansing, in madison, in indianapolis, and across the weekend, they are planning a huge rally in madison saturday afternoon. and this is going to continue on in the other states. i have a theory why protests seem to be more effective on this issue than any other issue we observed or participated in demonstrations in the past 20 years, and i think that is
400 people have more than 155 million people, combined! i m sorry, that s not the country i live in. i refuse to participate in this. i am going to do my part, whatever i can, to get the word out and get people involved. these protests do matter. in fact, this is one of the few times i can say that in my lifetime, actually going to a demonstration really has made a difference, and people have got to come out of their homes tomorrow in lansing, in madison, in indianapolis, and across the weekend, they are planning a huge rally in madison saturday afternoon. and this is going to continue on in the other states. i have a theory why protests seem to be more effective on this issue than any other issue we observed or participated in demonstrations in the past 20 years, and i think that is because of the political dribbleness of what they are trying to do.