MADISON, WI –Â The Wisconsin state Senate has just recessed, after the 19 Republicans “debated” and voted on amendments to a strict Voter ID bill, while the Democrats who fled the state in order to stop a budget quorum for Governor Scott Walker’s anti-public employee union proposals remain in hiding in Illinois.
Because the Dems were absent, and the Voter ID bill contains budgetary components, the GOPers could only discuss and amend the bill without passing it.
At one point state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald lamented that the Dems weren’t in the chamber to offer amendments and argue on the high-profile issue. “Where is the minority party? Why are they not participating?”
Fitzgerald also added: “Why are they not ready to acknowledge that the denial of quorum is not something in Robert’s Rules? It’s not something that the people of Wisconsin deserve. We deserve the ability to govern ourselves.”
