Two weeks after Governor Scott Walker unveiled his budget repair bill and union supporters started their protesting campaign, with 14 WI Democratic Senators running away from home to avoid having to vote on the budget repair bill, Governor Walker raises the stakes again.Republican Gov. Scott Walker on Monday gave absent Democratic lawmakers an ultimatum to return to Wisconsin within 24 hours and vote on a proposal to reduce the power of public sector unions or the state would miss out on a debt restructuring.
The debt restructuring aspect was covered days ago, as the February 25, 2011 deadline passed, and Walker has extended that deadline, but has given the runaway Democrats 24 hours to get home and start doing their jobs again and vote one way or another on the budget repair bill which includes a restructuring of the state's debt.
From the bill:
Debt Restructuring-The bill authorizes the restructuring of principal payments in fiscal year 2010-11 on the state’s general obligation bonds. These principal repayments will be paid in future years. Since the state is required to make debt service payments by March 15th. The bill must be enacted by February 25th. To allow time to sell the refinancing bonds. This provision will reduce debt service costs by $165 million in fiscal year 2010-11. The savings will help address one-time costs to comply with the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund state Supreme Court decision and make payments under the Minnesota-Wisconsin tax reciprocity program.
Walker's statement issued February 28, 2011:
For Immediate Release
Monday, February 28, 2011
Walker to Senate Democrats: One Day Left to Save the State $165 million
Madison–One component of Governor Walker’s budget repair bill is debt refinancing, which will save taxpayers $165 million in fiscal year 2011. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, if Senate Democrats refuse to return to Wisconsin and cast their votes in the next day the option to refinance a portion of the state’s debt will be off the table.
Along with this notice Governor Walker’s spokesman, Cullen Werwie, released the following statement:
Senate Democrats claimed they fled the state to slow down the process so the public had enough time to learn about the budget repair bill. If that was their true intention, they have been successful.
Now they have one day to return to work before the state loses out on the chance to refinance debt, saving taxpayers $165 million this fiscal year. Failure to return to work and cast their votes will lead to more painful and aggressive spending cuts in the very near future.
This is the Senate Democrats’ 24 hour notice.
JS Online provides more details on the deal the Unions are protesting against:
But by any measure, as Walker has noted and most state employees acknowledge, the state will continue to provide rich health-insurance benefits compared with the private sector, where nearly 40% of employers don't offer health benefits at all.
Under Walker's bill, state employees - including elected state legislators, who receive the same benefits - would pay about $600 more for single coverage, raising their share of that cost to about $1,000 a year. For family coverage, they would pay $1,476 more, raising their share of the cost to about $2,500 a year.
The proposal would increase their share of the premium to 12.4%. But that would still be well below the share paid by employees in the private sector, who by one estimate pay an average of 19% of the cost for single coverage and 29% for family coverage.
It also is less than the 28% of the premium paid on average by federal employees.
Read the whole thing, the deal Walker is offering is still better than what private sector employees have now.
Another little tidbit of information regarding those runaway Democrats and the money they receive from Unions:
....one out of every five dollars raised by those Democratic senators in the past two election cycles came from public employees, such as teachers and firefighters, and their unions, a Journal Sentinel analysis of campaign records shows.
"It's very simple," said Richard Abelson, executive director of District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "We have interests, and because of that, we attempt to support candidates who support our interests. It's pretty hard to find Republicans who support our interests these days."
Critics of Walker's budget-repair bill say it would mean less union money for Democrats. That's because the legislation would end automatic payroll deductions for dues and would allow public employees to opt out of belonging to a union.
According to records compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the 14 Senate Democrats have raised a total of $1.9 million in campaign dollars since the start of 2007. Out of that sum, public-employee unions and individual government workers contributed at least $344,000.
In truth, the figure may be even higher, but candidates don't have to identify the occupations of those giving $100 or less.
Anyone surprised?
Last but not least, Walker responds to Barack Obama who made veiled comments recently about "public employees". (Worth noting the last time Obama interjected himself into the business of Wisconsin, Walker told Obama basically to butt out and try to balance his own budget (meaning America's)
Walker’s office issued this statement:
“I'm sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I'm sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.
“Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.
“I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.”
Just another day in Wisconsin.