Budget bill passes Wisconsin Assembly; moves to Senate

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Madison, Wisconsin (CNN) -- The Wisconsin state Assembly passed a Republican bill Friday that strips most public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

But the fight over the bill seems far from over.

It still has to pass Wisconsin's Senate which could prove to be a more contentious battle.

Fourteen Democratic Senators have fled to neighboring Illinois to prevent a quorum from voting on the issue and they remained absent early Friday.

"The vote we took wasn't the easy thing to do, but it was the right thing to do," said Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder said early Friday. "I continue to urge my Democrat colleagues in the Senate to come back to Madison so that they can debate this bill and do their job for the taxpayers of Wisconsin."

Thousand have protested the bill in recent days.

On Thursday, Republican Gov. Scott Walker also called on Democrats to come back to Madison "and do their job."

At a Thursday night press conference,Walker warned that if the Wisconsin legislature does not pass his budget bill, state aid to local governments could be cut by $1 billion. He also discounted critics who said the legislation will destroy public employee unions in the state.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/25/wisconsin.budget.bill/