Just after midnight this morning, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Senate passed the extreme, draconian, and irresponsible state budget, 17-16, with no Democrats voting for it and one Republican (Dale Schultz) voting against it.
Let me tell you how bad this legislation is...it expands school vouchers statewide in Wisconsin, legalizes bail bondsmen in Wisconsin, includes other controversial policy measures that were snuck into the budget, includes tax cuts for the wealthiest Wisconsinites...and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how bad the Republican budget, which now goes to Republican Governor Scott Walker's desk.
It is currently unknown if Walker will sign the whole budget into law or use his line-item veto power in any way.
Perhaps symbolic of how this may very well be a Pyrrhic victory for the Wisconsin GOP, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald did not give a closing statement (instead, he brought the bill to a vote right away), whereas Democratic State Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson did give a closing statement.
Given how Wisconsin Republicans have done a lot of their legislative work in the early hours of the morning on the state budget, I'm shocked they didn't sneak a provision into the state budget making this the Wisconsin state anthem: