Breaking from State Journal:
In a surprise move late Wednesday, Senate Republicans voted to move forward with the governor's controversial budget repair bill, sending the measure into a conference committee scheduled for later in the day.
Republican leaders would only say the Senate bill differed from the Assembly bill and indicated it was possible lawmakers could strip fiscal elements from the proposal and pass only the measures dealing with collective bargaining.
Such a move would allow Republicans to pass the governor's bill without the 20 Senate members needed to vote on fiscal matters. Currently 14 Democratic senators remain in Illinois, hiding out in an effort to deny the quorum and stall the vote.
This is incredible. This idea was originally floated by Glenn Grothman weeks ago, I believe. This not only concedes the point that the collective bargaining is non-fiscal, but it makes clear that Scott Walker holds union-busting more closely to his heart than any other state policy item.
