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Wisconsin Legislature Live Updates: A Fight Over Governor’s Power Lawmakers Clash and Protesters Chant Amid Fight Over Wisconsin Governor’s Power
(about 1 hour later)
MADISON, Wis. — If there was any uncertainty about how tense and furious the battle over political power had grown inside Wisconsin’s State Capitol, it was answered by an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Tuesday. MADISON, Wis. — Lawmakers sparred in sharp, angry tones. Furious demonstrators drowned out cheery Christmas carols being sung by schoolchildren. Visitors were cleared from a Capitol gallery, escorted away as they chanted: “Shame! Shame! Shame!”
As schoolchildren sang Christmas carols in the rotunda, protesters drowned them out with their own lyrics: “Scott Walker tells another lie!” As Mr. Walker, the departing Republican governor, stepped forward to light the towering balsam with cheese-themed decorations, he was met with boos. So went a long and tumultuous day in Wisconsin, as Republicans who control this state’s Legislature pushed forward an extensive list of measures aimed at limiting the power of a newly elected governor and attorney general — both Democrats — before either of them take office.
The protests came as Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin were racing on Tuesday to push through a series of bills that would diminish the power of the incoming Democratic governor before he’s sworn in. Other parts of the sprawling legislative package would swiftly advance the Republican lawmakers’ agenda on matters unlikely to win a Democrat’s signature, such as limits to early voting.
In the afternoon on Tuesday, the debate turned sharp, and lawmakers ordered the public galleries cleared, setting off shouts of outrage from those who had come to watch: “Shame! Shame! Shame!” As the second of two days of intense legislative debate dragged into Tuesday evening, lawmakers had not yet acted on most of the bills. The State Senate approved one of several that were under consideration. Many expected the debate to stretch well into the night and possibly into Wednesday.
Here’s what we’re watching: Republicans gained control of many Midwestern states over the last decade, but they suffered significant setbacks in the midterm elections, losing governor’s offices and several other top posts in states like Michigan, Illinois, Kansas and Wisconsin. In the weeks since the election, Republican leaders in some of those states have aimed to exert their influence with lawmaking sessions before Democrats arrive.
• Both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature, dominated by Republicans, said they planned to vote on Tuesday on a package of bills that would limit the authority of the governor and a newly elected Democratic attorney general, and would protect some of the conservatives’ signature policies. As of 4 p.m. Central time, the bulk of the package of bills had yet to be voted on. In Lansing, Mich., demonstrators were also chanting in that Capitol’s halls, demanding an end to a session in which Republicans voted late Tuesday to scale back a paid sick time requirement for workers and slow a minimum-wage increase. Republican lawmakers also hope to expand their authority in several areas before top state posts are filled by Democrats.
• The size of protests continued to grow in a Capitol that has seen numerous battles over the past eight years, after power flipped from the Democrats to Republicans under outgoing Gov. Scott Walker. Michigan Democrats were particularly outraged, they said, at the changes passed on Tuesday to the minimum wage and paid sick time rules, because both measures had originally been brought forward as citizen-initiated ballot measures. Republican lawmakers had passed the plans before the election, the Democrats said, only to dilute them now. Those measures await a signature from Rick Snyder, the departing Republican governor who has not said yet whether he will support them.
• Republican lawmakers in Michigan were also weighing last-minute legislation that could increase their power before newly elected Democrats assume office, a move that North Carolina Republicans also took in similar circumstances in 2016. Several other bills, including one aimed at allowing lawmakers to intervene in the state’s court cases, may soon be debated, though top Democrats, including Gretchen Whitmer, the governor-elect, urged Republicans not to proceed.
They started lining up well before noon on Monday. They chanted “stop this coup.” And when the committee chairman said clapping was banned, they waved their arms in the air to signal applause. In Madison, a full battle was underway.
Residents crammed into a Capitol hearing room to speak, two minutes at a time, about why they opposed the bills. The hearing, scheduled to start at 12:30, stretched well into the night. “It’s an attack on the entire citizenry of Wisconsin,” Russ Hahn, 53, a lawyer from Kenosha, Wis., said of the Republicans’ efforts to push through limits on the incoming governor and attorney general. Mr. Hahn, who said he considers himself an independent, had come to the Capitol — as did hundreds of others — to protest as lawmakers debated the fate of the package inside the chambers. Mr. Hahn carried a sign that read, “GOP Grinch Stealing Democracy.”
“What they’re doing today,” Mr. Hahn said, “is a travesty.”
Republicans, who have controlled state government in Wisconsin since 2011 after they flipped both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, defended their efforts as long-needed changes to rebalance power, which they said had become tilted in favor of the executive branch.
Robin Vos, the speaker of the Assembly, said Republicans owed it to their voters to protect policies enacted under Scott Walker, the Republican governor who was defeated in November, and to institute checks on the power of the incoming Democrat, Tony Evers.
“These are the right things to do,” Mr. Vos told reporters. “We are going to make sure the powers of each branch are as equal as they can be.”
Mr. Walker’s eight years in Wisconsin have been punctuated by partisan tumult as Mr. Walker and his Republican lawmaker allies pushed state policies to the right on matters like union power and taxes. This purple state, which voted for Barack Obama but also helped seal Donald J. Trump’s electoral win in 2016, has been rived by partisan fighting in recent years.
After Mr. Walker proposed sweeping cuts to benefits and collective bargaining rights for most public sector union employees a few weeks into his administration in 2011, thousands of protesters packed the Capitol for days, setting off months of recall elections. Some of the protesters at the Capitol this week said they had marched here before — in 2011 or in other skirmishes since.
Among the Republican bills being weighed this week, Democrats were especially incensed about one that would allow legislative leaders to assign private lawyers to replace the attorney general on certain lawsuits, ensuring that Republican-passed laws get a full-throated defense if challenged in court and that Josh Kaul, the incoming Democratic attorney general, would have less say.
The bills would also prevent Mr. Kaul and Mr. Evers from withdrawing the state from a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. Democrats, who focused on health care coverage during their campaigns, promised on the campaign trail that the state would, on their watch, withdraw from the suit.
Another provision would prevent Mr. Evers from banning guns in the Wisconsin Capitol without permission from legislators, and another would give legislative leaders, not Mr. Evers, the majority of appointments on an economic development board that has been a partisan sticking point.
Around the Capitol all day, Democratic lawmakers were blunt in their criticism of what was happening, though they hold minorities in both legislative chambers. The debate in the Senate, where the Republicans’ margin of majority is narrower, was expected to be the most intense.
State Representative Katrina Shankland slammed the bills as a “power-hungry move” by Republicans “taking out their grubby hands to grab more power.” And State Representative Chris Taylor described the moves as a “pernicious attack on our democracy.”
All week, residents had streamed into the Capitol. On Monday, they crammed into a hearing room to speak, two minutes at a time. They chanted “stop this coup.” And when a committee chairman said clapping was banned at one point, they waved their arms in the air to signal applause. Almost no one came to support the legislation.
Andy Olsen of Madison accused Republicans of rejecting “the basic fundamental ground rules of American democracy.” Martha Pincus of Fox Point said Republicans were “disrespecting their constituents.” A Sheboygan native quoted the prophet Isaiah in explaining his opposition. A man from Wonewoc invoked Eisenhower.Andy Olsen of Madison accused Republicans of rejecting “the basic fundamental ground rules of American democracy.” Martha Pincus of Fox Point said Republicans were “disrespecting their constituents.” A Sheboygan native quoted the prophet Isaiah in explaining his opposition. A man from Wonewoc invoked Eisenhower.
For hours, lawmakers sat quietly and listened, reading off the surnames of the teachers and retirees and college students who accused them of disregarding their votes and dishonoring Wisconsin.For hours, lawmakers sat quietly and listened, reading off the surnames of the teachers and retirees and college students who accused them of disregarding their votes and dishonoring Wisconsin.
Almost no one came to support the legislation. In the end, Republicans, who have defended the bills as a necessary check on executive power, voted to advance almost all the measures to the full Legislature.
“This committee is intentionally ignoring the will of the people,” said Gail Milbrath, a retired teacher from Milwaukee. “Stop cheating because you lost. It’s such poor sportsmanship. Come on.”“This committee is intentionally ignoring the will of the people,” said Gail Milbrath, a retired teacher from Milwaukee. “Stop cheating because you lost. It’s such poor sportsmanship. Come on.”
Governor Walker, the departing Republican, dropped by the Capitol on Tuesday as protesters ringed the rotunda and as Democratic lawmakers vowed to fight what they called “an illegitimate day.” By Tuesday evening, the crowd at the Capitol had dwindled some, but Linda Walter, 62, remained near the Assembly chamber. Ms. Walter, a Madison resident, said she did not identify as either Republican or Democrat, but was upset with how lawmakers were treating Mr. Evers.
Mr. Walker was not there to discuss the bills, which most people expect him to sign if passed. Instead, he was there to light the Capitol Christmas tree, a 35-to-40-foot balsam fir grown in Plainfield, Wis., and adorned with dairy-themed ornaments, including cheese wheels and cows. “Republicans are out to get him already,” Ms. Walter said.
Less than three years ago, Mr. Walker was a national political star who boasted of Wisconsin’s conservative makeover on the presidential campaign trail. On Tuesday, nearly a month after voters denied him a third term, he was just trying to get through an awkward event. Ms. Walter said she did not buy the claims that Republicans might have considered similar bills under Mr. Walker — “total bunk,” she said — and she grew emotional describing the state of politics in her state.
When Mr. Walker was called to the podium, boos outnumbered cheers. When he spoke, protesters held signs with messages like “All I Want for Christmas Is Democracy.” And when a high school choir sang holiday carols, protest singers drowned them out. “People just have to start being nice again,” Ms. Walter said.
Mr. Walker left without taking questions. A day earlier, at a Menorah lighting, he spoke in general support of the Republican lawmakers’ goals, but did not definitively say whether he would sign the bills. For his part, Governor Walker, the departing Republican, came to the Capitol on Tuesday to light the annual Christmas tree, a 35-to-40-foot balsam fir grown in Plainfield, Wis., and adorned with dairy-themed ornaments, including cheese wheels and cows.
When Mr. Walker was called to the podium, boos outnumbered cheers. When he spoke, protesters held signs with messages like “All I Want for Christmas Is Democracy.” Mr. Walker left without taking questions, though a day earlier, at a Menorah lighting, he spoke in general support of the Republican lawmakers’ goals without definitively saying whether he would sign the bills.
“Much of what is being debated, and I assume will get to our desk in one form or another, is similar to what we’ve done in practice,” Mr. Walker said. “This is just putting into statutes what we’ve done in practice.”“Much of what is being debated, and I assume will get to our desk in one form or another, is similar to what we’ve done in practice,” Mr. Walker said. “This is just putting into statutes what we’ve done in practice.”
The package of last-minute bills proposed by Republicans is sprawling — five sets of bills, to be precise. Most of them seek to reinforce policies cemented under Governor Walker and to block Tony Evers, the soon-to-be governor, and Josh Kaul, the newly elected Democratic attorney general, from exercising oversight or from rolling back conservative policies of the last decade.
Democrats are especially incensed about a bill that would allow legislative leaders to assign private lawyers to replace the attorney general on certain lawsuits, ensuring that Republican-passed laws get a full-throated defense if challenged in court. The bills would also prevent Mr. Kaul and Mr. Evers from withdrawing the state from a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. Democrats, who focused on health care coverage during their campaigns, also promised on the campaign trail that the state would, on their watch, withdraw from the suit.
Another provision would prevent Mr. Evers from banning guns in the Wisconsin Capitol without permission from legislators. And another would give legislative leaders, not Mr. Evers, the majority of appointments on an economic development board that has been a partisan sticking point.
Other measures being debated do not cut the authority of the new Democrats, but seem unlikely to be signed into law by a Democratic governor. Republicans want to curtail early voting and limit the number of road projects on which federal funds are used.
This Capitol has been the scene of plenty of partisan tumult over the last eight years. In 2011, right after Republicans flipped the State Assembly, the State Senate and the governor’s office, Mr. Walker, the new governor, proposed sweeping cuts to benefits and collective bargaining rights for most public sector union employees.
The Senate’s Democrats — who did not have the votes to block the bill — fled the state and hid out for a while in a hotel in Northern Illinois, even as the Capitol’s sergeant-at-arms searched for them in the nooks and crannies of the building. For days, the maneuver prevented a vote, but Republicans eventually passed the measure anyway. The ensuing turmoil, many Wisconsinites say, changed the tone of politics in the state.
Thousands of protesters packed the Capitol for days. (At one point, you could not walk through the huge halls of the building without stepping over sleeping bags and people.) The battle set off months of recall elections, including one against Mr. Walker, who proceeded to survive an extra statewide vote in 2012. The elections that year — the recall election and the separate presidential race — help explain what it is that makes purplish Wisconsin such a prize and a challenge for both parties: Mr. Walker won the recall that year, the same year that Barack Obama won the state.
Michigan Republicans were also pressing ahead with contested bills on Tuesday, over the objections of demonstrators who chanted in the State Capitol’s rotunda that the “lame duck” session has “got to go.”
Republicans, who have controlled the capital in recent years, lost the governor’s office, as well as the secretary of state’s office and the attorney general’s post in the midterm elections. But they still dominate the Legislature, and are pursuing a long list of measures before the new state leaders take office in January.
They are also seeking to scale back some measures they passed in the lead-up to the election, including those for a minimum-wage hike and mandatory sick pay rules for workers.
Those changes had come to Lansing as citizen-initiated ballot measures and would have gone to the voters — except lawmakers approved them not long before Election Day, getting rid of the need for a statewide vote.
But since the election, lawmakers have moved to weaken what they had passed. This week, they were considering whether to delay for years the period in which the minimum wage would rise to $12 from $9.25. And they were weighing new limits to the mandatory sick pay rules, including exempting some small companies from the regulations.
In the coming days, Republicans were also expected to consider measures that Democrats say would shrink the power of some of the new Democrats who won top state roles in November. One would shift some campaign oversight away from the incoming secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, Democrats say. Another would give Republican lawmakers more opportunities to intervene in state litigation, which is usually the purview of the attorney general.