The State Assembly passed the budget repair bill by a 51-17 vote.
Republicans abruptly ended debate and quickly called the roll, passing the budget repair bill on a 51-17 vote.
UPDATE: The roll was run so quickly that not all legislators had the chance to push their button for a “yes” or “no” vote.
Four Republicans registered votes against the bill: Dean Kaufert, Lee Nerison, Richard Spanbauer and Travis Tranel.
The bill faces an uncertain future because of the AWOL 14, Senate Democrats who fled the state to avoid taking a vote on the budget repair bill.
Democrats are crying foul over the vote, even hinting at future legal action:
Assembly Democrats are calling the Republican move to end debate and force a vote a blatant violation, and some are saying they may take the case to court.
The vote happened so quickly that many members on each side didn’t have time to push the button and register their vote.
You can read the final roll call vote here. Racine Count split, with Robin Vos (R-63rd) voting for the measure, Robert Turner (D-61st) voting against it and Cory Mason (D-62nd) not voting.
More coverage here from Fox News:
MADISON, Wis. — Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly took the first significant action on their plan to strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers, abruptly passing the measure early Friday morning before sleep-deprived Democrats realized what was happening.
The vote ended three straight days of punishing debate in the Assembly. But the political standoff over the bill — and the monumental protests at the state Capitol against it — appear far from over.
The Assembly’s vote sent the bill on to the Senate, but minority Democrats in that house have fled to Illinois to prevent a vote. No one knows when they will return from hiding. Republicans who control the chamber sent state troopers out looking for them at their homes on Thursday, but they turned up nothing.
“I applaud the Democrats in the Assembly for earnestly debating this bill and urge their counterparts in the state Senate to return to work and do the same,” Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said in a statement issued moments after the vote.
Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey quotes Senate Fleebagger leader Mark Miller as saying about Gov. Walker:
He’s got to realize there’s more to leadership than just demanding your own way.
Then adds:
Er … like stamping one’s feet and fleeing the state, with the minority refusing to participate and do their jobs unless Walker makes changes to a bill that would easily pass the legislature? That kind of “just demanding your own way” is exactly what the minority caucus has been doing for over a week.
