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Wisconsin Republicans are trying to lure Senate Democrats back to the state capital by scheduling a vote Tuesday on a controversial bill that would require voters to show photo ID before casting a ballot.
Democrats have fought the bill for years, arguing it would make it more difficult for minorities and elderly people to vote. But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican, planned to push forward on the bill in Democrats' absence, scheduling a committee vote on the measure.
The gambit was a taunt aimed squarely at the 14 Senate Democrats who fled the capital last week to prevent Republicans from voting on a budget-fix bill which would cut deep into union benefits and rights. Republicans, who have 19 members in the Senate, would need 20 lawmakers present to have a quorum to pass a spending bill, so the Democratic boycott effectively halted debate on the budget bill. But they only need a simple majority of 17 lawmakers to pass non-spending items, such as the voter ID bill.
Wisconsin Republicans Try to Lure Back Dems By Scheduling Controversial Vote - FoxNews.com
It looks like the Republicans are trying to lure the Dems to come back from fleeing the state by scheduling a vote on non-spending legislation that under senate laws the Republicans can vote on with a simple 17 majority present.