Senator Lindsay Graham doesn't understand why Wisconsin voters are so up in arms over Walker's designs to bust unions. After all, isn't that what he campaigned on? Voters elected him so now everyone should just shut up and let him do what he's elected to do.
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: David, if I could just add, this is a campaign flyer I have. I don't know if you can see it. From the last election cycle, where Wisconsin Union said, "If you elect this guy, Scott Walker, he's going to reform or limit collective bargaining." He was open about what he was going to do about contributions to pensions and retirement.
And he told the people of Wisconsin, "I'm going to change collective bargaining because it is-- impedes progress when it comes to education. It's too hard to fire anybody. It-- is too complicated. And I'm going to change that system." So in a democracy, when you run on something, you do have an obligation to fulfill your promise. He didn't take anybody by surprise. He's doing exactly what he said. There was a referendum on this issue, and the unions lost. And the Democrats in Wisconsin should come back to Wisconsin to have votes.
You know, just like the Republicans have done for the last two years with President Obama. After all, he was elected campaigning on health care, stimulating the economy back from the brink that destructive Republican policies brought it to, extending the strategic arms treaty Reagan developed. Just like that, Huckleberry?
Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.
DAVID GREGORY: Let-- let me ask you-- about what is becoming a federal issue. And that is what's happening in Wisconsin. This was the scene on Friday in the rotunda in Madison as union workers-- were protesting the move by-- the governor of Wisconsin to demand a greater participation on unions in terms of pension-- contributions, as well as health care contributions, also trying to end collective bargaining in the state. And you see the response there. President Obama did an interview and Weighed in on this. This is what he had to say.
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DAVID GREGORY: Senator Graham, did the President do the right thing, weighing in to this controversy?
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I think the President should be focusing on what we're doing in Washington. The President's budget this year is the highest level of spending as a nation-- 25.3 percent of GDP, since World War II. So that's not the number to use to get this place in-- in-- in-- in fiscal sanity. We should be looking at the dollars we're actually spending. That's what the House did.
But when the President talks about Wisconsin, I think that's-- that really is inappropriate. The governor of Wisconsin is doing what he campaigned on. He said he would ask contributions from government employees for-- pension and for health care at a level that I think's reasonable. And he also put on the table renegotiating and reforming collective bargaining.
He told me yesterday it takes 15 months to do a contract with government employees in Wisconsin. And so he's doing what he said. There was an election on his proposals, and he won. And he should be allowed to fulfill his mandate, just like the House Republicans.
DAVID GREGORY: Senator Durbin, is the White House-- is the President using his own campaign operation, an operation of supporters, to fuel protests in Wisconsin?
SENATOR DICK DURBIN: Let me tell you why-- what's happening in Wisconsin. Just north of Illinois. Goes way beyond the discussion of the Wisconsin budget. If you think this is just about money and the budget, then you might believe Caesar Chavez was just working to get a couple pennies more per pound for grapes, or that Martin Luther King was really working for access to hotels and restaurants.
There's a much bigger issue at stake here. For over 80 years in America, we have recognized the rights of our workers to freely gather together, collectively bargain, so that they could have fairness in the workplace and fairness in compensation. And that is what's at stake here. It goes way beyond this budget issue.
This governor of Wisconsin is not setting out just to fix a budget, he's setting out to break a union. That is a major move in terms of American history. I believe the President should have weighed in. I think we should all weigh in and say, "Do the right thing for Wisconsin's budget, but do not destroy decades of work to establish the rights of workers to speak for themselves."
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: David, if I could just add, this is a campaign flyer I have. I don't know if you can see it. From the last election cycle, where Wisconsin Union said, "If you elect this guy, Scott Walker, he's going to reform or limit collective bargaining." He was open about what he was going to do about contributions to pensions and retirement.
And he told the people of Wisconsin, "I'm going to change collective bargaining because it is-- impedes progress when it comes to education. It's too hard to fire anybody. It-- is too complicated. And I'm going to change that system." So in a democracy, when you run on something, you do have an obligation to fulfill your promise. He didn't take anybody by surprise. He's doing exactly what he said. There was a referendum on this issue, and the unions lost. And the Democrats in Wisconsin should come back to Wisconsin to have votes.
