President Barack Obama’s political operatives at the Democratic National Committee are fanning the protests against public union benefit cutbacks in Wisconsin, The Caucus blog of
The New York Times reports. On Thursday, the president himself called efforts by Wisconsin’s Republican governor,
Scott Walker, to limit state workers’ collective bargaining power “an assault on unions.”
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Congressional Republicans sprang to Walker’s defense.
“The only assault is from a bunch of self-interested government union employees who are putting their interests ahead of the interests of the Wisconsin taxpayers who have been funding their runaway spending,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said in a statement, “Rather than shouting down those in office who speak honestly about the challenges we face, the president and his advisers should lead.”
Pro-union demonstrations on the grounds of Wisconsin’s state capital in Madison continue, “fueled and organized in part by Mr. Obama’s own political apparatus in Washington,” the Times reports.
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