Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is a staunch anti-abortionist “True Believer” and might think he is taking his marching orders straight from God or, more likely, the Tea Party’s billionaire benefactors.

I spent five hours on the phone last night calling voters in Ohio to organize and work against the passage of SB 5 which would strip public service employees of their rights collective bargaining. Tucked into SB 5 is this language:

Sec. 3101.01 of S.B. 5: … A marriage may only be entered into by one man and one woman. Any marriage between persons of the same sex is against the strong public policy of this state. Any marriage between persons of the same sex shall have no legal force or effect in this state and, if attempted to be entered into in this state, is void ab initio and shall not be recognized by this state. The recognition or extension by the state of the specific statutory benefits of a legal marriage to non-marital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes is against the strong public policy of this state. Any public act, record or judicial proceeding of this state, as defined in section 9.82 of the Revised Code, that extends the specific statutory benefits of legal marriage to non-marital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes is void.

Inside Walker’s Wisconsin “Budget Repair Bill” is language that would, advocates say, “… hand Governor Walker and his administration broad powers to rewrite the state’s public health programs, including BadgerCare and even SeniorCare, with virtually no public input.

Under the bill, proposed changes to the programs would need to be reviewed only by the Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee, a significant shortcut compared to the normal legislative process and public vetting required.
Walker’s Department of Health Services could unilaterally change state laws dealing with the programs, which affect more than a million state residents from infants to the elderly and include a spectrum of BadgerCare plans, FamilyCare, and SeniorCare.

Last weekend several public health advocates were reeling at the magnitude and the speed of the proposed changes and at what they signify for the state’s BadgerCare system, which only a year ago was touted nationally as a model for how to increase health coverage for the poor and middle class.”

Read more at:   http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_979fd798-385c-11e0-b233-001cc4c03286.html

These budget battles being pushed by the GOP across the Mid-West are thinly veiled assaults on public sector unions, women, gays, and the poor. Get ready for the coming battles.