LAURIE KELLMAN 04/14/11 11:07 PM ET
WASHINGTON — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker defended his school of union hobbling as a route to fiscal discipline to budget-weary Washington on Thursday, telling a House committee that protracted, nail-biting negotiations in tough economic times can produce inaction and bad policy.
"Sometimes," the Republican governor told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, "bipartisanship is not so good."
Walker clearly was speaking of recent Wisconsin budget history. Still, it was an extraordinary message to deliver to Capitol Hill at a time of divided government, when leaders in Congress realize they have little choice but to negotiate the path toward the nation's economic stability. As Walker spoke to the House panel, a Congress facing tough fiscal battles ahead was preparing to send the White House a bipartisan deal for $38 billion in spending cuts over the next six months.
"This is the best we could get out of divided government," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters.
Walker's budget for Wisconsin is just the opposite – an explicit act of partisanship.
Passed by a Republican-controlled legislature and now the subject of a court fight, it ends collective bargaining on everything except wages for state and local government employees and requires them to absorb more of their pension and health care costs. The state no longer will collect dues for unions through paycheck deductions.
