The Latest In Wisconsin

Well, the endgame could be coming in the Wisconsin House. It appears that the Walker-Bill will pass the House, without amendments. This was always the likely outcome there.

Things have changed drastically for Walker though. After the prank "Koch call," the press has turned on Walker badly. With the rumors of Republican Senate defections coming soon, this bill may crumble under itself soon. About the only nice thing being said about Walker is that he gets power. That's being said though at the expense of anyone thinking he understands budgets and legislation.

Activists for issues besides labor are fighting to be heard too. Disability Rights groups are taking their shots:

MADISON, WI (FDL) – Members of a disability rights group have occupied the Wisconsin Republican Party headquarters in Madison, and vow to stay until Governor Scott Walker takes out the Medicaid provisions in the budget repair bill. The news of the occupation was met with thunderous cheers at a noontime rally in the Capital Rotunda, which featured Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and a large contingent of firefighters from around the state.

ADAPT, the nationwide disability rights group, took over the headquarters to protest the portion of the budget repair bill that switches authority over Medicaid and BadgerCare over to the Department of Health Services. Governor Walker appointed Dennis Smith to run the Department of Health Services, a senior fellow from the Heritage Foundation who has repeatedly argued that states should drop Medicaid altogether. Under the budget repair bill, Smith would have near-unilateral authority to carry that out if he chose. Jonathan Cohn has written extensively about the Medicaid changes in the budget repair bill.

“We are asking the GOP to intervene,” said Jason Glozier with ADAPT, one of the organizers of the occupation. “The changes to Medicaid Assistance have been ignored in this bill. People’s lives are at stake.” Glozier believes that if medical assistance for the disabled is underfunded or unfunded, people will lose jobs and many disabled Wisconsinites would be drastically affected.

Amazing. Basically, the Governor wants to end Medicaid, as well as collective bargaining. Extreme much?

Governor Walker continues to grow more isolated. He's isolating himself from the public, and even from his own party. The Democrats shouldn't just seek to kill the bill. They should take the fight straight to the Governor. He could be the first casualty of the GOP's overreach in 2011.