Today, Sen. Ron Johnson, a newly elected lawmaker from the state of Wisconsin, held a conference call with bloggers to discuss the recent spending votes in the Senate and the generally dismal fiscal outlook for the Federal government. He also very graciously addressed the chaos currently happening in his home state.

When questioned about the Federal government stepping in when/if state governments declare bankruptcy, Sen. Johnson emphatically stated that the taxpayers of our country should not bear the burden of bailing out irresponsible states. He went on to point out that a significant amount of state operating expenses are paid out in the form of wages and benefits for public employees; therefore, amending collective bargaining rules is imperative to restoring fiscal sanity to state budgets. The senator made the distinction that the budget fight in Wisconsin is not about punishing individual workers, but rather is aimed at giving local governments the flexibility they need to balance their budgets. Without making changes to the collective bargaining rules, this cannot happen.

Sen. Johnson then addressed developments back in Madison. When questioned why Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate decided to proceed with a vote on the collective bargaining piece of the budget, Johnson said the Republicans quite simply "ran out of patience." It was clear that the Democrats were not going to come back and this was the only way forward. Praising the efforts of Governor Scott Walker, Sen. Johnson decried the actions of those on the left, saying, "It's a shame that the Democrats are handling it this way." He also denounced the bullying and thuglike tactics being used by union protesters in Wisconsin, some of whom are resorting to death threats and verbal assualts. Johnson said it was "out of bounds" for protestors to react with such vitriol.

Switching his attention to DC, Sen. Johnson touched on GOP attempts to rein in Federal spending, saying that he is "extremely" disappointed "that the President is not showing leadership in this area." Johnson and his colleague Sen. Coburn recently joined other Republicans in signing a letter saying they would withhold unanimous consent on new spending that is not accompanied by offsetting spending cuts. "I believe the very clear message the voters sent [in November] . . . is that we understand that spending is way out of control on a state level and in Washington," he concluded.

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