Lots of you took action earlier this week, emailing Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) urging him to bring the oral chemotherapy bill to the Senate floor for a vote. On Tuesday, it made all the difference! Due to mounting pressure, the Senate unexpectedly reversed course and passed the chemotherapy pill bill in a 30-2 vote.
Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) and Sen. Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) were the only senators to vote against ensuring cancer patients have affordable access to chemotherapy treatment regardless of how it is administered.
On Tuesday, Assembly Democrats attempted to force a vote on the bill, currently stalled in committee, through a pulling motion which failed along party lines with all Republicans voting to deny the motion.
The chemotherapy bill will now head to the Wisconsin Assembly on Thursday, March 20, as Assembly Bill 392. Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has made it clear that he does not support the bill and is working behind the scenes to kill it. He may even try to amend the bill to please deep-pocketed insurance companies who are lobbying against it.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that sixty-one lawmakers in the 99-member Assembly support the bill, including all 39 Democrats and 22 Republicans. Thirty-one Republicans won't say whether they support or oppose the bill, and two say they're undecided.
Thursday will be the Assembly’s last day in session. Also, expected to come to the floor for a vote are horrendous voter disenfranchisement bills. Click here for a round-up and description of the anti-voter bills that would keep thousands of hard-working Wisconsinites from the polls.
Assembly Democrats are actively working to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 in Wisconsin, but Assembly Republicans are unlikely to stand with low-wage workers struggling to survive on $7.25.
As the Wisconsin Legislature wraps up for the regular legislative year, it is important that working people continue to raise our voice and speak up for justice for all Wisconsinites. As a movement of working people we are working to make our communities and our democracy stronger and better for the next generation. That means supporting voting rights, ensuring asbestos victims have access to justice, fighting for overtime protections for workers, standing in solidarity with cancer patients, fighting for a living wage and ensuring safe and humane working conditions for all.
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