MADISON – Following the conclusion of today’s Assembly floor session, Assembly Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) released the following statement:

“With the conclusion of session today, it’s possible that the Assembly won’t meet again until January of next year. I am deeply disappointed that this session, despite having every opportunity to address the serious challenges our state faces, legislative Republicans stood in the way of progress.

“Legislative Republicans’ priority today was advancing their partisan agenda — putting politicians in charge of elections, making it harder to vote, and undermining the work of local election clerks. The actions that Republicans took today are undemocratic and they are un-American.

“At the eleventh hour, Republicans failed to produce a workable bill to allow Monday absentee ballot counting after rounds of negotiation. To be clear, Assembly Democrats supported the idea and had turned in an amendment on the issue earlier in the day. Republicans put forth their own amendment which included unrelated burdens on clerks and obstacles for absentee voters.

“Just as Speaker Vos told members of the press yesterday, he can’t “snap his fingers” and make a bill happen. If Republicans had been serious about fixing this issue, they would have begun these discussions weeks ago. Bipartisanship should have existed on this on the first day of this session, instead it’s been trotted out as a slogan from those across the aisle.

“Ending the session after today is a disservice to the people of Wisconsin. With so much left on the table to address, Assembly Republicans are yet again ignoring the will of the people and through voter suppression, they are working to diminish it. Assembly Democrats are ready to keep meeting to address these issues, regardless of whether Republicans are. We should be doing so much for the people of Wisconsin — they deserve better.”

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