Senate Democrats were outraged. Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, said most of the senators watched the proceedings together on a live stream online in Illinois.

"We saw the complete stripping of long-held rights before our eyes," he said. "It was stunning."

Both he and Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, said the Republicans' actions would escalate recall efforts against the GOP senators.

"This was an act of legislative thuggery," Jauch said.

It has been three weeks since Senate Democrats left the state in an effort to stall the passage of Walker's proposal. In that time, both sides have failed to reach an agreement on a compromise to the bill. The sticking point has been collective bargaining.

Walker and Republican leaders have repeatedly said that collective bargaining is a budgetary issue and as such, they would not strip fiscal components from the measure. None of the Republican leaders would speak to reporters following the vote, but Walker issued a statement in which he praised the move.