The union protesters are outraged that Wisconsin Republicans have voted to pass the collective bargaining measure without any of the spending provisions. This allowed the bill to be passed with a standard quorum of a simple majority rather than the larger, three-fifths majority wich is required for spending bills. Contrary to what you might read in the Washington Post, the method by which this was achieved has not been "suddenly discovered." On the contrary, many have been urging the GOP senators to use this strategy since Democrat Senators fled the state and left their obligations in the dust.