Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), in confirming he would not support his party’s budget, said the bill “is not a conservative budget by any reasonable analysis.”
The recalcitrant Republicans say there’s much not to love about the bill, but its price tag — at nearly 8 percent higher (all funds) than the current two-year fiscal blueprint — is too much to stomach.
Several fiscal conservatives have expressed their displeasure with how much the Republican budget plan spends — from a half billion dollars more in K-12 education to nearly $600 million more in Medical Assistance to a fee-laden, controversial transportation proposal. The GOP plan still comes in at more than $2 billion less than Evers’ record-spending $84.2 billion budget.
Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) in defending the Finance Committee’s work said the Republican budget responsibly funds the Badger State’s priorities while embracing the realities of divided government.
“If it were a Republican governor with a Republican Legislature the budget would not look like this,” Vos said. “It would probably have a different form of tax relief and probably a lower level of spending.”
“But I didn’t choose Tony Evers, but the voters of Wisconsin did. So I think we’ve done a good job delivering a budget that sticks to our conservative principles, focuses on the priorities that we know are important but also, ultimately, has to get signed by Gov. Evers for us to get it across the finish line,” Vos added.
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