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More On the Stalled Budget Negotiations
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | June 27, 2017
From The Wheeler Report . . .
Assembly GOP leadership and Senate GOP leadership met for 40 minutes this morning to work on negotiations for the 2017-19 state budget, and the result was both leadership teams coming to the press room saying they made no progress and a JFC meeting this week was unlikely.
Sen. Fitzgerald said leadership met at Legislative Fiscal Bureau this morning for 40 minutes and the Assembly GOP position on transportation is “laughable” because Gov. Walker has been clear he will veto any revenue uppers in the budget. Fitzgerald said he will be meeting with his caucus tomorrow afternoon to discuss what their caucus positions are on the budget and what their options are for moving forward.Fitzgerald did say everyone will “have egg on their face” if they can’t finish the budget in July, and the budget would be done if the Assembly was negotiating.
Shortly after Fitzgerald met with the press corps, Speaker Vos and Reps. Nygren and Steinke told the press corps that after 40 minutes this morning the Senate got up and left the table. Vos said they are willing to negotiate more bonding in the budget, but not without a revenue increase to pay for it.
The main sticking point for the budget negotiations is transportation. Assembly GOP released a transportation proposal on May 4 saying it was a place to start negotiations. Fitzgerald said his caucus is with the Governor and against new revenue in the budget. Fitzgerald has floated the idea of increasing borrowing from the General Fund, resulting in a total of $850 million in borrowing. The Assembly said only borrowing without new revenue offsets is a “non-starter” for their caucus. Vos said he’s willing to pass a base Transportation budget, meaning no new money for roads, if Fitzgerald and Walker don’t consider revenue increases.
Fitzgerald said one possible option is for the Senate to pass their own budget, which could ultimately result in the Senate and the Assembly meeting at a conference committee. Vos told reporters he would like to continue to negotiate and work towards a compromise that can be passed by both houses and forwarded to the Governor.
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