MADISON – Republicans who control the state Legislature are set to resume work on the next two-year spending plan, a week after negotiations between lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers broke down for a second time this budget cycle.
The state Legislature’s finance committee is scheduled on Friday, June 27, to take votes on the 18 remaining areas of the budget that have yet to be written.
The expected work comes after the committee canceled a planned set of votes on key areas, including funding for the University of Wisconsin System, amid an impasse that materialized between the two Republican caucuses and Evers.
But it’s unclear as of Thursday afternoon whether the two houses of the Legislature and Evers have an agreement on how the budget will take shape.
Republicans in the state Senate hold a thin 18-15 majority. Because GOP state Sen. Chris Kapenga of Delafield has already said he likely won’t vote for the state budget plan, Senate Republicans can’t lose another Republican vote in their chamber if they want to pass a plan without negotiating with Democrats to secure their votes.
Republican state Sen. Steve Nass of Whitewater has also said he’s likely to vote against the budget plan, citing concerns it “will lead to an unacceptably high structural deficit in the next biennium.”
Earlier this week, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said his goal was to get a state budget passed before the July 4 holiday. But Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said his caucus was still concerned with the level of ongoing spending being negotiated between the GOP caucuses and Evers.
“We need to responsibly invest in core priorities and cut taxes without creating an unsustainable deficit,” he said in a statement June 24. “The Senate side of JFC is ready to meet to continue deliberations, but it is hard to imagine that a budget will pass next week.”
Evers and the GOP leaders were scheduled to meet again Thursday afternoon.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republicans set to restart work on state budget after breakdown in talks
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
