GOP Legislators Gut Evers’ Budget

Rep. Mark Born. Photo from the State of Wisconsin.

With a single vote Tuesday, Republicans lawmakers dramatically reshaped Gov. Tony Evers‘ proposed budget.

GOP members of the Legislature’s budget committee voted to remove more than 500 proposals from the governor’s proposed two-year spending plan, ranging from a new paid family leave program to a deal to fund upgrades to the Milwaukee Brewers stadium. Other Evers budget initiatives rejected by Republicans Tuesday include an expansion of Medicaid, the legalization of marijuana and an enrollment freeze in the state’s voucher school program.

While it’s a dramatic step, it’s also an expected one. Each year that Evers has introduced his budget to the Legislature, lawmakers have started their work on the plan the same way. On the night Evers introduced his budget, Republicans like Rep. Mark Born, who co-chairs the powerful Joint Finance Committee, were already talking about rejecting much of the proposal.

“That’s just been standard procedure with this governor,” Born said in February. “And then we’ll rebuild that budget.”

But the scope of what Republicans are removing — 545 proposals, to be exact — is greater than in years past. With the way the budget committee operates, those ideas will no longer technically be up for debate.

“Gutting 545 provisions … from even being discussed is not healthy for democracy and it is not the way Wisconsinites want their government to operate,” read a statement from the budget committee’s four Democratic members.

This is Evers’ third proposed budget since becoming governor in 2019, and the third time Republicans have started deliberations by rejecting a long list of the governor’s initiatives.

Joe Heim, a professor emeritus of political science, said the process isn’t surprising to budget observers at this point.

“When you’ve got a Democratic governor and a Republican Legislature, you expect certain things,” Heim said. “There are things in his budget that I think he put in to satisfy certain constituencies. You know, he just had an election. So he had certain promises that he would make knowing fully well that this stuff is going to disappear.”

Some of the proposals have been around before. Evers has included his plan to expand Medicaid, for example, in each of his previous budgets, a move he noted this time around would save the state more than $1.6 billion. Each time, Republicans have rejected the idea on day one.

Democrats have argued that Republicans are ignoring the will of voters, noting that Evers won reelection and issues like Medicaid expansion are popular.

“If I were a Republican Party that had lost 14 of the last 17 statewide elections, I would simply not reject wildly popular policies supported by a majority of the state,” tweeted Britt Cudaback, Evers’ spokesperson.

Other provisions Republicans removed on a 12-4 party-line vote Tuesday include:

• Evers’ tax cut for individuals who earn less than $100,000 and couples who earn less than $150,000.
• A $235 million initiative to promote mental health in schools.
• $200 million to replace lead service lines.
• Measures that would scale back tax credits for manufacturers and capital gains, which would generate more than $1 billion in revenue state government.
• Universal background checks for firearm purchases.
• The creation of an automatic voter registration system.
• A freeze on enrollment in private voucher schools.
• A cap on insulin co-pays.
• The restoration of public sector union rights that were lost under former Gov. Scott Walker‘s landmark Act 10 collective bargaining law.
• The repeal of Wisconsin’s private sector “right to work” law.

While Republicans have spent the past several months criticizing Evers’ budget, Tuesday will mark the first time they’ve started taking votes on pieces of the budget themselves. Deals on bigger issues — like school funding — could come together later this month.

“If the past is prologue, they will eventually come to somewhat of an agreement, at least the more contentious issues,” Heim said. “Most observers that I’ve talked to seem to think that this is actually going to get done by the end of June.”

Wisconsin is expected to end June with more than $7 billion in its general fund according to estimate by the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office. If lawmakers and the governor don’t agree on a new budget by July 1, state spending will continue at levels set in the current budget.

GOP lawmakers remove hundreds of items from Gov. Tony Evers’ budget was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.