MADISON (WKOW) — Renewed budget talks between Gov. Tony Evers and legislative Republicans have fallen apart again.
The Joint Finance Committee’s executive session to discuss the state budget was canceled Thursday, shortly before it was scheduled to start.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostbug) sent out a statement saying JFC was “paused.”
“Conversations between legislative leaders and the Evers administration resumed earlier this week,” he said. “All sides again negotiated in good faith to do what’s best for he state of Wisconsin.
“However, these discussions are heading in a direction that taxpayers cannot afford.
“Senate Republicans are ready to work with the State Assembly to pass a balanced budget that cuts taxes and responsibly invests in core priorities,” LeMahieu said in a statement.
His counterpart in the Assembly, Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), said Senate Republicans walked away from negotiations.
“We hope Senate Republicans will come back to the table to finish fighting for these reforms and complete the budget on time,” Vos and JFC Co-Chair Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said in a statement.
“Assembly and Senate Republicans have met in good faith with Gov. Evers over the past couple weeks and have had productive conversations towards a budget that cuts taxes, puts more money into K-12 schools to stave off higher property taxes, and funds childcare and the university system in exchange for meaningful reforms,” they said. “Assembly Republicans will not pass a budget that doesn’t have a guarantee from Gov. Evers of tax relief in it.”
Vos and Born said passing a new budget is “the most conservative and the most responsible option.” They said the budget lawmakers are drafting now has a more conservative growth rate than the current budget.
However, former Senate President Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) said he’s not happy with the budget JFC is drafting. Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) has shared similar sentiments.
Sen. Nass released a statement Thursday afternoon calling this an “impasse between Governor Evers and Assembly Republicans on one side and the Senate Republicans on the ‘right’ side.”
Nass said the deal has too much spending, special interest pork and the creation of a structural deficit.
His statement said, “Many Senate Republicans have resisted this recipe for fiscal disaster and have been advocating for making tough but fair spending decisions. Unfortunately, some legislators in the Capitol would rather cut a bad deal for the taxpayers with a Governor that calls women ‘inseminated persons’ and uses his extremist majority on the State Supreme Court to gut the constitutional powers of the Legislature. There is nothing preventing the Republican majority in the Legislature from passing a conservative state budget except for the lack of willingness at the highest levels in the Assembly.”
Democratic JFC members spent time earlier in the day visiting a closed childcare center in Cottage Grove earlier in the day to help advocate for better childcare funding.
Democratic JFC committee members said in a press conference after the meeting was cancelled that Republicans are not giving people in Wisconsin enough answers.
“The dysfunction that we’re seeing here in Wisconsin, is mirrored by the chaos and dysfunction that we’re seeing in Washington [D.C.]. Where the Republican party is really struggling to govern even though they have generous majorities, they’re not able to agree amongst themselves,” Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said.
Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha) and Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) also echoed the need to support more funding towards childcare resources.
“What they wanted was a budget that would invest in our public schools so that we can end our cycle of referendum. They wanted a budget that would invest in childcare,” McGuire said.
“We have listened and we have been ready to talk to them to work out a budget that reflects Wisconsinites priorities. And so the question really is…who are Republicans actually listening to,” Andraca said.
Gov. Evers’ office released a survey Thursday showing that 90% of Wisconsinites say that they support an increase in state funding to fix the childcare shortage.
Because Republicans have a three-vote majority in the Senate, they can only afford to lose support from one member of their caucus. If Kapenga and Nass both continue to oppose the budget, Republicans will need to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill.
A spokesperson for Gov. Evers said on X, “Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not.” She told 27 News that is the official statement from the governor’s office.
The budget deadline is June 30. If lawmakers do not pass a budget by then, state funding will continue at current levels.
