(The Center Square) – While Wisconsin GOP Assembly leaders indicated they have been in communication with the state Senate and hope to soon resume key budget talks between both chambers and Gov. Tony Evers, Senate Republican leadership indicates the budget gridlock could still be around for some time.
Despite a GOP split Thursday that halted budget talks and cancelled Joint Finance Committee meetings ahead of the June 30 budget deadline, Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester says he and Joint Finance Committee co-chair Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, are in talks with the Senate “all the time.”
“The Senate has been great,” Vos said at a press briefing Tuesday. “They have been working with us, with the governor. We’ve been in there, trying to negotiate, finding a middle ground.”
Born added that he is in communication with Joint Finance co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green and hopes to resume meetings soon.
“I think if we are talking, actively talking and working on the budget in the next couple of days, we can hammer out details in a hurry,” Born said. “That’s how budgets work. If people are ready to work, we’ll get things done.”
However, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, told The Center Square that talks may take longer than wanted.
“The Senate Republican caucus is still concerned with the level of ongoing spending being negotiated,” LeMahieu said in a statement to The Center Square.
LeMahieu said the budget needs to responsibly invest in core priorities and cut taxes without creating an “unsustainable deficit.”
“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,” LeMahieu concluded.
Vos said the key issue Evers wants on the table before signing the budget was child care, noting that he had previously threatened to veto the entire budget if it didn’t “do something on child care,” according to Vos.
“Look, we’re already doing things on child care,” Vos said. “I know we’re gonna make investments in trying to help make sure that parents have access to child care, I know we are gonna make a historic investment in special ed funding, I know we’re gonna do some reforms at the university. Those are all things we would love to do as part of a bigger deal. We just have to make sure they can get all the way through both chambers to Governor Evers before it can get signed into law.”
Vos concluded that he thinks GOP legislators should “show leadership by finding out where our priorities are, getting them enacted into law, and compromising on some things that are important to the governor.”
If no budget is passed and sent to Evers by Monday, the current Wisconsin state budget will rollover.
