(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Joint Committee on Finance took 612 items out of Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal Thursday, including Medicaid expansion in the state, department creations and tax exemptions.
Evers and Democrats on the committee pointed to the policy items as spending important to Wisconsin residents on items such as child care, health care, corrections and more.
But Joint Committee on Finance co-chairs Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said that the items taken out of the budget weren’t all bad ideas but many should instead be separate legislation that goes through the normal legislative process, including public hearings and separate votes from each section of the Wisconsin Assembly.
“Unfortunately, he sends us an executive budget that is just piled full of stuff that doesn’t make sense and spends too much, spends recklessly and raises taxes and has way too much policy,” Born said. “So we’ll work from base and the first step of that today is to remove all of that policy in a take-out motion and then have a motion to take us to base and begin the work of rebuilding the budget with a legislative budget for all of Wisconsin.”
Committee member Rep. Tip McGuire, D-Kenosha, said that the budget subtractions showed that the Republican Party’s signature both in the state and nationally is to make life more difficult for regular Wisconsin residents.
While the committee began its work, Evers sent out a statement regarding the gutting of his proposed budget, pointing to specific policy items that he believes would help Wisconsin residents.
“While Wisconsinites struggle to keep up with rising costs, Republicans are rejecting my plan to lower out-of-pocket costs on everything from utility bills to over-the-counter medication, including voting against over half a billion dollars in property tax relief to prevent property taxes from going up statewide,” Evers said. “While Wisconsinites are struggling to afford the life-saving healthcare and prescriptions they need, Republicans today are gutting my plan to crack down on health insurers and prescription drug companies, combat prescription drug price gouging, and cap the cost of insulin.
“While working families are struggling to find and afford child care, Republicans today are going to axe my plan to help lower the cost of child care, cut wait times, and get more kids into available child care slots.”
Born pointed to Evers’ plan to spend $325 million to realign the state’s correctional institutions, including closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution in 2029, as the start of a plan that could make sense due to Evers’ acknowledgement that the Green Bay facility should be closed.
But Born also called the actual plan “half-baked” and said that it needs more thought before being implemented.
