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Lawmakers Still Not Sure When State Budget Talks Will Resume

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The Legislature’s budget committee hasn’t met since late May. While Republicans control both houses, the GOP appears to be stuck on a few items, including how to pay for transportation.

Wisconsin has experienced budget gridlock in the past. One way it was solved, was to sweeten the pot for everyone.

Ideally, Wisconsin lawmakers aim to finish the budget process by June 30, the end of the fiscal year. If they miss the deadline, state government continues operating at current funding levels. Mike McCabe heads the government watchdog group Blue Jean Nation. He remembers some years, when budget deliberations went months past the deadline.

“We’ve seen budget stalemates last into the fall. We’ve seen budgets that didn’t get done until October. That was always when you had split-party control so you had these partisan stalemates. Here you’ve got tension and difficulty within the Republican Party. They’ve got total control of the budget process but they’re at each other’s throats and that’s a little unusual,” McCabe says.

GOP lawmakers have spent the past few weeks meeting behind closed doors. Yet, McCabe says, at a moment’s notice the door could open.  

“Things seem to come out of nowhere at the last minute and it ends up resolving some gridlock,” McCabe says.  He recalls epic deals struck in the past.

“I remember a budget process years ago where out of nowhere came this super amendment chock full of all kinds of stuff and it was really cobbled together by former Sen. Gary George out of Milwaukee. He put a bunch of stuff in there to satisfy both his own interests and the interest of legislators whose votes were needed and that’s what broke the stalemate. Sometimes, it’s working through a really contentious issue, and I think funding transportation projects is that kind of issue this time around,” McCabe says.

McCabe believes the GOP will come to agreement soon, with something that will satisfy most party members. But he does not foresee Republicans reaching out to Democrats for votes, because they might want too much in return.

Marti was a reporter with WUWM from 1999 to 2021.
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