Doyle Pushes for Budget Resolution Amid Talk of Impasse
Gov. Jim Doyle met with Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson in his Capitol office today, telling them in no uncertain terms he expects the two houses to deliver a budget to his desk "on time," said Doyle spokesman Matt Canter.
"The governor's last two budgets got done at the end of July or beginning of August, and he believes it is so critical to pass a budget before local school districts and municipalities have to do their budgeting," said Canter. "He knows that Democrats and Republicans will have disagreements, so let's deal with them now, let's not stare at each other for three months and then deal with this."
Huebsch told reporters yesterday that he and Assembly Republicans will be prepared to go to the floor with a budget a week or two after the Senate, which is expected to have a budget passed by the end of this month. But Huebsch added, "I will not be as concerned about the date as I will about the product."
"I have no deadline on myself for when a budget needs to be in place," Huebsch said. "Wisconsin does not shut down if a budget isn't passed."
Listen to audio of Huebsch's press conference here.
Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser said he was "disappointed" that there would be talk of an impasse.
"I think we have a lot of things we need to be working together on and talking through, and the people out in the general public want us to get a budget done," Kreuser said.
"I'm not going to talk about impasse. We have a long way to go in this process," said the Kenosha Democrat.
Canter said Doyle's budget and the one passed by the Joint Finance Committee provides tax relief to middle class families in health care, child care, and higher education.
"The governor has a hard time believing that Republicans or Democrats are going to protect big oil companies and big tobacco companies and cut funding for our schools and tax relief for the middle class families," Canter said. "Holding up the budget process would do just that."
-- Senate Democrats caucused today on the budget, with the Legislative Fiscal Bureau briefing the lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee budget during open session.
The Dems held a closed caucus to discuss the budget prior to the LFB briefing. The Senate is expected to caucus again next week, but a date has not been set.
The Senate Dems are expected to take the budget to the floor late next week or early in the last week of June.
See the LFB briefing documents:
Condition statements (governor and JFC)
General Fund Taxes; Workforce Development
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Commerce; Natural Resources
Shared Revenue and Tax Relief; Transportation
Administration; Corrections; Tribal Gaming; Veterans Affairs; Legislature
Health and Family Services
Public Instruction; Wisconsin Technical College System; UW System; Higher Educational Aids Board; Building Program
