Huebsch: Critics Using "Scare Tactics"
Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch says the goal of the budget proposal forwarded by his Republican caucus is to bring state government spending to a level taxpayers can afford. That plan has been bashed by Dems for being "vindictive" and "mean-spirited" amid threats that it could lead to reductions in police and fire services and wreak havoc on the UW System. Huebsch calls the dire warnings "scare tactics."
"The one question I consistently ask is when a government official comes and says we need to cut police or we need to cut fire, or like we had last week we need to cut Amber Alert, my question is: If those are not priorities for you, what is? And where are you spending our money?" Huebsch asks. "Because keep in mind we are still one of the top 10 tax states in the nation. If you can't afford police and fire, you better be able to justify every dime of the rest of your budget. And I don't think they are able to do that. And that's when the veil drops, and you realize that it's just a scare tactic."
Huebsch, R-West Salem, says he didn't have to trade budget items for votes in his caucus. "What I needed to do in order to get to 51 votes was not raise taxes. That really was the only thing that continued to drive us," he says.
Huebsch says he isn't drawing any bottom lines going into the conference committee. "That is the best way to blow it up. And I have no intention of blowing it up, so I'm not drawing bottom lines."
With the likelihood that the conference committee report may include some tax increases, Huebsch said he hasn't polled his caucus to see how many members are willing to vote for that product. He notes that after years under Govs. Thompson and Scott McCallum, and after having control of both houses and the Joint Finance Committee in the last biennium, this is first budget in recent memory that the Assembly Republicans have written as a caucus.
"We basically threw out everything else and said, 'What are our priorities? What are we going to do?'" he said. "Because of that involvement, I have members that now know more about the budget than most finance members. ... I don't fear bottom lines from them either. They know what our goals are, they knew what our intention was, and they know you have to work with the other side on certain things. But as long as we hold to the goals that we have and the fact that we showed them you can pass a budget without raising taxes, I'm not concerned about the number of votes I'll have in this caucus nor in this house."
Huebsch said he has no date in mind for when the conference committee will wrap up. "I have a standard answer is I'm looking for a good budget, not a fast one," he says.
"But I also would say that as we look for specific dates, it would be very easy for us to be done next week, if they would just pass my budget," Huebsch joked.
Huebsch sat down with WisPolitics yesterday to talk about the budget conference committee process, why it's unfair for some to paint him as an "obstructionist," and the controversial shared revenue cuts to Milwaukee, Superior, Racine and Beloit.
Listen to the Huebsch interview here.
Labels: Huebsch
