Doyle: Compromise will bring Wisconsin about $2 billion
Wisconsin is in line to receive roughly $2 billion for medical assistance and education programs from the compromise stimulus legislation federal lawmakers hammered out, Gov. Jim Doyle said today.
Doyle, speaking with reporters on a conference call with U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, said the money by no means will alleviate the state's $5.7 billion budget shortfall. He said the budget he introduces next week will still include some "very, very hard choices," but the federal money will help the state avert a "disaster."
Doyle had estimated earlier this week the Senate version of the stimulus bill would mean $600 million less for Wisconsin than the version approved by the House. A good chunk of that was restored in the conference committeee, and the compromise bill drops the state's share of the federal plan by about $250 million.
"This agreement is considerably better than what came out of the Senate," Doyle said, praising the work of Obey, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and served on the conference committee.
Obey, D-Wausau, took issue with those who have combed through stimulus bills trying to find questionable items to single out for ridicule. He said there is always at least one "strange item" in a budget bill that could be mocked, but he insisted lawmakers need to keep their eye on the big picture. Doing nothing could put the nation's economy into an even deeper hole.
"We cannot afford to nitpick," Obey said. "We have to take our best shot and if we make a mistaken then we have to, as we move down the line, correct things."
