Posted on 07/01/2015 10:33:50 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Madison— Republican legislative leaders kick-started the stalled Wisconsin budget Wednesday by leaving two controversial pieces out of the bill and brokering a deal on a third piece to hold down state borrowing for highways.
Though GOP lawmakers are again moving ahead on the budget and scheduling a key committee vote for Thursday, the way ahead remains murky.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said he didn't have the support yet to pass the budget bill yet in his house and he and Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) could not give a firm timeline for passing out of the budget a financing plan for a Milwaukee Bucks arena or a rollback of prevailing wage laws for public construction projects.
Fitzgerald made clear the deal was simply a move to get the bill out of the Joint Finance Committee, where it's sat for the past month.
"I don't have the votes to pass the budget and I don't expect to have them" at this point, Fitzgerald said, acknowledging that several senators in his GOP caucus still want changes to the bill before they approve it.
Vos also told a reporter that Republican lawmakers have not yet received any assurances from Gov. Scott Walker on how he might use his powerful partial veto pen. Walker, who is preparing for a presidential campaign announcement on July 13, was not present for the announcement by legislators.
Vos and Fitzgerald said they hoped to have a vote in the state Assembly next week as separate bills on both the budget and a proposal to roll back parts of state laws requiring a minimum wage for construction crews on public works projects. Fitzgerald said he wasn't sure when the Senate would take up the prevailing wage changes.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Scott Walker had better get home and haul his troops into line, or there will be no Presidential announcement!
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Was is just me or did when I saw “Arena” I thought someone was getting thrown to the Lions....
Speaker Robin Vos has messed up this budget process. He has resisted repealing prevailing wage and his idea to fix it was a joke. He also has not got a decent road funding process into the budget. Conservatives in both WI legislative houses have been ignored by Vos and they won’t vote for a budget they have had little part in crafting.
The arena is OK to be separate from the budget as not many WI taxpayers are in favor of government funding a place for rich NBA owners and players to get even richer.
How the hell does any level of government have any Constitutional authority to dictate the minimum wage?
You know they will fund the arena later with some sort of trick
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