Seven weeks after state officials announced a projected state budget shortfall of over $652 million, negotiations with the State Assembly, Senate and governor remain at a standstill.
The Democrat-controlled state Senate passed a budget repair bill March 25, but differences from the version passed by the Republican-controlled state Assembly have stalled the bill.
Republicans have primarily objected to increasing taxes on hospital revenues, which is supported by Gov. Jim Doyle and which Democrats say will bring in over $400 million from the federal government.
The nonpartisan group Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance criticized plans by both parties, saying they used borrowing and fund transfers to avoid long-term solutions.
“Difficult decisions have to be made there. And that means either you cut spending … [or] raise taxes, and legislators aren’t really keen generally on either one of those,” Dale Knapp, research director of WTA, said.
Knapp said he thinks the findings will be taken into account in the negotiation process, but said lawmakers tend to ignore things they write.
Bob Lang, director of the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, said members of the Assembly and Senate were “informally talking” about the shortfall, but he does not anticipate major improvements soon though there are still no official deliberations planned.
“At this point I’m not sure that anybody can tell you what the status is,” Lang said.
Despite the slow progress, spokespeople for state Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and state Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, had more positive outlooks of the situation.
“We’re certainly optimistic that we want to get something done sooner rather than later,” John Murray, spokesperson for Huebsch, said.
Murray said the state must “live within our means,” adding it could mean scaling back additional spending in the second year of the budget.
Carrie Lynch, spokesperson for Decker, said Decker has been having talks with Huebsch and the governor’s staff almost every day. She described a “compromise of ideas” as critical for getting things done.
According to Lynch, Decker has made no major compromises recently on the repair bill.
