The Republican-controlled state Assembly agreed to hold a Monday vote on Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed compromise budget bill, with the outcome of the budget crisis likely to be decided by roughly four votes.
The state budget has been overdue since July, with Doyle recently proposing a special session of the state Legislature to end the legislative gridlock. Until Thursday, it was unknown whether the state Assembly would hold a full up-or-down vote or use legislative procedures to keep the budget from being acted on.
State Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said in a statement that he hoped Wisconsin residents would contact their legislators to voice their opposition to Doyle's budget proposal.
Every Representative and Senator will have the question in front of them,"" Huebsch said, ""can the people of Wisconsin afford a budget that raises taxes by $1 billion?""
Enough concessions have been made by the state Senate, the Governor and the state Assembly to reach a reasonable compromise, according to Doyle spokesperson Carla Vigue. Doyle hopes more moderate Republicans in the Assembly would help the budget to pass over opposition from more conservative legislators, Vigue said.
""There's an extreme faction of the Republican Party saying the state doesn't need a budget,"" Vigue said. ""That's absolutely untrue.""
Jim Bender, spokesperson for state Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said it was unlikely Doyle's budget will pass on Monday. Depending on how the Assembly Democrats vote, Doyle will likely need around five Republicans votes to pass the bill, according to Bender.
The governor's proposal is still $1 billion higher than Assembly offers, though if the bill lowered the proposed cigarette tax from $1.25, more Republicans might vote for it, according to Bender.
Doyle may need only three votes, according to Seth Boffeli, spokesperson for Assembly Minority Leader James Kreuser, D-Kenosha. Boffeli said state Rep. J.A. Hines, R-Oxford, who has supported the $1.25 cigarette tax, or state Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, who has said publicly the budget needs to be finished soon, might vote for the governor's proposal.
The Democrat-controlled state Senate will vote in favor of the proposal, according to a statement by Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit.
