Lawmakers in the state Assembly are tenuously set to vote on a bill fixing the $652 million budget deficit next Tuesday, though several policy disagreements remain between leaders.
Assembly Minority Leader James Kreuser, D-Kenosha, informed his caucus a vote was possible Tuesday, despite no official word from Republicans in control of the Assembly.
Kresuer said in a statement the vote would be needed to prevent the loss of thousands of construction jobs in the state, which would not continue until a budget repair bill was decided upon.
However, the vote is uncertain, as Assembly Democrats recently criticized Assembly Republicans and the leader of the Democratic-controlled state Senate.
Assembly Democrats said the legislative leaders kept them out of repair bill negotiations, despite any vote in the Assembly needing a significant portion"" of Democratic lawmakers to pass, according to Kreuser spokesperson Seth Boffeli.
Many Democratic lawmakers are needed because a large amount of Assembly Republicans are expected to oppose the proposal from Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, Boffeli said.
The majority of Assembly Republicans also opposed the original budget Huebsch agreed to in October.
Huebsch said in a statement the current bill is a ""bipartisan compromise that balances the concerns of members from both parties.""
Democrats in the Assembly oppose the repair bill provisions Huebsch and Senate Democrats agreed upon, Boffeli said, describing a $125 million accounting maneuver in the bill as a ""gimmick"".
""We're at the eleventh hour now, and its time for the people in charge of this process to start leading,"" Boffeli said, referring to Huebsch and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston.
Senate Republicans are also largely kept absent from budget repair talks, according to state Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend. He said he was ""surprised and disappointed"" Decker has not yet involved them in the process.
Grothman said the current bill agreed upon by Decker and Huebsch does not please Senate Republicans, but it is likely the option leaders think will get the most votes.
Several controversial items previously offered by legislative leaders are now largely dead in budget talks.
Kreuser said he would not accept a combined vote on a repair bill and the environmental bill the Great Lakes Compact, which Huebsch and Decker previously said was an option.
A proposed financial assessment on hospitals, favored by Gov. Jim Doyle and Assembly Democrats, is also out of negotiations, Boffeli said.
