The economic-stimulus bill compromise reached in Congress Wednesday has a lower price tag than previous forms of the bill, which will mean less money allocated to Wisconsin.
Although a discrepancy regarding educational funding in the U.S House and Senate bills proved early claims of an agreement premature, Congressional leaders announced Wednesday evening they had reached a compromise on a $789 billion stimulus plan.
This is significantly lower than the House's version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which cost $820 billion, and the Senate's version, which cost $838 billion.
The National Conference of State Legislatures had projected Wisconsin would receive $3.5 from the House version and $3.2 billion from the Senate version of the stimulus package.
Jeff Hurley, policy associate for NCSL, said Wisconsin's share of the package that was agreed upon Wednesday would be closer to $3 billion.
Gov. Jim Doyle said at a press conference Wednesday this bill will be much less beneficial to the state than the House bill would have been.
If I had my perfect world, the House bill would have been adopted,"" Doyle said.
Lee Sensenbrenner, spokesperson for Doyle, said it is too early to determine how much the state could get from the plan agreed to on Wednesday because details of the agreement have not been released and the way funds are allocated could be significantly different.
State Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, said Senate and House Democrats came up with the agreement ""behind closed doors"" without the input of Republicans or taxpayers and said the bill includes hidden pork-barrel spending.
Obama has requested that the bill reach his desk by Monday, and Congress will hold a final vote on it later this week.
Doyle is scheduled to deliver the 2009-'11 state budget Feb. 17, and funds from the federal stimulus bill will play an important role in determining it.
