Wisconsin Republicans poised to delete hundreds of items from Evers’ budget

The state budget proposed by Gov. Tony Evers earlier this year is about to look a lot different.

Republicans who run the Legislature are scheduled to remove hundreds of provisions from the governor’s budget with a single committee vote Thursday, covering everything from a state-funded child care subsidy to a new tax bracket for the wealthiest Wisconsinites.

It’s the same process Republicans have used every two years since Evers became governor, although the number of items removed from the budget this time is dramatic in scope. In all, more than 600 provisions would be deleted, leaving a shell of the budget Evers introduced to the public in February.

Many of the proposals Republicans plan to reject have been through the same process before. For example, Evers is again calling for an expansion of Medicaid in Wisconsin, which Republicans are poised to reject for the fourth budget in a row.

Two years ago, Evers made the creation of a new paid family leave program a centerpiece of his budget. GOP lawmakers voted it down on the first day of budget deliberations and are slated to do the same thing this year.

Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who co-chair the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, issued a written statement saying the Thursday vote would remove “hundreds of reckless spending and policy items” from Evers’ budget.

“JFC Republicans will craft a reasonable, responsible budget that addresses the everyday needs of people across our state,” read the statement.

GOP leaders have argued Evers’ budget proposal was unserious because they say it would spend money — $119 billion from all funding sources — beyond the state’s ability to pay.

Democrats on the Legislature’s budget committee blasted the planned vote, saying Republicans were rejecting broadly popular ideas.

“I think this is about continuing to make the political point that whatever Democrats want, they will not do,” Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, told WPR in an interview. “They’re not willing to negotiate. They just want to have it their way and start from scratch.”

Rejecting the proposals in a single vote on day one of budget deliberations means Republicans won’t have to debate each one individually.

While the list of policies poised to be removed from the budget is hard to summarize, it includes Evers’ proposals that would:

• Legalize recreational marijuana
• Spend $440 million in state funds on a child care subsidy to replace the federally funded Child Care Counts program
• Create a new 9.8 percent tax bracket for income above $1 million
• Spend $200 million to remove lead laterals for drinking water and more than $100 million to prevent lead poisoning from old paint
• Boost funding for PFAS remediation, including a $125 million community grant program
• Ban employers from discriminating against someone based on their gender identity or gender expression
• Repeal Wisconsin’s private sector “right to work” law

Thursday’s meeting will be the first of a series held by the Joint Finance Committee, where Republicans rebuild the budget piece by piece. The final version will need to be passed by the Legislature and signed by Evers to become law.