News
December 09, 2024 | By Benjamin Yount
Policy Issues
State Budget

Vos, Evers Draw Hard Lines on State Budget

"Your tax increases and welfare expansions will again be D.O.A. in the GOP State Assembly," Speaker Robin Vos.
Source: Andy Manis, Wisconsin Watch

Evers & Vos Clash

Two of the three players in Wisconsin’s next state budget are already at odds over the next state spending plan.

Gov. Tony Evers on Sunday promised to veto any state budget that requires state employees to return to work in-person.

He said he’s focused on who works for the state, not where they work from.

“The fact of the matter is I think it’s important for the state to be open to having people working from home, especially in parts of the state that we haven’t had a chance,” Evers said Sunday.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has made it clear for months that he wants to see state employees back at the office at least four days a week.

The governor said that’s a non-starter.

“Not all the good workers are in the Madison and Milwaukee area," Evers added.

The two are also at odds over the spending levels in the next state budget.

Evers during his UpFront interview said he is looking to spend more on public schools, the University of Wisconsin, and state services.

Vos said that’s a non-starter.

"Good luck trying to ram through your tax and spend agenda (budget). Your tax increases and welfare expansions will again be D.O.A. in the GOP State Assembly," Vos said on Twitter Sunday.

The governor snapped at Vos’s budget criticism, telling UpFront that Vos “ain’t governor.”

“He’s not in charge of the Senate. He’s in charge of the Assembly. The Assembly looks a lot different than it did last time around, so I take his comments as that’s the way he works,” Evers added.

Vos, on Twitter, had just as harsh words for Evers.

“You now brazenly take credit for our tax cuts. Fortunately we eliminated every single one of your tax increases,” Vos wrote. “You've failed for 6 years to turn us into a dysfunctional Illinois lookalike and you will fail again in 2025.”

The governor said he is working on his new budget proposal. He's spent the past few weeks on a statewide listening tour for the new spending plan. Evers said he will have something for lawmakers early next year.

But Evers had made it clear he intends to spend Wisconsin’s $4 billion surplus. Vos has made it equally clear that his top priority in the new session is to give that money back to taxpayers.

Republicans will maintain their majorities in the new legislature, despite some Election Day wins from Democrats that shrank Vos’s Assembly majority from a 30 seat advantage to just a 10 seat advantage.

Democrats also won in Wisconsin Senate. They flipped several districts, and won others drawn to favor them in the state’s new electoral map. Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate had a 12 seat majority in the last legislative session. They will have a three-seat majority when the new Senate is sworn-in in January.

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