Gov. Evers, senators react to passing of state budget

MADISON, Wis (CIVIC MEDIA) – After several delays that pushed voting well into the night, the Wisconsin Senate passed the proposed state budget and Governor Tony Evers signed it into law Thursday morning.

The governor and several members of the state Assembly shared their thoughts on the biennial budget’s passing.

Gov. Evers shared his remarks on the budget’s approval through a veto message – he had exercised his authority to partially veto aspects of the bill. Gov. Evers celebrates passing a budget that makes the well-being of children a high priority, while acknowledging the compromises made to get the budget across the finish line.

Through this bipartisan budget, we are making progress on key state priorities to move Wisconsin forward: making critical investments supporting our kids and schools, lowering costs of child care and household bills for working families, stabilizing our child care industry, cutting taxes for seniors and middle-class families, ensuring Wisconsinites have access to healthcare, continuing to fix our roads and bridges, and significant investments in our local communities, among much more. Simply put: this is a pro-kid budget that is a win for Wisconsin’s kids, families, and communities, and our state’s future in 2025 the Year of the Kid, and I am incredibly proud of this important work.

At the same time, this budget is also a reflection of bipartisan compromise—that means everyone gets something they want, and no one gets everything they want. I spent months working together with Republican leaders to reach common ground and find consensus. Today, I am signing a bipartisan budget compromise that reflects those months of conversations and is supported by a majority of the Legislature with bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

While this budget looks drastically different than the budget I proposed and does not include everything I asked for and hoped it would, frankly, I believe most Wisconsinites would say that compromise is a good thing because that is how government is supposed to work.

Several state senators gave statements on the budget’s passing.

Senate Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein:

Republicans in Madison tried every trick in the book to pass massive and disastrous cuts to the state budget that would have hung Wisconsin families out to dry, but in the end, they simply did not have the votes. Due to the huge gains Democrats made in the Senate last year and our caucus’s steadfast commitment to fighting for all Wisconsinites, we were able to negotiate critical investments in the areas that matter most to our residents. There is good and there is bad in this new budget, but Governor Evers and Senate Democrats fought off the most damaging cuts proposed by the Republican majority. Next November, Democrats will win back the majority, and we will show our state and our Republican colleagues what a competent governing body looks like.

Democratic Senator Jamie Wall (District 30):

This is not the budget I would have written, but it beat the only two possible alternatives:  a budget catering to the most extreme right-wing legislators or no budget at all. We needed to act quickly to secure $1.1 billion in additional federal Medicaid funding for Wisconsin, especially in light of the massive cuts in Medicaid contained in the Trump budget now being debated in Washington. The 1.2 million Wisconsinites who depend on Medicaid, including children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities, simply couldn’t wait.

Democratic Senator Kristin Dassler-Alfheim (District 18):

It’s not the budget that I would have written, but it’s a step forward. Before this session, Legislative Democrats didn’t even have a seat at the table, but that’s changed. Senate Democrats fought tooth and nail for the investments this bill makes in child care, K-12 education, the Universities of Wisconsin, and local priorities like the Municipal Services Payments program and the renovation of the UW-Oshkosh Polk Learning Commons – investments that Republicans would have left out completely.

This budget isn’t great, but that’s to be expected when a compromise budget is negotiated. Ultimately, I voted in favor because of the investments it makes right here in our community that alleviate the burden on local taxpayers. I look forward to doing even more during the next budget cycle to address these issues.

Read Civic Media’s comprehensive coverage of the state budget’s approval.