Here & Now

Evers Signs 2021-23 Budget, Applies 50 Partial Vetoes

Frederica Freyberg:

With the countdown clock ticking for Governor Tony Evers to act on the state budget, he did so a day before the legal deadline. Governor Evers signed the state budget into law Thursday, wielding his veto pen to make some changes to the final document. “Here & Now” reporter Will Kenneally has the details.

Will Kenneally:

The governor left the GOP-written budget largely intact, though at the same time admonished Republicans for not doing more.

Tony Evers:

The biggest problems with the budget are not the things that need to be removed by a stroke of a pen, but rather the work the Legislature has left undone.

Will Kenneally:

Speaking from an elementary school in Whitefish Bay, Evers who is the former head of state public schools, said education should have been prioritized more in the Republican budget.

Tony Evers:

They could have done the right thing. They still can do the right thing. There is money left in the state coffers that can be used for schools and other issues. So we — I’m very hopeful that they’ll spend some time thinking through this instead of just going home and spending the rest of the summer enjoying themselves. There’s work to be done.

Will Kenneally:

During his news conference, Evers said he would allocate $100 million of federal money to stem the shortfall he says Wisconsin schools face. The governor included 50 partial vetoes that removed specific parts of the budget. His vetoes included keeping the existing formula for rural school districts transportation aid, preventing drug testing for those seeking unemployment insurance, maintaining funding for a Food Share healthy eating incentive program and stopping a transfer of $550 million to the state’s rainy day fund. Evers says that last veto keeps those funds available to meet future needs of Wisconsinites that the current budget does not address.

Tony Evers:

There’s work to be done. There’s work to be done for these kids. There’s work to be done around criminal justice reform, a whole number of areas. The money is still there.

Will Kenneally:

The governor did tout measures from the budget, however, including an income tax cut for a large portion of Wisconsinites. In the budget, Wisconsinites making between roughly $24,000 and $263,000 per year will have their income tax reduced by close to 1%. Republicans cried foul at this saying Evers was taking credit for a tax cut proposed by the GOP.

Mark Born:

I think it’s been pretty clear from the headlines we’ve seen so far exactly what happened today and that is Governor Evers signed the Republican-written state budget.

Will Kenneally:

Though Evers introduced a budget proposal earlier this year, the GOP-controlled Legislature threw out his plan and started from scratch to write the current budget.

Mark Born:

Once again, Republicans are leading. The Legislature have led the way. Sent Governor Evers a common sense budget that invests in priorities and puts money back in the hands of families of Wisconsin.

Will Kenneally:

Reporting from Whitefish Bay, this is Will Kenneally for “Here & Now.”

Frederica Freyberg:

So Republicans in the Legislature are praising the tax cuts Governor Evers signed into law, while blasting his original version of the budget and saying he deserves no credit for this one.