Here & Now

Joint Finance Co-Chair John Nygren Defends Republican Budget

Zac Schultz:

Just this week Assembly Republicans released their education budget package. Joining us now to talk about the budget is Representative John Nygren, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee. Thanks for your time today.

John Nygren:

Thanks for having me.

Zac Schultz:

So you’ve been touring the state in support of this most recent proposal. The Senate Republicans and Governor Walker were a little hesitant at first. How has the reception taken hold?

John Nygren:

I think the more recent comments have been that they are beginning to accept that this is a real problem and that it’s something we should look at. I would so far say that that’s s a success. That we’re at least talking about these low revenue districts that have been a problem since 1993 when the funding formula was established. Some originally said, “Let’s solve this problem when we have more revenues.” I would say, “Well, we’ve got a billion dollar more revenue in this budget. We’ve got over $600 million in investment in education in the budget. If we can’t do it now, I'm not sure ever we can.

Zac Schultz:

We’ve seen the governor touring the state promoting his version of the budget. Now we’re seeing Assembly Republicans touring the state promoting theirs. Is that a good thing to have both sides of these elements out there like this?

John Nygren:

I actually think so. I’ve been criticized by some of my Senate colleagues for doing this. However I would say putting your ideas out there and then taking them to the public and getting their input is probably a better solutions than actually the two of us staring at each other across the table and negotiating over whose position is better. Let’s get the input from the public as well, not just each other.

Zac Schultz:

This is interesting because traditionally these budgets elements were negotiated behind closed doors, among the majority party. And then they would come out and say, “Here’s what we’re passing.” Did you like this version? Because even though it looks a little more contentious, people were talking about budget stalemates?

John Nygren:

I wouldn’t say one is better at getting the job done. But I do think from a transparency standpoint, this is better. The ironic thing, this probably wouldn’t have been necessary if Senator Fitzgerald wouldn’t have necessarily sent out a press release four minutes before we were releasing our package saying, “It was dead on arrival.” I think that necessitated our taking this to the people and getting some input.

Zac Schultz:

So is this budget at a stalemate or how would you describe where we are?

John Nygren:

This is my third budget as co-chair, fourth that I’ve sat on the committee. There’s always been hiccups as you get towards the end where there’s differences of opinion. I think that’s actually good. Especially in a situation where one party controls all three levers. The governor, we shouldn’t just rubber stamp the governor’s budget. Let’s put out different ideas, get public input. At the end of the day, I think the taxpayers and in this case the students of the state of Wisconsin, they win.

Zac Schultz:

Do you need education before transportation? Are they going to come at the same time?

John Nygren:

I don’t know that they’re necessarily connected but I think you need to deal with education before we deal with property taxes and other taxes because of the, obviously the impact and the governor’s pledge on property taxes. So I think education, we’re at the right time and the right place to take it up.

Zac Schultz:

The governor has been pretty insistent on his property tax pledge. Is it right to hold up a budget on a pledge, a political campaign promise?

John Nygren:

Hey, that’s what gets political people elected, right, is standing up for what they believe in. So I’m not necessarily sure that’s a bad thing. I would rather talk about whether the pledge and actually the fiscal decisions that are revolving around that pledge make sense. The fact that we’re actually buying down property taxes in these referendums that are taking place throughout the state is something we should discuss publicly and get public input from. The fact that we’re actually–as my home grows in value over the year between 2010 and now, should taxpayers be buying down that growth, that natural growth in value. I think that’s more than reasonable to have those discussions.

Zac Schultz:

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau just put out a paper about transportation options for ways to bring in more revenue. Are you attached to any of those options including raising the sales tax on gas or raising the gas tax itself?

John Nygren:

I think this is obviously been one of the probably most contentious issue we faced over the last couple sessions. Going back three budgets ago, the governor had put out a task force to come back with some recommendations on things we could look at to deal with the transportation funding. Coming right out of a recession that was not the time to deal with it. Last budget we were in a position where the Assembly Republicans were trying. Let’s bring this up. Let’s get a solution here. Didn’t happen. Here we are three budgets later and we believe now is the time to address this. We can’t continue to rely on bonding without a revenue resource to reduce that overall debt long term.

Zac Schultz:

Both Speaker Vos and Senator Fitzgerald have talked about the size of these historic caucuses and the factions within them. Are they too large to bring in line on these issues?

John Nygren:

I can tell you from our standpoint, we discuss our education package. There are some, this is the type of decision that requires statesmanship, not necessarily politics because there are some that might fare better under the governor’s plan than under this plan. And yet they’re still willing to stand up and say, “This is the right thing to do to make our education system level and comparable throughout the state and provide opportunity for all.” We’re having those conversations in our caucus. I can’t speak for the Senate but we’re having them and they’re actually, of course, not unanimous, but they’re actually good debates.

Zac Schultz:

Do you expect to meeting in Joint Finance next week?

John Nygren:

We hope to be meeting this week. Senator Darling and myself spoke a couple days ago. I called her on my way here. We had talked about being in this week Tuesday. Wednesday we’re in session in the Assembly. So we’re looking at later in the week. We hope to be able to take up the group insurance board, ETF and also compensation.

Zac Schultz:

Will things fall in place once you get back together?

John Nygren:

I think so. Like I said, this typically happens where there’s disagreement. And once you sit down and come up with something–you know what? It’s going to take compromise probably on the Senate side, on the Assembly side, on the governor’s side. We get everybody in the room and discuss what our differences. I think we have more in common than we realize. Once we come up with those agreements, I think things will flow pretty quickly.

Zac Schultz:

Representative John Nygren, thank you for coming.

John Nygren:

Thank you.