State Lawmakers Reach Deal On $527M Budget Shortfall

MADISON, Wis. -- State legislators outlined a deal on Monday to solve Wisconsin's $527 million budget shortfall.

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The agreement brokered between the Democrat-controlled Senate and the Republican-dominated Assembly relies on a $125 million delay in aid payments to schools but not a new hospital tax advocated by Gov. Jim Doyle and some fellow Democrats.

The Legislature is to vote later this week on the deal announced Monday. Democratic and Republican leaders presented the plan.

The agreement also includes $69 million in cuts to state government, which is far less than the $250 million Assembly Republicans wanted. The bill also includes $209 million in refinancing of tobacco settlement bonds.

There are no assurances that the plan will be enough to avoid additional cuts or changes through the rest of the two-year budget that ends June 30, 2009.

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser said that the deal comes in time to allow spring and summer road projects to proceed without delay.

And while the Legislature's leadership agrees on the plan, the governor isn't so sure.

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said that he thinks the proposal keeps the budget out of the red.

"(It's a) fiscally responsible bill that will keep the state in the black," he said.

Huebsch said that he thinks cooperation will be necessary should the state have to contend with a continued weakening of the economy.

"Should the economy continue to slide, we have shown that we can work together in a bipartisan way as we've done here today," he said.

On Monday afternoon, Doyle said that he hopes he doesn't have to veto the Legislature's budget bill, but that is an option. He said that he doesn't think it will come to that, but he does have problems with major parts of the plan reached by legislative leaders.

"(There's) some serious concerns about a couple of the issues," he said. "I'm going to have to take a look at what comes out of the Legislature. I've made no agreements about vetoes. I will look at it very carefully."

Doyle said that the plan shouldn't delay school aid payments and the proposal relies too much on refinancing of tobacco settlement bonds.

He said that he's considering taking more money out of the state's transportation fund instead and increasing cuts to state government to balance the budget.

The Legislature is scheduled to debate the plan starting Tuesday.

Budget negotiations intensified late last week, and lawmakers were told to keep their calendars clear Tuesday through Thursday of this week for a session to approve a deal.

A bipartisan committee of lawmakers from both the Senate and Assembly was scheduled to meet Monday afternoon to approve the deal and send it to the Senate. Approval by the so-called conference committee would result in a bill that has to be accepted or rejected without any changes.

The Legislature is scheduled to pass the plan this week.

Congressman Says He Disapproves Of Budget Deal

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is angry about state lawmakers' plan for balancing the budget

He said that he objects to one part of the proposal put forth by state legislative leaders to spend $22 million that had been earmarked for implementing the federal Real ID program.

The law authored by Sensenbrenner is designed to create a more secure identification card in all 50 states.

A $10 fee was placed on Wisconsin driver's licenses starting this year to start paying for it, but the bipartisan state budget-balancing plan put forth on Monday would raid that money.

Sensenbrenner said that that is a breach of faith with those who have been paying the fee. He urged the Legislature to reject the plan, calling it a "fiscal shell game."