MADISON, Wis. -- The state Senate on Tuesday passed a budget-balancing plan that now goes to the state Assembly where a vote is expected Wednesday.

But the plant it will still leave the state nearly $1.7 billion short three years from now.

The nonpartisan legislative Fiscal Bureau informed Republican lawmakers about that shortfall in two separate briefings just before the Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill on a 17-16 vote. All but one Democrat voted for the bill and all the Republicans voted against it.

Bob Lang of the Fiscal Bureau said that even if the bill becomes law, the state has committed to spending nearly $1.7 billion more than it expects to collect in taxes through June 2011.