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Doyle believes Obama can fix economy
Despite budget troubles, Wisconsin governor expects billions in federal aid for state
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Also by Rachel Vesco:
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Despite bleak economic reports regarding the current climate of Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle said in a conference call this week he believes the state’s economy could start to turn around by summer 2009.
According to Doyle’s spokesperson Lee Sensenbrenner, Doyle is especially hopeful about Wisconsin’s future economic health now that President Barack Obama has taken office.
“He’s hopeful the president is taking the right steps and people are moving in the right direction. It’s not going to be quick, but hopefully we’ll see some forward progress in the coming months,” Sensenbrenner said. “No one is under the impression that this will get fixed quickly, but the governor has a lot of faith in what the president and Congress are doing.”
The expected federal stimulus package is also expected to help the state’s economy and current budget crises, although there are no exact numbers yet.
“We’ve seen various estimates out there as far as what the state’s stimulus would be, but what the governor said before is that the state is roughly 2 percent of the country’s population, so the amount would likely correlate with that percentage,” Sensenbrenner said.
However, not everyone is as optimistic about Wisconsin’s future as Doyle.
“I think the budget will get done quickly, but that may not be good news for Wisconsin tax payers since the Democrats now have the votes to raise taxes,” said Wisconsin Republican Party President Mark Jefferson. “It’s less a concern about timing than it’s a concern about what’s in the budget.”
Jefferson believes that by rushing the budget through committee, with as little Republican input and compromise as possible, the Democrats hope the public will forget about the budget crises before moving onto the election.
Presently, Wisconsin faces a $5.4 billion budget deficit. Doyle is scheduled to introduce his budget to the Legislature in early February. Afterward, the budget will then go through a variety of committee and pubic hearings before being finalized by the Joint Finance Committee in late June or early July.
After the budget is finalized this summer, it will remain in effect for two years.
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Government is not the solution to our problems.
Government IS the problem!
Doyle must believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny too.