Despite intense public debate during Tuesday’s Joint Finance Committee hearing, Republican leaders said they have enough votes to pass the contentious budget repair bill without changes.

Gov. Scott Walker introduced the bill for the purpose of taking immediate action against Wisconsin’s current fiscal year $137 million budget shortfall without forcing massive layoffs. Senate President Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, said the bill would receive enough Republican votes for it to pass in both chambers of the Legislature.

“We’re broke, and we don’t want to lay off almost 20,000 people,” said Ellis. “They’ve got the votes to pass it.”

Although Ellis said Tuesday morning Republicans have the numbers to pass Walker’s budget repair bill without bi-partisan support, opponents believe this may be an exaggeration.

“Only a small handful has committed their support for this bill. I think they have thrown that number out to try and throw things off. I don’t think they have the votes; we have not seen the names associated with them,” said Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee.

Republican support for the bill in the Senate is not as unified as in the Assembly, Larson said. If the bill’s path through the Legislature is going to be slowed down or changed, Larson said the Senate is where that would happen.

The large number of concerned citizens that turned out to protest the bill and testify in front of the Joint Finance Committee Tuesday could convince Republicans to amend the bill before it passes into law, Larson said.

“I absolutely think changes will happen to the bill. A lot of people are speaking up, and Republicans will probably propose amendments to get the amount of votes needed,” Larson said. “I do not believe they will get it through as it stands.”

Andrew Welhouse, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said it was too soon to say if the bill would pass without any changes. He said he expected Democrats in both chambers to try and make amendments, but Fitzgerald supported the budget repair bill without changes.

The Legislature is tentatively scheduled to vote on the bill at the end of the week, but could be delayed depending on when the bill leaves committee hearing.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.