After an almost two-month process that brought political drama to the state of Wisconsin, the few remaining fiscal elements of the budget repair bill were passed by both the Senate and Assembly Tuesday.
The budget repair bill, introduced by Gov. Scott Walker Feb. 11, started a controversial debate regarding whether public employees had the right to collectively bargain over working conditions and benefits. After the Legislature passed a modified version of the bill, the authority for public employees to bargain was limited. Still, the fiscal elements taken out of the bill remained and were only reintroduced to the Legislature Tuesday.
It only took an afternoon for the fiscal elements to pass through both chambers.
“I commend the Legislature, both Democrats and Republicans, for working quickly to allow us to finish this year with a balanced budget and protect middle-class taxpayers,” Walker said in a statement. “In addition, this legislation allows us to continue to provide health care for the poor.”
Specifically, the bill contains provisions that would fill medical assistance program deficits, increase the amount of money allocated for the earned income tax credit and increase the Department of Corrections budget. The bill also contains language to refinance $165 million of Wisconsin’s debt.
Republicans and Democrats alike supported the reintroduced budget repair bill.
“This one I will vote for today. I would have voted for it on Feb. 14 if it was introduced in the same fashion as it was today,” Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Poplar, said on the Senate floor.
Although, he also said that because the bill before the Senate Tuesday was not the bill introduced Feb. 11, the state had become unnecessarily polarized, anxious and split.
Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said he was pleased at the Assembly’s actions Tuesday to remediate the state’s budgetary woes for the remaining fiscal year, which ends June 30.
“By voting to responsibly refinance the state’s debt, we have ensured that Wisconsin will finish this year in the black while maintaining vital services such as health care for our most vulnerable citizens and a well-run corrections system,” Suder said in a statement.
Still, Democrats in both chambers introduced multiple amendments to the bill. One amendment would have inserted language to effectively guarantee the continuation of Wisconsin’s SeniorCare program in its current form.
Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, drafted the amendment in the Senate because he said the Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Ross had sent out signals earlier in the year that SeniorCare would be looked at and either limited or eliminated.
“If you’re against Obamacare, alright, but you can’t be against SeniorCare because it’s cost effective and gives our senior citizens options,” Carpenter said to his colleagues in the Senate. “I don’t trust the ability for [Smith] to say he’ll shift some of these individuals and money within this program.”
However, Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said the reintroduced budget repair bill did not in any way negatively effect SeniorCare and the program’s future would be determined by the governor’s proposed budget for the next biennium.
The amendment and others failed to receive Republican approval and the bill passed without change.
