June 28, 2013
By Wisconsin AFL-CIO News
On Wednesday June 19th , in an unusually fast move, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed Gov. Walker’s 2013-2015 Budget on a 55-42 vote. All Democrats and three members of the GOP voted against the budget.
In the early morning hours of Friday, June 21, after 12 hours of debate, the Wisconsin State Senate passed Gov. Walker's Budget on a 17-16 vote, with Rep. Dale Schultz joining Democrats in opposition.
Make no mistake; this budget will have a lasting and damaging impact on Wisconsin families. The GOP budget puts in place a tax shift which overwhelming favors the rich while starving neighborhood schools of necessary resources and expanding for-profit voucher schools. In an extremely partisan and shortsighted move, Gov. Walker is refusing billions of dollars in federal aid to expand BadgerCare. BadgerCare provides health care coverage for low-income families and adults. Without the expansion it is estimated that 84,770 people will be cut from BadgerCare.
Shamelessly, the 2013-2015 Budget is jam-packed with givebacks to special interest lobbying groups as well as non-fiscal policy items. Republicans have been cutting deals with backroom lobbyists and have put aside the best interest of Wisconsin’s middle class in order to reward their campaign contributors. The creation of a bail bondsmen system, crane game deregulation and a host of baffling givebacks to corporate interests still line the budget.
Gov. Walker is expected to sign the budget before July 1, 2013.
