(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says that budget discussions are “on pause” until Republican leadership hears back from Gov. Tony Evers about an in-person meeting to discuss a tax cut plan and budget priorities.
Vos said Evers is “refusing to meet with us in person.”
“That makes no sense to me,” Vos added.
Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said that there is still plenty of time to complete the process but that process needs to begin now.
“In order for the budget process to move forward, we need to get the players in the room to be able to talk about the best way we can move forward and tax cuts are an important part of that,” Born said before Tuesday’s Assembly session. “So as soon as the governor agrees to meet with the leadership that’s been asking for that meeting, the better and then we can stay on schedule.”
Vos said that staff has had discussions and the time for speaking on general terms is over.
“We need to actually start making decisions,” Vos said. “We don’t want to start allocating resources to our priorities until we know how much we have to allocate.”
The discussion was a continuation of what Republican leadership said this weekend.
Vos said that the original plan was to pass a standalone tax cut bill in the Legislature, but Evers asked that any tax cut be included in the budget instead.
“So we listened to him and we took him at his word that he was serious about wanting to meet with us,” Vos said. “So I think that is still our preferred option to be able to get an agreed upon tax cut so that we know we have X dollars to invest in schools and health care and all the other things that are important.”
Vos added that it’s important to know how much money is available before deciding spending in the budget.
“It’s pretty hard for us to move forward until we have a general framework,” he said.
