The top Republican in the WI state assembly stated that he is willing to work on “solutions” with Governor Tony Evers. Speaker Robin Vos said Thursday that he sees Republicans offering Tony Evers compromises on abortion, universal school choice, and tax breaks.
“I think when you look at where we are, we need to make some potential changes to the 1849 law. One of the things that I want to make sure of is that we have a law that can withstand court challenges.” Vos said in an interview with News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber. Vos added, “When Tony Evers said he wouldn’t even consider making exceptions for rape and incest because he wants radical, up until birth abortion laws, let’s put something in front of him and see if he really believes that.”
In his recent campaign, Governor Evers said he wouldn’t sign an abortion exemption law because it would still ban most abortions within Wisconsin. In addition, many other Republicans in legislature have mentioned they don’t have plans to change the state’s abortion law, including the leader of the Senate.
Speaker Robin Vos also mentioned he could see offering the Governor a compromise on school choice. He said, “I want universal school choice; he wants more money for school. That probably means we get both. We’re probably not going to do one or the other.”
Vos also sees potential for compromising on taxes, “He wants more money for the government; I want more money in the hands of the people. Maybe we can find a way to thread the needle, with most of the surplus going back to the people but some of it going back to law enforcement at the local level. I think there should be things we can find consensus on.”
Vos also mentioned that reaching these compromises will come with its fair share of challenges, and it may take some time to find a balance with Evers. Robin Vos plans to discuss with his caucus to reach a consensus before bringing it to the Governor and the Senate. The speaker noted the Legislature sent Evers a bill designed to boost reading scores only for him to veto it.
“If he wants more money for schools, we have to have some reform along the way. We cannot just write a blank check,” Vos said. He told reporters he’d like to use some of the projected surplus of over $5 billion to cut taxes, though he hadn’t settled on details with the caucus yet.
The Governor has consistently blocked Republican ideas during his term. Nearly 150 pieces of legislation were vetoed by Evers, more than any other governor in Wisconsin history.
Evers announced during his victory speech that he would like to invest even more in public schools and focus on climate change and green energy during his second term.
