Theater of the Budget Fight: Act III
The fight over the 2025-27 Wisconsin state budget continues to rage into the final hour. The budget deadline is June 30, and if it is not signed tomorrow, then state agencies will have to operate from the 2023-2025 state budget. Federal cuts have created new pressure on Democrats in the legislature to pass a budget that locks in Biden-era Medicaid dollars. Thanks to the makeup of the Wisconsin Senate (17-15), legislative Republicans have only one vote that they can afford to lose, and with Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) acting as budget hardasses and threatening to withhold their votes, Senate Democrats have real leverage for the first time in years.
Joint Finance Committee (JFC) Chair Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) needs Democratic senators to vote across the aisle, and to do that, he needs to compromise on things that benefit Wisconsinites outside the conservative elites who Republicans serve. Whatever passes the State Senate will also have to pass the Assembly, which is under solid Republican control, within the iron grip of Robin Vos (R-Rochester), who hates poor people and children. So, these Democratic senators are negotiating with the whole Wisconsin Republican Party. Will they use their leverage and hold out for true concessions, or will some cave and sign a bad budget?
In our last article on the budget, we called on Governor Evers to veto the budget if it does not include specific provisions demanded by the Milwaukee Beagle, and more importantly, a coalition of progressive organizations. The demands include:
Real action on closing down Green Bay Correctional (without building a new prison!)
Adequate funding for childcare
Funding for the UW System
Using the budget surplus for adequate K-12 funding
These are the same demands that Senate Democrats should be pursuing in their negotiations with Marklein and Vos. Evers has only acknowledged one demand, threatening to veto over childcare funding. That came after constant, earnest advocacy from WECAN, including even a strike.
If Democrats use their leverage, an impasse is very likely, but should not be feared. The argument for Evers to veto the budget this cycle has always been that we will simply revert to the 2023-25 budget until the next cycle. Unlike the federal government, Wisconsin does not shut down when Republicans play dumb games of chicken with each other. The Wisconsin legislature also can pass a budget late, or pass spending bills without a full budget. If Republicans miss the deadline because they won’t compromise, we revert to current funding levels. Then, Democrats can continue the fight with even more leverage, after Republicans take the blame for this failure.
The 2023-2025 State Budget
I am not a budget analyst, I am just a cartoon dog who is very hungry and scared of g-g-g-ghosts! However the AP summarizes our current operating budget as a $99 billion budget where funding was increased or at least held steady across state government. Like the budget lawmakers are currently fighting over, it does not go far enough to address the needs of the state. The current budget is flawed, but can still make use of those Biden Medicaid dollars.
While I do not agree with the political goals of State Senator Rob Hutton, he makes a compelling point when he says that “Budget Delay is an Opportunity For Reform”. Rushing a bad budget to passage every two years is squandering political momentum for a budget that could eventually fund something fully with a realized plan. In business terms, these disappointing biennial budgets just feel like an opportunity cost.
There are no realistic, good options for a budget. We will not get a progressive dream budget like the one that the Governor always theatrically proposes. The four demands above are not that dream. They seek a bare minimum of funding for education, healthcare, and public safety. Wisconsin schools are in crisis, and districts keep going to referendum to make up for lack of state funding. University of Wisconsin campuses are closing amid Republican cuts and racism. Hospitals are shuttering and cutting services because Republicans won’t allow Medicaid expansion. Cutting funds for alternatives to incarceration like TAD programs to build new prisons and needlessly cycle more Wisconsinites through the harm of incarceration is the opposite of true public safety. Republicans can concede to these demands are stay true to their twisted priorities: cutting benefits for working people and delivering a mountain of tax cuts for the wealthy.
If Senate Democrats go along with Evers and negotiate for the Republican budgets he loves to sign, it might have a pittance for childcare workers, but will neglect the other demands. If Democrats use the leverage they have to pursue our four demands and deny Governor Evers the opportunity to sign another trash budget, the harm Vos wants to do (and that Evers is willing to accept in the name of bipartisanship) will be significantly reduced.
What Democrats Could Have Done
A better governor would have publicly drawn a line in the sand on these four demands at the start of budget negotiations. Evers didn’t start talking seriously about a veto until last week. Prior to that, he did threaten a veto to protect government employees’ ability to work from home. If budgets are values documents then it looks like Evers values his employees’ personal comfort over education, prison conditions, childcare, and medical access - in other words, over human rights.
A better state Democratic Party also would have built up party membership in every county with populist messages, as William Garcia pushed in his run for state party chair. Robust county parties could seize on this budget impasse to recruit challengers, announce their 2026 bids, and kick off campaigns with serious momentum. That would put the fear into Republican senators in winnable seats, like Rob Hutton, Van Waangaard, or Howard Marklein himself. Instead, WISDEMS chair Ben Wikler was fighting against that strategy by joining Devin Remiker’s lavish, and ultimately successful run to maintain donor class control of our low membership party.
Fortunately, there are a few Wisconsin Democrats going against the collaborationist leadership by standing firm and exercising what leverage they can to win the best outcome for the people of Wisconsin. Senator Kelda Roys (D-Madison) is the best example of this. She told the Wisconsin Examiner that State Senators should “make our own decisions [based on the] needs of our districts”, not based on what Evers wants. She also told the Wisconsin Citizen Action podcast (interview starts at 13:50) that Democratic Senators plan to vote as a block on the budget. By framing the issue this way, Roys is pressuring her colleagues to not be the traitor who bows to pressure and joins Republicans, even if our weak collaborationist governor wants them to.
Finally, Wisconsin residents should also not need to be budget analysts in order to participate in this debate. If Democrats in the legislature are indeed fighting for the people, they should be transparent and provide clear communication of how this new budget would compare with what it would look like to operate with the existing budget. The Democrats - somehow - are the best hope we have for opposing fascism legislatively. This is a real fight with stakes that affect the people. Don’t placate us, we win a budget that works for people when the people aren’t shut out.
