Governor Doyle statement on Assembly action on state budget
Governor Jim Doyle today (July 5, 2005) released the following statement regarding tonight's Assembly action on the state budget:
"Republicans in the State Assembly have rubber stamped a budget that does not represent Wisconsin's values. It is loaded with special interest giveaways, and puts politics and pork spending ahead of kids and property taxpayers.
"Republicans in the Legislature didn't have the courage to do what I did - cut overhead spending by $270 million - so instead they just gave away favors to special interests and handed out pork barrel spending. Instead, Assembly Republicans gave their approval tonight for the extra spending added by the Senate, while still cutting education by $400 million.
"My budget provided a common sense cost of living increase for schools - about three percent a year - to help deal with the rising costs, without having to cut vital education programs or drastically increase property taxes. It gave schools the same level of increase allowed by law over the past decade, by both Democratic and Republican Governors.
"The Republican budget won't even meet the extra cost of putting gas in the buses or heating the buildings, let alone new textbooks and the cost of salaries. The result will be thousands of teacher lay-offs, larger class sizes, and cuts to art, music, and athletics.
"I will look seriously at this budget to determine what my options are to protect schools and property taxpayers. I will use my full executive authority to make sure we have a budget that both supports education and freezes property taxes."
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Resource page on the 2005-07 state budget
Posted July 6, 2005
