Gov. Scott Walker Unveils Budget Plan for ‘Leaner and Cleaner’ State Gov’t
- Posted on March 1, 2011 at 8:46pm by
Meredith Jessup
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MADISON, Wis. (AP/The Blaze) – After focusing for weeks on his proposal to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights, Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday presented his full budget — a plan that cuts $1 billion in aid to public schools and local government but avoids any tax or fee increases, furloughs or widespread layoffs.
Walker said the cuts could be paid for in large part by forcing government employees to pay more for their pension and health care benefits. And the governor whose cost-cutting ideas have stirred a national debate over public-sector unions gave no indication he would soften his demand to reduce their power at the negotiating table.
Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wisc. (AP)
Schools and local governments targeted for cuts would not be allowed to make it up with higher property taxes.
“This is a reform budget,” Walker told lawmakers inside the Assembly chamber as protesters on the floor below screamed, banged on drums and blew horns. “It is about getting Wisconsin working again. And to make that happen, we need a balanced budget that works — and an environment where the private sector can create 250,000 jobs over the next four years.”
Walker’s legislation has drawn tens of thousands of demonstrators to the Capitol over the last three weeks, and tensions were still high as Walker outlined the budget during a joint session of the Legislature convened under heavy security. Assembly Democrats refused to stand as the governor arrived to speak.
“It feels like we’re announcing a going-out-of-business sale,” said state Rep. Cory Mason, a Democrat from Racine who criticized Walker’s proposed cuts to education.
Walker’s budget places “the entire burden of Wisconsin’s budget shortfall on our children, our most vulnerable citizens in need of health care and long-term care, and our dedicated public employees,” said Robert Kraig, director of the consumer-advocacy group Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
Doing so is Walker’s “own value choice, not an economic necessity forced on him by others,” Kraig said.
The governor released his two-year spending plan in part to support his argument that public-worker concessions are essential to confront a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall. His proposal to eliminate most collective bargaining remains in limbo after Senate Democrats fled the state to prevent a vote.
Wisconsin “cannot grow if our people are weighed down paying for a larger and larger government, a government that pays its workers unsustainable benefits that are out of line with the private sector,” he said. “We need a leaner and cleaner state government.”
By eliminating most collective bargaining, Walker says, state agencies, local governments and school districts will have flexibility to react quickly to the cuts.
The budget will put tremendous pressure on schools and local governments, which will be asked to shoulder huge cuts without raising property taxes to make up the difference.
Walker’s budget includes a nearly 9 percent cut in aid to schools, which would amount to a reduction of nearly $900 million. The governor also proposed requiring school districts to reduce their property tax authority by an average of $550 per pupil — a move that makes it more difficult for schools to make up the lost money.
Additionally, cities would get nearly $60 million less in aid, an 8.8 percent cut. Counties would lose more than $36 million, a 24 percent reduction. They would not be allowed to increase property taxes except to account for new construction.
Walker estimates that his controls on property taxes would save $736 over the next two years for the owner of a home valued at the median price of $161,300.
He proposed a $500 million cut in Medicaid spending, which would be achieved through a number of changes that include increasing co-payments and deductibles and requiring participants in SeniorCare to be enrolled in Medicare Part D, too. Overall spending on the program would still increase, just not as much as it would have without the changes he’s seeking.
Walker asked for $82 million in tax cuts, including an expanded exclusion for capital gains realized on investments made in Wisconsin-based businesses. The Legislature previously approved more than $117 million in Walker-backed tax cuts that take effect later this year.
The budget also cuts funding at most state agencies, by 10 percent, except for salary and benefits. The governor would permanently eliminate 735 positions that have been vacant for more than a year. Some other jobs could be cut, but no widespread layoffs were envisioned. State spending over the next two years would go up a paltry 1.3 percent.
Protesters demonstrate at the state capitol in Madison (AP)
Walker targeted many law changes passed by Democrats in recent years, including a provision awarding prisoners time off their sentences for good behavior. Instead, Walker would reinstitute a truth-in-sentencing law that he sponsored while a member of the Assembly.
As expected, Walker proposed removing the flagship Madison campus from the University of Wisconsin system. The system has been ordered to study a similar move for the Milwaukee campus.
Over the next several months, the Legislature will review Walker’s budget and offer revisions, with the expectation that lawmakers would vote by early summer.
It wasn’t clear when Senate Democrats would return to take up the collective bargaining proposal. Walker said in his speech that their inaction could lead to thousands of layoffs in order to balance the budget, but decisions on whether to cut teachers and other local government employees are not up to Walker.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald met Monday in Kenosha with some of the missing Democrats and discussed terms under which they could return. No agreement was reached.
Senate Democrats held their own news conference in Illinois after Walker’s speech. “It’s a sad day for our state,” said Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay.
A number of compromises designed to end the stalemate have been floated by unions, Democrats and even a Republican senator, but none has gained traction.
In addition to the bargaining rights changes, the bill designed to fill this year’s projected $137 million deficit called for refinancing state debt to save $165 million. But the deadline to get that done was Tuesday.
Walker has threatened to make more cuts after the deadline but has not outlined what those would be.
Polls indicate national public opinion favors unions in the dispute, but Walker has been resolute.
A Pew Research Center poll released Monday found 42 percent of adults surveyed nationwide sided with the unions and 31 percent sided with Walker. That poll of 1,009 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The latest New York Times-CBS poll found Americans oppose efforts to weaken the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions by a margin of almost two to one — 60 percent to 33 percent. The nationwide telephone poll of 984 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Just a quarter of adults in the poll considered public employees’ benefits and pay to be too high, while about the same share believed they are too low. About 36 percent say they are about right.
Majorities oppose cutting public employee benefits or pay in order to reduce state budget deficits or taking away some collective bargaining rights from public employee unions.
Some of the opposition may stem from skepticism about the state government’s motivations. Forty-five percent of those who responded to the New York Times-CBS poll believe states want to reduce employee benefits to help ease the deficit, but nearly as many (41 percent) say their aim is to weaken the power of unions.
Both polls were conducted Feb. 24-27.
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Comments (55)
Navyveteran
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 11:44amOh I forgot I would then send a cleaning bill to the teachers union and any repairs that may be needed due to those adolescents damaging state property. I would give the teachers unions 60 days to pay this bill and if not, I would start a lawsuit and charge the president of the union on criminal charges of destruction of government property.
Report Post »Navyveteran
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 11:40amIf I was Walker right now I would do a Ronald Reagan. I would tell those teachers that they have until Monday to be at work or else they would be replaced by the many that are unemployed and would love to have a job and pay for their own medical and pension benefits. I would also tell the democrats that fled the state that to expect their paychecks docked with all the days that they went AWOL and that they will be paying for their own expenses because they are not in another state on WI state business.
I guarantee that will bring them back to work and if not you save the state of WI millions if not billions of dollars because of all the new state teachers getting the minimum salary that a teacher earns his/her first year.
Report Post »Eyeball
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 9:50amSince the teacher’s union supports the communist party, then I dont want those teachers being a part of such a union, and I dont want those teachers teaching my children if they remain a member of the union when they know it has communist ties.
Report Post »Eyeball
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 9:48amCollective bargaining is a socialist idea. Our founding fathers said it would ruin our country, and it looks like it just about has.
Report Post »RaleighPat
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 9:14amThe polls are meaningless. If we are to be outraged becasue the polls support the unions and the Governor is proceeding with his budget balancing efforts, then we should be outraged that we have Obamacare even thought the polls didn’t support that either. I don‘t remember the Republicans running to Virginia so they couldn’t being it up for a vote. I can only imagine the vitriol from the MSM and Progressives if the Republicans had pulled a similar stunt.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 8:29amNot a bad start.
How, fire most of the teachers and cut the state worker force by 50% and cut property taxes in half, and WI is back to being a state productive people want to inhabit.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 7:53amWalker took over a mess when he became Milwaukee County Executive. The Democrats really
Report Post »screwed the county with huge union give aways that will take decades to fix. Walker started fixing
those problems and kept to his word to not raise taxes in his budget. This is the same problem, but on a bigger scale.
pedwards59
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 7:32amThis attempt to destroy collective bargaining for Government employee’s will backfire on this Governor, I would be shocked if he see’s a 2nd term..
hauschild
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 8:30amWho freakin’ cares? That‘s what you leftists don’t understand – there are people in this country that actually care about the well-being of the union. As hard as it is for you selfish tools to believe.
Report Post »wash1776
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 7:06amThe governor is trying to do the right thing to get his state back on track but there are too many greedy people and paid troublemakers out there with an agenda. Cutting school funding seems a good idea since it a lot of it seems to be wasted. This country just keeps throwing more money at it and the system gets worse. The government needs to get out of things and stop messing up everything it touches. Since this country spends the most on education and we are way down on the list of effectiveness, it is time to strangle the goose that laid the golden egg. Washington has egg on it’s face for their poor performance in this and all other areas of government. They obviously can’t get anything right because they are too busy lining their own pockets and becoming good little commies. I can understand why other countries don’t like or respect us anymore when they see all the corruption going on here when this is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Just substitute the word people for government and you have the real government in this country.
Report Post »southernloyalty
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:54amI‘m to the point now I’d rather see him just fire all these whiners and hire a whole new batch of people who would be just fine with his plans. I’d kill to have a job right now, and I’d have no problem paying for my healthcare and pension. Nor would I have a problem with not being in a union. I see these people up there crying like a bunch of babies for nothing, and I look at people like me who can’t find a job at all. These people and their union bosses are a disgrace. They desreve everything and more thats coming to them.
Report Post »Sense and Sensibility
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 2:14amSouthern -
Here‘s the link to apply for a teacher’s licence in WI:
http://dpi.state.wi.us/forms/pdf/f1602-os.pdf
All you need is a BA at an accredited school, participated in an approved educator preparation program if BA in not in education or from outside WI, past experience with good performance and have completed the appropriate Praxis I/II tests .
Report Post »bkeely
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:35amCut baby cut……….
Report Post »================
Buck
http://www.***************
Heirloom Seeds “How God plants His garden”
One1
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:25amYoung people (kids) are taught in liberal schools, they think liberal and vote overwelmingly democratic. Of course the protesters in WI need to grow up.
Report Post »THENEWMCCARTHY
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:20amFaux News video purportedly from “Wisconsin” smearing unions features PALM TREES
http://motherjones.tumblr.com/post/3595647849/this-is-what-we-in-the-biz-call-an-epic-b-roll
I didn’t realize there were PALM TREES in Wisconsin.
Fox Nooz busted AGAIN.
Report Post »mountainb
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:28amAre you drunk?? or are you just an idiot,,,, look at the whole set up to the story,,, MORON
Report Post »fortyfivenorth
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:32amOK, Genius, I’m gonna type this real slow so you can get it- Last weekend there sympathy rallies all over the US so ALL THE LITTLE COMMIES could get out and look like idiots in their own backyards and not have to go to WI and get cold. Everybody in the country knows that except (apparently) you.
Report Post »Beachluver
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:44pmHang tough Gov. Walker!!!! I’m getting nervous that some of our “VOTES” are going wobbly!!!! Get those teachers laid-off and tensions are rising…get the GUARD there ASAP. God Bless America!!!
Report Post »Godzillalips
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:44pmI have lost so much respect for so many pillars of insitutions this country once had. Teachers, now have joined the list; but if it reveals the real evil in this country i.e. the union bosses and the commies that are trying to destroy America then history will show Walker did the right thing. Hope this is just the begining to the real and only revolution that is needed in America. The Revolution of Liberty.
Report Post »blackday_oathkeeper
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:44pmThe New York Times CBS Poll that says public opinion favors unions ????????
Oh Sure that’s a totally honest, unbiased poll with no slanted or twisted questions designed to get the desired response.
Why would any thinking person believe the results of a poll by NYT/CBS who has an obvious agenda. PLEASE…..don’t insult our intelligence.
Report Post »Rothdeman
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:43pmThe kind of backbone needed if Wisconsin and the US at large is to save herself from utter ruin.
Report Post »Doing what needs to be done. Doing the right thing does not make doing it easy. Yet, it will yield tremendous benefits.
spikebu
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:36pmI heard half of the households polled had a Union employee. That doesn’t fit with statistics.
Report Post »mountainb
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:41pmHey Spike, Dont let the facts and accepted polling methods ruin a good story by the msm……
Report Post »mountainb
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:42pmoops I didn’t mean “accepted” I meant appropriate….. sorry!!
Report Post »mlee3980
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:34pmobvious question is what is government giving up to help the problem nothing that is what.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:37pmtax burden
Report Post »spikebu
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:44pmHigh Five, Stoic One!
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:00amThank You
Report Post »thefisherman
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:34pmI voted for Walker. Today, tt feels really good to say that.
Report Post »mountainb
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:38pmGOD bless you for your wisdom and foresight Fisherman
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:39amgood for you fisherman stand strong in your belief
Report Post »glenng2
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 1:58amWell that goes to prove that some in WI actually received an education!
Report Post »fortyfivenorth
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:33pmIf the people who have been at the WI capital the past couple weeks are really teachers then the state has wasted a heckuva lot of money already.
Report Post »niterider
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:28pmYou word the poll question correctly and 67% of the respondents agree that Satan is another name for God. Statistics lie and statisticians are liars.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:28pmAH YEP, my wife and i had to take a hard look at our finances…after tweaking everything i could; reduced monthlies a coupla hundred….. gave the wife a choice internet or TV service.. both fifty a month….
well we have had digital airwave tv since it’s inception. recently reworked our auto and home insurance fifteen hundred a year down to just under eight…switched trash service..33% reduction (120/yr)
that great USA article about union pay?
Hey UNION people GROW UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
^%*()(*)&*$$()_)_(+_^%^!!!!&&*(^)*(*(
grow a pair based on testosterone or estrogen. Do like us private citizens and cuts your costs….or loose everything
YOUR CHOICE
Report Post »mountainb
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:23pmMr Walker is doing what he was elected to do and needs to stand true with his beliefs and original plan. If he backs down to these union cowards, his political career will be done. I laugh at these idiots in the WI statehouse beating thier drums, women, and whatever else they beat in public or private. If I could give one bit of advice to these union morons, cops, firegirls, and supposed teachers, stay in the big city’s where the males will not react to your beating of the kids and women. Stay away from middle America where the response to such cowardly acts will be stopped and met with a much different type of love and understanding….LOL.. Unions=cowardly woman beaters… SAD what the once great unions have become.
Report Post »mharry860
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:10pmI remember seeing polls supporting Walker in the high 60‘s and 70’s two weeks ago. Where did these new polls come from? Apparently it takes two weeks to manufacture a poll supporting your ideology.
Report Post »cnsrvtvj
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:15pmYou answered your own question Mharry860. It’s just like these polls that all of a sudden say most Americans now support Obamacare. Governor Walker is just doing what he was elected to do. Of course the unions aren’t going to like it. How many of us can spend money we don’t have. The issue is really quite simple.
http://www.donsmithshow.com – conservative news and political humor
Report Post »Arminianism
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:17pmWalker just cut 1/4th of what the federal government has agree to and I guarantee you that the dems will be kicking and screaming about the 4 billion. Lets keep it going people, this is barely a start!
Stoic one
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:30pmthat is the difference between
do you want the unions to take a cut?
AND
do we need the unions to take a cut?
Report Post »fortyfivenorth
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:31pmThe libs don’t have to wag the dog. They own the dog.
Report Post »hifi74
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:39pmGov. Walker, stand strong and tall. Stick to your ideals on this. You have support not just here in Wisconsin but across the nation. You know what’s right and what needs to be done because you have been doing it, so stick to it and don’t given in.
Signed,
Armed and Angry in Wisconsin
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 11:59pmI wish the best for Gov Walker, and the tough stance he is taking and sticking with in the face of so much pressure and calls for violence by the opposition. The unions and the democrats are just being used by the progressives and the administration of Obama for the greater expansion of their own agenda to change and transform the nation; keeping strong and sticking to what needs to be done in the long run will set the example and course to change the direction this ship of state is currently on, and hopefully we will not be too late.
Keep strong and of a good courage Walker; stick to the truth, and what is right, the future is bright and good we all are fighting for.
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 12:31amIt what happens when Union households are included in the survey
Report Post »avenger
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 5:57amaha…the useful fools are cooking the polls again…
Report Post »Jackers
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 6:11amGovernor Walker must stand strong…
Why should taxpayers be forced to pay higher taxes, as in Illinois, so that union members can enjoy lavish benefits the rest of us are denied? Why should the Republican government of Wisconsin be forced to collect these union “dues” so that union bosses can use these “dues” to pay for Democratic politicians? Why should union bosses be able to cut sweetheart deals at taxpayers’ expense with their political poodles on Capitol Hill and behind closed doors without a representative for the rest of us taxpayers at the table?
It’s time to break up this Public Union/Democratic Monopoly to level the playing field!
Report Post »Uncle Crusty
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 8:45amGov Walker, now you have a set of BIG ones, sir! I for one, applaud your actions, you are sane. I’m 100% behind what you are doing in WI, keep up the good work and the fight!
Report Post »Boss J
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 9:35amEveryone (libs and reporters) keeps throwing a hissy fit every time someone want’s to cut funding to education. Well correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t we have the highest $:student ratio in the world? And we still rank wicked low?!
Report Post »Seems to me that throwing MORE money at the problem isn’t fixing it. Maybe drastically cutting funding and forcing schools and teachers back to focusing on reading, writing and arithmetic is what is really needed here.
110john
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 10:09amYes apparently those polls were skewed and something like 40% of those that responded had union family members. Don’t let the polls fool you. The majority of the American public is fully behind Walker and the rest of the governors and legislators who are willing to take a stand against big government. Election have consequences. Conservatives and tea parties didn’t gain majorities nationwide for no reason! Keep up the good work and don’t believe the hype.
Report Post »omni
Posted on March 3, 2011 at 8:56amThis story quotes the latest liberal lie verbatim and with with no explanation:
Report Post »“Polls indicate national public opinion favors unions in the dispute, but Walker has been resolute”. The article should have qualified the result by showing graphically that the poll was conducted within a preponderantly liberal group. Why would Fox parrot an obviously skewed survey? They are now part part of the big lie.