Governor Scott Walker has introduced legislation to achieve a balanced the budget by the end of the fiscal year, and legislative Democrats appear okay with it. “As far as I can tell, it appears like he’s really just making a straightforward effort put forward fiscal policies that actually address the budget shortfall that we have,” said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca. “This is what we should have had all along, in my judgement.”

“Democrats were, from the beginning, willing to work with Governor Walker and the Republicans to address fiscal issues to ensure we had a balanced budget,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller in a statement. “I’m glad we’ve finally reached this point. But, I remain extremely disappointed that, instead of starting out with a bill to fix fiscal issues, the Governor and legislative Republicans used a fiscal repair bill as an excuse to advance a radical overreach that divided our state, stripped workers of their rights and endangered programs that provide health insurance for children and prescription drugs for seniors.” [Read more...]