Budget repair legislation has passed the state Senate. Democrats caucused all day, and the vote to plug the state's $527 million dollar budget hole went off without debate. Afterwards, Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald condemned the deal. “The problem is, that there's no veto assurances at all.” Governor Jim Doyle, predicted Fitzgerald, will use his veto to take a bigger bite out of the state's highway fund. “He's going back there again,” said Fitzgerald, adding that Senators had better mark their calendars for a veto override. Majority Leader Russ Decker said he didn't need “a lecture” from Fitzgerald: “the Senate Minority Leader was the chair of finance in the '03-'04 budget, when the Republicans had the majority in both houses, and they took $400 million from transportation and borrowed to backfill it.”
The budget repair bill now heads to the state Assembly, while the Senate is scheduled to take up the Great Lakes compact.
