The legislature’s budget panel began work on Governor Scott Walker’s budget Tuesday, and Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Representative Robin Vos and Senator Alberta Darling, held a media availability prior to the session’s start. Vos pledged not to raise taxes and to reduce spending while focusing on core services – but added the state might not be able to afford everything that’s been done in the past. Vos said that “over the course of the next month it will become clear that while Governor Walker’s budget is a good framework, it’s not perfect. We have some changes that are going to be made to the budget, that we’ll roll out over time, that we think takes a good document and makes it even better.”
Darling said state residents are looking for certainty. “We think this is exactly what our state needs, to have certainty to grow jobs and the economy. So you’re going to see us stick together on that theme, and it’s a great contrast to the last budget that increased spending by over four billion dollars,” said Darling. Vos and Darling, both of whom have served on the budget committee when their Republicans were in the minority, also said they’ll be willing to listen to the views of Democrats now that they’re in the minority.