A Republican lawmaker is repeating the preference of a majority of GOP state Senators, who want a financing plan for a new Bucks arena out of the state budget. Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) said Monday that it’s the kind of pork barrel spending that doesn’t belong in the state’s two year spending plan.
“At the moment there’s no indication that it will be pulled out of the budget,” Nass said, adding that a number of legislators in the Assembly and Senate would prefer that the package to fund a new arena for the Milwaukee NBA team be considered as stand-alone legislation.
Nass noted that the latest version of the Bucks financing deal has not even been submitted to the legislative fiscal bureau for a “number crunching” review.
“All the more reason to get it out,” of the budget, he said. “And if we legislators have to come back in July or August or September to vote on a Bucks arena, that’s fine. That $500 million project is something that should be considered very specifically, separate from the budget.”
Nass also said that “rank-and-file” legislators have been sidelined during the budget stalemate.
“The important thing for the public to know is that we need to take our time, get the Bucks stadium out of it,” he said. “There is no crisis that’s going to begin at June 30th at midnight. We can still function as a state, pay our bills and move forward even if the budget is not done on July 1st.