Walker vetoes don’t fix budget

You may have heard last weekend Governor Walker signed the Republican biennial budget bill.

What you may not have heard is that he signed the bill at a private location and refused to take questions from the media. Not surprising, though, because he knows his budget is unjustifiable to the average Wisconsinite. Under Walker’s budget, the middle class will have to work harder for less and the unemployed will have a “cooling off period” before they can collect an unemployment check while the rich just keep on getting richer. Those are not Wisconsin values.

Before signing the budget, Governor Walker made 50 vetoes. So rather than fixing the budget, what did Walker veto? Some of the highlights include:

• * The Sheboygan aerospace landing pad
• * Politician’s statements of economic interest will continue to be available on the internet
• * Daycare providers will not be fingerprinted
• * Board of Regents will remove certain aspects of the UW-Madison employment plans
• * Deleted a grain inspection report
• * Drug Offender Diversion Surcharge Fund report vetoed
• * Suspended Milwaukee police officers will not be paid
• * Dog the Bounty Hunter will not be able to practice his craft in Wisconsin
• * Chewing tobacco will not be taxed based on weight
• * The Pres House will remain tax exempt 

He had his chance to make this budget right. Instead, Governor Walker ensured the Republican budget is still full of gimmicks, mistruths and talking points that put Walker’s budget far from the document that puts Wisconsin on the path to long term fiscal stability, as they claim. The Republican budget puts more spending on Wisconsin’s credit card, gives billions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations over the next decade and balances their budget with one-time fund raids and transfers, all while cutting programs that help the middle class.

If you’d like to read my statement on Walker’s vetoes, you can find it here. If you are just as much of a budget nerd as I am and you’d like to see all 50 vetoes, click here. You’ll see as I do, Governor Walker is out of touch with the struggles of poor and middle class Wisconsinites.