Assembly passes its plan for budget shortfall
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - It looks like flashback time at the state Legislature.
Republicans who control the Assembly passed a bill late last night for solving a $527 million budget shortfall, but it's almost certainly dead in the Democratic-controlled Senate that's winding up its session today.
The shortfall is blamed on sagging tax collections, rising expenses and shrinking revenue.
Democratic Governor Jim Doyle had announced his plan Monday to fix the budget mainly with a hospital tax that would be reimbursed with federal money, and a transfer from the state transportation fund.
The Republican plan dumps those ideas and would rely on cutting government spending and tapping the state's reserves, which would drop by $100 million, to leave just $22 million in reserve.
If the differences sound familiar, they are.
Just last year, a deadlock between Republicans and Democrats over the current two-year budget went on for nearly four months past its July 1st effective date before it was finally passed and signed by Doyle.
Mar 13, 2008 at 1:49 p.m.
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