Republicans to scrap Evers’ priorities, start writing budget (UPDATE) By: Associated Press May 6, 2021
8:45 am
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) Hundreds of Gov. Tony Evers’ priorities, including legalizing marijuana and raising $1 billion in taxes, were going to be killed on Thursday by the Legislature’s Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee as it begins the process of writing the next state budget.
Republicans are essentially scrapping the Democratic governor’s entire two-year spending proposal and instead building off the current budget, which the GOP-controlled Legislature passed two years ago without a single Democratic vote and Evers signed into law.
The Joint Finance Committee will vote to remove nearly 400 of Evers’ proposals. On the issues that remain, Republicans will build the budget using not what Evers wanted but instead on what is in current law.
MacIver Staff
From April 29 – May 5, the state reported 4,384 new COVID-19 cases, compared to 4,290 the week prior, a 2% increase. New COVID-19 cases have dropped 90% since the peak in mid-November.
There were 418 new people hospitalized with COVID-19 this week, the same as last week. New hospitalizations have dropped 74% since the peak back in mid-November.
The total COVID-19 inpatient population dropped from 351 to 331. The COVID-19 inpatient population has dropped 85% from the peak in mid-November.
ICU patients dropped from 112 to 99. The number of ICU patients has dropped 78% since the peak in mid-November.
In the past week, the state reported 56 new deaths, compared to 86 the week prior. The number of weekly deaths has dropped 87% since it peaked at 423 during the week ending on December 22nd.
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MADISON - The state Legislature s powerful budget-writing committee began its work Thursday on the next two-year spending plan by removing hundreds of proposals from Gov. Tony Evers.
The vote by Republican lawmakers to remove nearly 400 measures proposed by the Democratic governor eliminates more than $3 billion in revenue sources proposed in his plan. The Republican-controlled committee will instead work from the state s current budget, which was largely written by GOP lawmakers in 2019 and modified by Evers through vetoes.
The committee will spend the next several weeks balancing the state s two-year spending plan, which leaders say they will do without raising taxes.