Governor Evers Delivers State of the State Speech
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 -- 11:20 AM
(AP) -Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is calling for bipartisan solutions in his first State of the State speech.But that appears unlikely to happen given Republican opposition to many of his proposals. Evers on Tuesday called on the Republican controlled Legislature to scale back a corporate tax credit program to pay for middle class income tax cuts. He also calls for "sacrifice" to find a bipartisan solution for road funding and work together to bolster spending for schools to help close the achievement gap. He's also calling for expanding Medicaid, reducing the number of lead water service lines and working to improve the economy. He says the magnitude of the challenges facing the state "requires us to put people first." Republicans say they are disappointed with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' priorities as outlined in his first State of the State speech. Evers touted his plans for cutting income taxes for the middle class, raising spending on K-12 schools and expanding Medicaid.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he was disappointed with the speech, saying "he spent a lot of money and I don't even know where the revenue's coming from for some of these proposals." Fitzgerald says Evers should "give up" on his call to expand Medicaid. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says "it sure seemed to be an awful lot of partisan rhetoric" but he thinks there are areas where the GOP can work with Evers. Vos says he won't scale back a corporate tax credit program as Evers wants to pay for a middle class tax cut.
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