Senate Republicans will need Dem help to pass the $1.8 billion tax cut and education spending package with at least two caucus members publicly opposed to the package.

Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, criticized the deal right away, and Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, expressed his opposition in a post on X late yesterday.

With an 18-15 GOP majority, Senate Republicans could only afford to lose one member and still pass the package without Dem support.

Kapenga called it a “very bad deal for the people I work for,” adding the one-time surplus should be returned “as a one-time refund to the Wisconsin taxpayers who were overcharged.”

The rebates of $600 for married couples and $300 for individual filers account for $870 million of the $1.8 billion package.

“But leave it to government to give you only a small portion back, and then spend the difference—not once, but every year into the future—assuming we’re too dumb to notice the bait and switch that will end up costing my constituents billions over the course of a decade,” Kapenga wrote. “There is no winner in this deal.”

Meanwhile, state Sen. Rob Stafsholt, R-New Richmond, told WisPolitics yesterday he’s undecided on the bill if it makes it to the floor even though he supported the package in yesterday’s Joint Finance Committee vote.

Stafsholt said an aide to GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany called him ahead of yesterday’s hearing to raise concerns about the $1.8 billion package but stopped short of urging him to vote against it.

Stafsholt said he believed his responsibility on Finance was to advance the bill. But he was unhappy that the proposed rebate of $600 per married couple and $300 for individual filers was less than what he wanted.

The Assembly is scheduled to be in at 10 a.m. to take up the bill. The office of Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, didn’t provide details of the plans for a floor debate in that chamber.

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer said she opposes the bipartisan deal, arguing it could put Wisconsin in a “very difficult financial position in future years.”

Neubauer, D-Racine, in a statement on X said the Trump administration “is already causing chaos that is causing prices to go up, and we don’t know what he’ll do next.”

Her opposition comes after fellow Dem legislative leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, knocked the proposal, saying it came from “three men who will not be in elected office next year” and “From my perspective, there is no deal.” 

Tiffany opposed, Dem guv field has mixed reaction

Tiffany yesterday dismissed the deal, posting on X that Wisconsinites “deserve more than a drop.”

Tiffany, a congressman from Minocqua poised to secure the GOP nomination for governor, wrote in the post that the “backroom ‘relief deal’ does nothing to repeal Governor Evers’ 400-year property tax increase. It does nothing to stop Madison’s addiction to taxing and spending. And after Governor Evers’ PSC approved billions in utility rate hikes, a one-time $300 check barely scratches the surface.”

Tiffany added, “Governor Evers is acting like the arsonist who wants praise for spraying a drop of water on the fire he started.”

Separately, Tiffany said in an interview on WISN-AM that he wouldn’t vote for the deal, though he understands why some Republicans would.

Meanwhile, the proposal continued to get a split reaction in the Dem gubernatorial field.

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez called the proposal “a compromise that’s far from perfect.” She added in a post on X that she supports more money for public schools and special education, as well as providing property tax relief.

“The real problem is that the Trump-Tiffany economy has placed such an enormous burden on Wisconsin families, and they need more support,” Rodriguez said. “We still have a lot of work to do to lower the cost of living by expanding access to affordable healthcare, childcare and housing.”

Likewise, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes praised the deal for the education funding while knocking Republican lawmakers, writing at “every opportunity we have had to provide relief, they squash it.” 

“Governor Evers has sought compromise at every turn—and this deal delivers meaningful dollars for our schools and special ed programs—but this agreement does not fix the broken system that’s failing Wisconsin,” Barnes posted on X. “To get the deal Wisconsinites deserve, we need to win a Democratic trifecta in November.”

Following a news conference in the Capitol, state Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, said she opposes the legislation.

“I’m thrilled to see the special education reimbursements,” said Hong, who also posted on X yesterday that she’ll vote against the bill. “Disappointed that that is not sum-sufficient, and that we missed an opportunity to do more for Wisconsinites while also ensuring that with the impending … big beautiful and ugly bill, that we won’t be in as strong of a position to help more people who may be struggling even more at the end of this year.”

In a post on X late Monday, former WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes became the first gubernatorial candidate to support the deal.  

“Today’s deal offers immediate help on school funding and tax relief, and is a strong reminder that our next governor must have the expertise and track record to grow our economy for all Wisconsinites over the long haul,” she wrote.

Former DOA Secretary Joel Brennan, Milwaukee County Exec David Crowley and state Sen. Kelda Roys all expressed some level of opposition to the plan on Monday.