Hey there, Wisconsin! Governor Tony Evers here.
I made a promise to always work to do the right thing for Wisconsin, and I believe working together to find common ground so we can pass a bipartisan budget that reflects the will of the people of this state is part of keeping that promise.
That’s why last week, after months of negotiations with Republican legislative leaders, I was proud to sign a bipartisan state budget into law.
Our bipartisan budget invests in our K-12 schools, providing the largest increase to the special education reimbursement rate in state history and the largest increase to the UW System in nearly two decades.
We’re also investing over $360 million to support Wisconsin’s child care industry, a third of which is direct payments to providers.
And we’re providing tax cuts for working and middle-class families. This includes lowering out-of-pocket energy and utility costs by eliminating the sales tax on household energy bills.
And while federal leaders are gutting basic needs programs like food assistance and healthcare, our bipartisan budget supports healthcare across the state and invests $10 million for food security efforts.
We’re also continuing our work to fix the darn roads, support our farmers and producers, and invest in local communities statewide.
Simply put: this is a bipartisan budget that is a win for Wisconsin kids, families, and communities.
At the same time, this budget is also a reflection of bipartisan compromise—that means everyone gets something they want, and no one gets everything they want.
While this budget looks drastically different than the budget I proposed, I believe most Wisconsinites would say that compromise is a good thing because that is how government is supposed to work.
Wisconsin is a purple state. At the end of the day, it is my job as governor to get things done, and it’s my job to be a governor for the whole state.
While there is much work ahead, during these divisive times, we proved that, here in Wisconsin, we still believe in being able to work together and get things done.
Thank you.
