“Today, Tony Evers and Wisconsin Republicans have emerged from behind a curtain with a proposal to spend the state’s projected surplus before it actually materializes and almost guarantee Wisconsin is facing a fiscal deficit in January 2027.
“I’ve been very clear: as governor, I will invest every dime of the so-called surplus in our kids, from whom it has been stolen by 15 years of GOP budgets. That ‘surplus’ belongs to our children, to be invested in their future – in restoring the massive cuts to public education, public higher ed, and to invest in early childhood, so that every child has what they need to thrive.
“Robin Vos has controlled Wisconsin like a puppeteer for a generation. In his final ‘screw you’ to working families, he’s trying to set the state’s projected surplus on fire – all in a desperate and irresponsible gambit to rescue Howard Marklein and other vulnerable GOP legislators from their coming defeat in November.
“For decades, whenever Democrats win power, we have to fix the fiscal messes and economic calamities Republican politicians created – remember 1992, 2008, and 2020? Hell, go back to the Great Depression.
“GOP policies of tax cuts for the richest while underfunding schools and public services leads to recession, massive deficits, and growing economic inequality. The right-wing myth of trickle down hurts working families year after year. Why do Republican politicians continue to do it? Because their billionaire donors benefit mightily – they always come out of a recession even wealthier than before, with the rest of us more vulnerable to exploitation and economic insecurity.
“This latest deal is the height of fiscal irresponsibility. It spends a projected ‘surplus’ before it’s in the bank, even though that projection was estimated before Trump’s attack on Iran that disrupted our economy and caused gas prices to skyrocket. It gives a little one time money to public schools while permanently cementing unfairness in our tax structure. Worst of all, it blows nearly a billion dollars on an election year gimmick to send out rebates, squandering the ability of a new Democratic majority to make the long-overdue investments in our kids that they deserve.
“Vos knows it’s a win-win for him – maybe this election year bribe can save a few Republican seats from flipping, and if not, he creates a budgetary crisis that Democrats will have to fix next year. The surplus – if there will even be one – rightly belongs to our kids, not Vos and the departing leaders who want to destroy it on their way out the door.”
