Republicans in both chambers of Wisconsin’s legislature passed a bill Tuesday that would give the GOP-controlled state budget committee more control of federal COVID-19 relief funds. Gov. Evers has already promised to veto the bill, with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos threatening legal action if the bill doesn’t receive support.
“We will have no choice but to go to court,” Vos said during a 2.5 hour debate over the bill on the Assembly floor. The Assembly does not have the two-thirds GOP majority needed to override a governor’s veto.
Current Wisconsin law gives the governor control over receiving and allotting federal funding. The bill, introduced by GOP legislative leaders including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate leader Devin LeMahieu, would require Gov. Tony Evers to send a plan for expenditures to the Joint Finance committee for a 14-day passive review, effectively giving Republicans veto control.
The bill would only apply to pandemic relief dollars related to Covid-19, and has an end date of June 30, 2022. Gov. Evers has four years to spend the latest round of federal funding under the Biden administration’s legislation.
“The public health management of the pandemic belongs in the executive branch,” Hintz told reporters in a press call earlier on Tuesday. “They have the professionals and the agencies there; they don’t have politicians informing the decisions that are ultimately being made in the administration of those federal dollars. So to us it’s not really a political question.”
Republicans argue that legislative oversight over the spending of the funds should be part of lawmakers’ jobs, not just the job of the governor.
“The Democrats want to have a piggy bank where they can choose to give the money with no oversight, no transparency, no ability to judge whether or not it’s the best decision until after the money’s out the door,” Vos said in a press conference Tuesday.
The state of Wisconsin as well as its counties and municipalities would get about $5.7 billion total in federal aid under the American Rescue Plan. About $3.2 billion would go to Wisconsin’s state government out of the $350 billion set aside for states, and another $2.5 billion to smaller local governments according to estimates provided by Senate Democrat leadership. Dane County is set to get about $106 million, and the city of Madison $49.2 million under the current version of the bill. The estimates provided represent more than double the $2 billion received last year in federal coronavirus aid.
Last week, Gov. Evers said in a press conference that he planned to prioritize the new funding for small businesses, child care, tourism, and public health.
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