State Budget Stalemate Continues

Republican lawmakers continue to disagree on a new state budget, but a couple major developments took place Thursday. Assembly G-O-P leaders endorsed Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to drop a 203-million dollar income tax cut and use the money instead on highway projects — and to borrow for new road work only if the state gets extra federal highway funds. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says his members have not agreed to the idea, but Walker says it’s a “reasonable compromise to get a budget passed,” and he hoped the Senate G-O-P would come around soon. Meanwhile, lawmakers are looking to add incentives to Foxconn, as it considers a new high-tech plant in the state. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Walker administration is working on a “memorandum of understanding” with Foxconn, amid reports that the firm wants hundreds of millions of dollars to locate a plant with thousands of jobs.