Contact: Rep. Brandtjen
(608)267-2367

“Wisconsin is heading in the right direction. Governor Walker’s reforms are working, the economy is on the rebound, and the unemployment rate is as low as it has been in a long time. However, a solid track record over the past decade doesn’t excuse a budget that spends too much money, ignores additional reforms, and does not provide sufficient remedies for the lack of oversight that has plagued billion dollar departments like the DOT and DPI.”

“Some of the outrageous spending includes millions of dollars to provide laptops for children that already have them, buying more and more land under the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program, funding the left-wing Wisconsin Public Radio propaganda machine, and providing millions of dollars for the Circus World Museum. We continue to over-fund the $6 billion biannual budget of the UW System that has not, to my knowledge, adopted one cost-saving measure in the last 50 years.”

“The budget provides an extremely generous yet unsustainable increase to K-12 education to the tune of $639 million. I certainly could support a reasonable per student increase to cover inflation, although K-12 education was not underfunded by over half a billion dollars.”

“That is why I voted against the budget. My constituents did not send me to Madison to vote for more government, they sent me here to implement reforms, cut taxes, and spend less money. This budget just does not do that.”

“There is still time to put together a better deal for the people of Wisconsin. I would fully support the addition of the federal swap provision that is being considered in the Senate. The provision would allow Wisconsin to circumvent expensive and unneeded mandates for many road projects, saving millions of dollars. The provision should certainly be part of any long term solution. At a time when we are putting the East-West expansion of Interstate 94 on hold due to lack of finances, the federal swap provision would go a long way to make this budget better.

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