Experts, Dems say new voting maps laid groundwork for Wisconsin budget compromise
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been touting their wins in a bipartisan budget signed into law Thursday. Some political analysts, and many Democrats, say the budget deal might not have come about without Wisconsin’s court-ordered redistricting last year.
The two-year budget includes more than $1 billion in tax cuts, paired with new spending on K-12 education, state universities and child care. To get there, lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers pulled more than $3 billion from Wisconsin’s state surplus, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
In both the Assembly and the Senate, the bill had bipartisan support — as well as bipartisan opposition. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Wisconsin Legislature have said there are things they like in the $111 billion spending, and things they stomached to get it across the finish line.
In remarks at the bill’s signing, Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said the ability to compromise was “a strength, not a weakness.”
https://www.wpr.org/news/new-voting-maps-laid-groundwork-wisconsin-budget-compromise