June 26, 2009                                                                                                                                  

 

Statement on State Budget Passage 

“Despite the fact that we started this process facing the largest deficit the state’s history, the Wisconsin legislature has a responsible, balanced budget and for the first time in 30 years it was done on time.  By moving quickly and working together, Democrats in the Assembly, the Senate and the Governor’s office avoided the kind of budget disaster that many other states are facing. 

While you will hear our political opponents say a lot of things over the next few weeks, the fact is we balanced this budget without increasing income, property or sales tax on working families.  We did it through the most significant state spending cuts in Wisconsin history, closing corporate tax loopholes and by leveraging federal stimulus funding.

This was a tough budget to be sure, but in reality it’s only a reflection of the difficult economic times everyone is facing.  I’m confident that the tough choices we made in this process will help turn our state’s economy around.”