BREAKING NEWS: State Budget Passes In JFC (Hour 1)

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From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Tom Alba, along with our outstanding producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommers, on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Tuesday.

July the 1st, 2025.

It is a great day to be in Wisconsinite.

Welcome in everybody.

Glad to have you here at the World Headquarters, downtown Madison.

Puffy clouds in the sky.

A beautiful day across most of the state.

Glad to be back here in Madison along with Zomers after being at our great station up in Green Bay yesterday, WGBW.

Again, many thanks to Pat Critello and Trigby Olson for filling in in hour one.

It was an eventful day yesterday, Zomers, but nothing compared to what we have coming up today.

Lots of lots of news to bring to you at the bottom of the hour Our very own political editor founder of the recombobulation area.

Mr. Dan Schaefer will be along live to break down the breaking news a block away at the state Capitol early this morning white smoke Emerged from the Capitol dome.

Well, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but there is a budget deal

At least in principle, Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat announced that he had come to terms with the Republican leadership in the legislature.

Apparently there may, keyword may be some Democratic votes on the Senate side to get this across the finish line.

At this hour, we can report to you that Democrats, the Democratic caucus in the Senate is in caucus, a bit of a consternation there.

Perhaps we'll discuss it all with Dan Schaeffer at the bottom of the hour and coming out of Washington, D.C.

A little over an hour ago, the United States Senate nearly passed President Trump's massive tax and spending bill.

We'll give you the details on that, tell you why it took Vice President Vance to break a tie in the Senate to get that across the finish line.

And if that were not enough for a Tuesday on the 1st of July,

breaking news out of Milwaukee at Five Serve Forum regarding the Milwaukee Bucks.

Nobody covers it better.

Nobody knows the inside better than our very own sports reporter, Mike Clemens, who was kind enough to join us live on the phone.

Mike, thanks for being here.

What's new at Five Serve?

Crazy busy news day all around.

Yeah,

absolutely.

It started last Thursday night during the draft and the Bucks had told us earlier in the week, because we're saying

hey you know uh... what's your plan you can get what because usually they let us in they service a dinner and then we watch the draft as it happens and then after they make their picks they come on downstairs we talk to the gm maybe we talk to the player on the speaker phone maybe one of the owners or something like that dock rivers they say you know what uh... they they sort of telegraph to us they had no big deals coming up in the first round come thursday night for the second round will open the doors at six serve you guys and their

watch the draft, and then, you know, John Horst, the Bucks GM will come down and talk about what happened with that second round pick.

A half hour before they are supposed to open the doors, and I, you know, drive into Milwaukee, they put out a no, um, yeah, no event tonight.

Yeah.

I saw this on social media.

I follow on social media.

I'm like, who does this?

I mean,

all these reporters

come in.

I mean, there's got to be something going on.

So go ahead.

There

was something going on, right?

Because it's just like, oh, come on, John, just come on down, talk to us, because you know he's going to get the honest question, right?

because there's all this stuff about you know he's watching carefully what the box do so uh... we talk to milk newton about you know that the kid that they drafted uh... from syria uh... it bogey bogey markovic nineteen years old afford accurate shooter and then we get into the weekend now we're into the what they call the you know legal tampering period where you can make these agreements and then actual free agency starts a couple days when you can find the contracts

So, the first move that John Horst at GM makes is, okay, secure Bobby Portas.

$44 million, three years, 30-year-old.

And, you know, he had a rough year.

House gets broken into, right?

Then a 25-game suspension, because he took the wrong painkiller for his ankles, comes back.

But, you know, accurate shooter, you know, probably at the peak of his career.

So, that you signed Bobby.

The next thing that happens is, all right, well, Brooke Lopez.

I mean, one of the things that we saw happen with the Bucks this year is getting up and down the court and keeping up with teams like the Pacers and the Thunder who ended up in the finals.

So, Brooke Lopez, who's originally from Los Angeles, he signed a two-year deal worth $18 million last night or agrees to it to join the Clippers.

So, at 37 years old, Brooke Lopez finishes out his career on the West Coast.

Okay, that's fine.

Now, what are you going to do at center?

You got to get that Jericho Sims kid that you picked up in the offseason.

Bobby Porter's can play some center.

If it need be, Yanis could probably move to the center.

So today they make this huge move.

They get Miles Turner from the Pacers, your competitor in the Eastern Conference, on a four-year deal worth $107 million.

The Pacers right now, similar to the Bucks, they're scratching their heads because Tyler Halliburton, the kid out of Oshkosh North High School, their star player,

what happened to him he went down with the torn Achilles in the NBA finals so they're trying to figure out what to do there somehow horse gets their center for four years a hundred seven million dollars where's that money gonna come from we're gonna wave Damian Lillard we're saying goodbye to Damian Lillard after two years very accurate shooter great team leader but 35 years old later this month will be 36 when he comes back from the Achilles

Let's say a year from now, maybe he had the first, the calf injury, the blood clot, and then the torn Achilles.

So the early word is, Dame is okay with this.

You know, it's like, all right, the pressure's off.

He's getting, they're good.

The owners, West Edens and Jimmy.

from Cleveland is going to be they're going to be paying this guy twenty two and a half million dollars a year for the next five years in dead money.

Wow.

So my under the cap.

Mike Clemens, help me understand because I don't follow this stuff, especially the NBA like you do by waving him with the NBA like that.

Is there any opportunity that he could still theoretically come back to the books at some point in the future?

Yeah, but you know all the way all this is set up.

It's like no, you know, we're moving on Okay, and and and in the immediate in the immediate right now That means the game can also move back to Portland You know where his family is just focus on his rehab and then maybe decide if he wants to you know Get back into being playing right or get behind the anchor desk and analyze it.

I thought about that today I thought about that if they could bring him back But again, he'll be 36 years old and one of the bucks need they need younger guys

iran yes so they're new center smiles turner is twenty nine years old right and so that so they get that you know they still got to get a little bit under the cap they had just signed pat connington you know uh... uh... bucks fan favorite to a three-year deal with like nine million he agreed to that about a month or so ago well now they need another million or so so they trade him off today after they get the turner deal down out to the charlotte hornets struggling team

They also had to give up two more picks.

I mean, I don't think I'm going to have a draft to cover for the next five years with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Like the twenty three and twenty thirty one second round picks to the Hornets.

Always so that they could get the Connington off their books in exchange.

They're picking up a thirty one year old guard from Serbia named the CIA, Mičić, who God bless it.

Oh, thank you.

It's an allergy season.

Right.

It's 31.

Now his agent says, you know, he was already sort of thinking about going back and playing in the European league.

So we'll see what that is.

But basically you're swapping paychecks, right?

Right.

With the Hornets.

And the Hornets are holding up for it.

You got any draft picks left over there?

Yeah, we'll take those two second rounders five years from now.

So that's it.

Now, you're still kind of short at guard because yesterday you brought back some of these guys you picked up during the season.

Remember, you decided to move on from

Chris Middleton sent him to the Wizards.

So Gary Trent, Jr.

25 years old, was average at about 12, 13 points a game.

He agreed to a two-year deal yesterday worth only $7.5 million.

A lot of observers say, wow, that's a deal for the bucks.

But Gary Trent's like, hey, I'm 25.

I can play next to Yanis.

Dayman coming back this year.

Here's an open door.

I got a one-year to prove it, and then I could cash in.

They also get Kevin Porter, Jr.

for eleven million dollars he was going to test the market and they're going to bring back torian prince the thirty one-year-old ford so all those guys those three guys around the team is sure two-year deals where they will get uh... uh... uh... uh... player option in their second year

absolutely

incredible after all these moves they made and they brought in one more guard today gary harris thirty-year-old guy out of the orlando magic he's been in the in the league like eleven years to help round out the guard depth

Mike Clemens, I'll ask you what I'm sure you're dying to ask the Bucks management and ownership.

The big question of all of this, is this enough to keep Yannis in Milwaukee?

They're probably waiting for him to return the phone

call.

Wait, he retweeted our own Dan Schaefer today.

Did you see that?

No, that's great.

Schaefer put out on his tweets that they should retire Bobby Portas' number at FiveServe, and Yannis retweets it and says a million percent.

That's great.

At the end of the day, you've got to assume that all these moves.

What do you think if we get this guy?

What do you think if you've got Miles Turner as your new center?

And listen, we understand you can't stand to spend all next year watching Dame on the bench.

So we'll try and make some moves here.

They're not breaking it.

Right now, they don't have a shooter as accurate with all the experience and all the talent of Damien Lillard, but this is the best that they could come up with so far.

Yeah.

Mike Clemens, like I say, I really appreciate you doing this on short notice with this breaking news.

You follow this stuff better than anybody I know we're lucky to have you.

Thank you so much for taking the time.

And I know you'll continue to update our listeners at the bottom of the top of each hour with your great sports reporting.

Anytime Todd much appreciated.

I

appreciate you Mike Clemens everybody on the phone live without breaking news from the Bucks again free agent Miles Turner is joining the team and David Lillard is is a wave so that's among the some of the bigger moves also because Mike Clemens said comes after Brooke Lopez made the move from the team going to the LA Clippers so lots of moves all intended to keep you honest

in Milwaukee.

That is the breaking sports news out of Milwaukee this day, closer to home.

As we said at the top of the show, white smoke, so to speak, from the state Capitol, as Governor Tony Evers announced this morning via a press release, and others of Republicans have seemed to confirm this, that there is a deal in part, a deal in part, or at least in on paper, a gentle person's handshake, if you will, to have a state budget.

Governor Tony Evers, according to the Associated Press and Republicans who control the state legislature announced the deal early this morning, just after 5 a.m.

on a new two-year budget that cuts income taxes, increasing funding for the University of Wisconsin, despite those threatened cuts and raises taxes to pay for transportation projects.

The deal in the battleground state where Evers and Republicans have a long history of not working together,

emerged the day after the deadline for enacting a new budget.

However, there is no government shutdown in Wisconsin, where when the budget is late, the legislature is scheduled to pass it this week.

Evers, it has released this morning, called it a quote, pro-kid budget.

That's a win for Wisconsin's kids, families, and our futures, unquote.

We're gonna break this down just after the bottom of the hour with our very own Dan Schaefer of the aforementioned Dan Schaefer.

Great bucks fan that he is but also I would say an even better political journalist and writer and he's gonna be in to help us Recombobulate on all of that Tony watching on YouTube says the news today is completely discombobulated Dan Schaefer I don't I don't think that I mean if anybody can can keep his combobulation together It's our own Dan Schaefer.

So he'll be along the bottom of the hour.

Here's what's breaking now

State Senator Kelly Royce, Democrat of Madison, who has been kind enough to join us on this program every Monday through the budget process, was scheduled to be on this show right about now.

However, Senate Democrats have decided to caucus, and she has been pulled into that caucus.

She will join us if and when she can via phone.

But there appears to be, keyword appears, to be a bit of consternation amongst Democrats after their own governor announced

There's a deal done.

What's going on there?

We'll discuss that.

And also in DC, it took JD Vance getting up off the couch to cast the last vote.

We'll explain when we come back as the all balls show on

the Civic Media Ready Network.

Getting out of the couch?

Pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it welcome back the title ball show across the civic media already network 22 minutes now past the hour of 2 o'clock here at civic media talked about it right before the break this morning Governor Tony Evers Democrat announced there was an agreement in principle between he and the Republican Legislature on a new budget deal has been contentious of course yesterday was the final day of the old budget but

pretty close to the finish line in principle this deal

Democratic leader on the Senate, Diane Hesselbein, was reportedly involved in some of those negotiations.

And now joining us, and we appreciate her time, because we know this is time as precious as they say at the state capitol.

There was word that the Democratic Senate caucus had gone in, but Senator Kelle Royce, Democrat of Madison, 26th District, who has been so kind to share her time on this program through the budget process, joins us from the state capitol now via the phone.

Senator, thanks for stepping away and joining us for a brief moment.

Happy to be with you, Todd.

Always a pleasure.

So tell us, Senator, you were on yesterday.

I appreciate you being on with our friends, Pat Critello and Trivie Olson.

I know you were frustrated from your Republican colleagues on some of the things they were proposing.

And now, less than 24 hours later, there seems to be an agreement.

A, what can you tell us about it?

And perhaps you personally, are you on board with this or are you a

no?

I think the first thing to understand is that this is still an overwhelmingly Republican budget.

They have pursued an agenda like the Republicans in Washington of tax cuts above all else, and in particular in short changing our kids, which to me is the most important responsibility we have.

Make sure that our kids have a great start in life and that we have well-funded public schools for every child, no matter who you are or where you're from.

And this budget does not stop the disaster cycle that we are on.

of forcing communities into referendums that put neighbor against neighbor just so that our kids can keep the lights on at their schools.

We know that for 15 years our schools have failed to see an inflationary increase and under this budget deal that's been negotiated, two-thirds of school districts will actually see a decrease in the amount of money that they're getting under general school aids and that's because Republicans put zero dollars.

into general school aids, which is the biggest pot of money that goes to our public schools.

So in my view, it's good that we were able to minimize some of the harm with some Democratic involvement from Senator Hussabine and the governor, but overall this is still an overwhelmingly Republican budget that does not meet with Samsonite's needs.

So currently you're a no, is that correct on this budget deal?

Well, yeah, this is certainly not a budget deal that I think anyone should feel excited about just because of

the needs that it will leave unmet.

That's that I'm going to go to my caucus and we're going to have a discussion about, you know, what our strategy is going to be.

Certainly, everyone is going, you know, we want to make sure that this budget passes just because it is slightly better than having no budget.

But we're not, you know, we're not jumping to the rooftop.

or touting this as some kind of bipartisan miracle, because the truth is it's not.

It's not.

It's the absolute bare minimum that we can do to prevent harm, greater harm for Wisconsinites.

And it's us being the adults in the room after Republicans have continually acted in the most reckless, irresponsible, damaging ways of putting Wisconsinites at risk.

I'm not trying to be a jerk center.

I just want to make sure that I'm not, I want to make sure that I'm representing you because you've been so kind with coming to our show and your time.

So as I understand it, you're in theory at least saying that you don't like this deal, that you're going to have a hard time voting for it, but you're at least open-minded enough to go to your caucus before you announce a firm no.

Is that accurate?

That's right.

Yeah.

I want to give my caucus the respect that they deserve.

I think we're going to have a spirited discussion as we have over the course of the week.

You know, we had our democratic priorities and this budget does not meet them yet.

I think we all are responsible legislators.

We are the adults in the room and we recognize that it is important that this budget pass before.

We lose out on maybe a billion dollars in federal funding at the federal level.

The

clock is ticking here, but we're not happy about it.

I get that sense.

I want to be fair.

You give us a little bit of your time.

We have three minutes left.

We want to get to this.

As I understand it, from the AP report, what the governor has put out, if you look at, and this is very rough.

I know this is new, but you're on the Joint Finance Committee.

If I add up the numbers right, using part of the state surplus of four billion plus to get building projects at UW.

and a tax cut, I'll just call it that generically, that still leaves, according to my estimation, about $3 billion with a B left to that surplus.

Are you seeing that $3 billion, is that going into a rainy day fund, or is that just gonna stay and carry it over for the next legislature and next governor?

Yeah, we got a report on what the balance will be in the state's general fund after this, and it will be about $800 million.

There's also a structural deficit in this budget of $1.2 billion, which just means that the requests from agencies in the base budget exceed the anticipated revenues.

So there's only going to be about $829 million left in the general fund if this budget passes as is.

All right, that's news.

That's very helpful because I haven't heard that anywhere else.

I think that was a big question on my mind as to, you know, was that part of the agreement between the governor and the Republicans like, hey, let's just worry about the problems of the future in the future.

Um, the other part, I

will say

that

the governor could increase that by detailing some of the pork and the kind of.

special set aside projects that Republicans have put in to help their own members.

I'm

sure he's going to do that based on merit.

It's been reported quickly that the governor has agreed, at least in principle, a handshake agreement that he will not veto with his veto pen, that which he's already negotiated with Republicans in legislature.

Is that reporting accurate?

Yes, I believe items that are part of that deal will not be subject to the veto.

but anything that is not, um, is still fair game.

45 seconds left.

UW up in this deal.

There appears to be some sort of an audit or review from an independent commission.

Who gets to hire that commission?

Cause you know, Senator, who does the polling, who does the commission makes a big difference.

That's right.

And we're still waiting for some of the details on this.

Unfortunately.

UW really got shortchanged in this budget, getting less than 5% of what they asked for.

And even that little tiny bit is still going to be subject to all kinds of legislative shenanigans and interference.

State Senators Keldor-Royce, always appreciate your time.

Appreciate your frankness and your directness and taking the tough questions.

Have a great day.

Keep us informed.

Always welcome back to this program.

Thanks, Todd.

You too.

Appreciate it.

Keldor-Royce, everybody.

State Senator, back with Dan Schaefer after this.

That's right.

Democrats listening.

Capital.

They might not love the bill, but you gotta love the one you're with.

You're with Governor Tony Evers, breaking news of the state Capitol at this hour.

Welcome back everybody.

35 minutes now, past the hour of two o'clock on a Tuesday, July 1st, 2025.

I stand corrected, by the way, Zombers.

I said earlier when I owned Tony on YouTube, I said, all this breaking news has Dan Schaefer discombobulated.

I said, no, I don't think so, I think.

And he brought the receipts.

As a matter of fact, earlier today, Dan Schaefer said, quote,

I am discombobulated.

Joining us here to explain not other than our very own political editor, founder of the Recombobulation Area himself, Mr. Dan Schaefer, joining us from an updated, a spruced up, new for the summer look at his home office in beautiful, his beloved

city, Milwaukee.

Dan Schaefer, how are you?

I'm doing well, Todd.

I must say it has been a rather discombobulating day for me today as someone who lives at the intersection of politics and the Milwaukee Bucks.

My news feed has been a rather busy one today for a number of reasons, but my goodness.

On the top of the show, Talking Books is breaking news, and I mentioned it before.

It's worth mentioning it again, because I don't know anybody else who's been retweeted by Yanis Antitokopo.

Yanis retweeted your tweet today.

I know.

How about that?

Yeah, the legend himself, Yanis Adedicumbo.

I was tweeting yesterday about Brooke Lopez, one of my favorite all-time bucks who is signing with the Los Angeles Clippers after a terrific seven-year run in Milwaukee.

But I was saying that the bucks gotta retire.

Brooke Lopez is Jersey when it's all said and done for his contributions to the team in Milwaukee.

And Yanis agreed 1 million percent with the...

with the quote tweet there this morning.

So that's a fun one.

So go check that one out on my, I screenshotted it and threw it on my Instagram.

That's what you feel kind of good.

It's a buck's fan.

Yeah, it's a fun one.

Yeah, it's

absolutely fun.

For those of us who follow Politics Day and Shaver, it's fun one up the street right now from where I'm at in downtown Madison.

Lots of consternation over the last few weeks, whether the legislature, the governor were going to get the state budget across the finish line.

Technically yesterday was the final day.

And then word before the sun came up this morning from Governor Tony Evers that an agreement had been reached between himself and, uh, assembly, assembly and Senate Republicans, really.

You have reported that Diane Heselbaum, the Democratic leader, was pulled into this deal to make the numbers add up as well.

We just had State Senator Kelly Royce join us live from the Capitol, who, you know, I made sure that I got her position.

accurately.

She said herself she's basically a no on this budget but she was about to go into a closed Democratic caucus to listen to her colleagues and now Dan Schaefer moments ago said her voice didn't quite mention this one but we have new news from the joint finance committee.

Yeah, so the joint finance committee did take a vote on that budget deal that was announced this morning It was a 13 to 3 vote with state senator Democratic state senator Latanya Johnson joining the 12 Republicans on the committee in a yes vote So, you know assembly republic or assembly Democrat the two assembly Democrats on the committee voting no And the two Senate Democrats on the committee splitting one yes and one no, so I think that is you know kind of

you know, is a snapshot characterization of kind of where things are right now.

I'm seeing a number of assembly Democrats saying that they wish the governor would have gotten more in this deal.

And I'm also seeing, you know, kind of a range of things, reactions from Senate Democrats, a number of those who won tough races last year, Jody Habers-Sinneken, Chris Alfheim, Sarah Kieske.

expressing that support for the budget compromise announced this morning and some others you know saying that they wish evers have gotten more I think they're in particular is some frustration on the Democratic side over the level of public school funding that was reached in this compromise bill so we shall see if there are you know changes as this goes forward but I think

My big takeaway right now is that I think I do wonder how much of this agreement came together because of the fact that they Republicans recognized that they needed some Democratic votes in the state Senate in order to pass this bill.

Well, that's why we were talking to Dan Sheafer, our political editor at Civic Media and founder of the Recombobulation Area, that WWW, and you gotta use the three Ws, www.therecombobulationarea.news, right?

Don't do sorry.

We got it.

I was the dot news messes me up You can find all Dan's work there at at the recombination area, but to your point Dan And I think this is you know for people like the the parlance of political politics, I guess I find this just curious that There was this deal that was apparently done and some Democrats are salty about it I'll get into that a little bit later, but but to your point Dan I really think you know

I think that it was the people of Wisconsin who picked up the phone and called their elected officials and said whether it was the proposed $87 million cut to the UW system, whether that was child care.

I think that I think that there was some pressure put on that.

I give a Tony Evers credit for drawing a line in the sand saying that there is no child care money in this to replace what's being cut off in Washington.

I'll just veto the whole the whole Gal Darn thing.

I think that was smart negotiating.

And you know what?

I will to throw a speaker.

Robin Voss a bone to saying that you know that that they were willing to just have no budget they were fine with that or or I think that these two guys Voss and Evers understand political sausage making I know a lot of the general public is gonna not gonna get it but I think that they brought each other to the table to get this deal meanwhile Senate Republicans were just kind of sitting over in the corner chair if you know what I mean

I think you're right about that.

It does seem like, you know, Voss has a little bit larger of a majority to work with in the Assembly too.

So I think, you know, he was able to maybe lose a vote or two and still be able to pass a budget with just Republican votes.

That was not the case in the Senate.

And we've talked about this for weeks now that they would need Democratic votes to be able to pass this.

So I think the fact that we're getting that there is, you know, a pledge to have some funding for

care more than we've ever seen, some funding for the UW system instead of a cut, and increases in the special education reimbursement rate, which was a major priority for Democrats in this negotiation as well.

I do wonder how much Voss was going to be willing to budge on had this scenario not unfolded in the Senate where they needed some Democratic votes.

So it's going to be interesting to see not all Republican are going to be voting.

for the Republican budget in the Senate, not all Democrats are going to be opposed to it in the Senate.

So we haven't seen that dynamic in the state legislature in Wisconsin for quite some time.

And I think it is a testament to the Democrats doing well in a tough year for Democrats last year in the November election and winning many of these key swing districts because of the new fairer maps that we had in Wisconsin last fall.

And I'll get to this later, but just quickly to follow up on that point, because I agree with you.

These Democrats I think it's a small handful right now that are are say no no no no don't don't vote for this don't vote for this budget I just don't think they understand political pragmatism and the reality because I agree with you I because I you know I've been in a room with Robin boss in negotiating when my former boss Dale Schultz was negotiating on mining and I've seen it firsthand there with there is a point where Robin boss just simply say he's always very polite.

He was okay.

I think we're done here.

Thank you very much

And he gets somebody walks out of the room.

And so these Democrats think, oh, we should get more out of this.

I think Voss was prepared to say, OK, that's what you want.

No budget.

But I think at the same time, too, a number of these, especially the Senate Republicans who are in some of these close districts, there are three Senate Republicans who serve in districts that were won by Kamala Harris last fall.

And they are going to be on the ballot next year.

Howard Markline, Rob Hutton, and Van Wengard.

I think there was a real opportunity to really push things for Evers and for Senate Democrats because they recognized the big picture of needing those Democratic votes.

I guess the question is whether you think what was agreed upon was enough.

And I think there can be an honest debate over what is enough for this budget, for childcare, for K-12 education, for other priorities like healthcare that didn't get mentioned enough

in

this budget process.

Medicaid expansion, I think, should have been part of this agreement as well.

But this is the nature of compromise, right?

There's going to be certain things that you're happy with, certain things that you're not happy

with.

In my opinion, it all comes down to Star Trek Vulcan logic.

The needs of the many

outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

Yeah, politically, it would have been nicer to pin more stuff on Mark Line and Van Wongard going into the election.

But are you going to do that at the expense of families with small kids all across the state and say, yeah, just because we wanted more political points, we're going to screw over all the kids, all the parents and small kids, and obliterate childcare in this state?

Yeah, there's got to be trade-offs.

There's got to be that, you know, I think that the Republicans were completely refusing to fund a childcare at any level.

for any budget up until now, and use any general purpose revenue to go towards childcare.

That is a first in this budget agreement if it does eventually pass.

Talking to Dan Schaefer, the Reconpopulation Area, and also our political editor at Civic Media, I thought this was newsy.

Senator Royce in the last segment, Dan Schaefer, I said that numbers that she's seen, I'm assuming from the fiscal bureau,

Basically, the state will be left about 800 and some odd million dollars left in the general fund if this budget would pass.

you know, I guess you could round it off to a billion dollars more or less.

So we'll have about a billion left of the four billion currently in the in the state treasury.

I thought that was newsy.

And also, I guess a dealer's choice.

You could do whatever.

Talk on that.

Or also, what do you think about this whole UW audit?

And the governor's released this morning, the Associated Press story that the UW system is going to go under some sort of audit or review.

But as cloudy and murky, who's going to hire the agency to do that?

you know, when a politician wants good poll numbers, you go out and find a pollster that's going to ask the questions and make you look good.

It feels like the same thing here, Danny Shaffer.

Yeah, I mean we heard so much of when you were breaking the news last week or week before or whatever it was I've lost track of time But about the proposed cuts to the UW system I think so much of what Robin Voss was talking about that was just you know Oh, we have to rid the system of wokeness or whatever

it

was Exactly how he was characterizing it.

So I have to imagine Any you know audit is going to it going to talk about those types of things as well

Yeah, absolutely.

Anything else, Newsy, or that you think out of this compromise deal has been released, the things we know thus far, it's a fluid situation, obviously.

I guess the big question is, do you think this is a done deal?

Do you think it has the votes needed to get through the legislature and the governor's consent?

Well, the Republicans in the state Senate were going to lose about two or three votes and Democrats with the support of minority leader Diane Hasselbein and now with a number of Democrats pledging support for this.

Again, as long as there's no poison pills or amendments that

would

derail the deal or anything like that, I do think this is now a deal that is on track to pass in the state of Wisconsin.

So things could move very quickly over the next 48.

to 72 hours here, and we could have a signed deal in place before the 4th of July, and you can go shoot off your fireworks and celebrate.

Interested in that Senator Latonya Jackson was a yes vote on JFC.

I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, she's joining the Maggie Dawn Show with Jim Santel at four o'clock, so I'd be interested to get her take on that.

Yes, State Senator Latanya Johnson joining Maggie Dawn Schott.

She's my state senator here on the West Side of Milwaukee.

So it'll be interesting to hear what she has to say today about this deal.

And from the relevancy category, State Senator Chris Larson said he's a no vote.

Everybody looked around and said, okay, your vote doesn't matter.

Thank you, Senator Larson.

We all were waiting to hear what you're going to do on that.

And we always are waiting to hear what Dan Schaefer is going to say.

Great reporting at therecombibulationarea.news and also here at Civic Media.

We appreciate you, my friend.

Thanks so much for having me, Todd.

Be well.

Absolutely.

Dan Schaefer, everybody.

Come on back.

Talk more about the budget after this on the Civic Media Rating Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

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Holiday condiment.

Have to be careful with that word.

Condiment.

Ketchup or mustard.

We'll take your calls on that in our tube, but right now, talking about what appears to be meeting in the middle.

And this is the thing.

I get that this agreement, as far as we know, the details that have come out thus far, I get it.

It's not perfect.

It's not a great budget for public education, certainly.

But this is the art of politics.

I know a lot of people don't like politics But then I when you have divided government meaning that You have two parties at least that control different parts of the government when you have a Democratic governor and a Republican control legislature and guess what?

Nobody's going to get a hundred percent of what they want And the alternative was no budget

Which meant there would be zero additional funding or funding For child care this state because of the federal funds the one-time monies for the pandemic that we're running out So I just don't get Democrats I get people like senator keller Royce who are like look I come from more liberal district.

I The my base voters are not gonna like this bill.

So I personally am a no

In politics, you say, well, that person, you know, they need to get off on that vote.

They need to off.

And so that's fine.

I get that.

I respect that.

But you have people like States Representative Francesca Hong, Democrat Assemblyperson of Madison, who is now actively telling people to call their Democratic state legislators and lobby for a no vote.

I don't get that.

I think Representative Hong is a fine person and an effective legislator for her district, which is nearly unlike any other district in the state of Wisconsin, because it's so blue.

It's so liberal.

And to undermine this deal, here's the thing I've learned about politics.

If both sides come away grumpy about the agreement, it's probably about the best you can do.

That is the art of compromise.

That's the art of pragmatic politics and I would rather have a budget that takes care of the the worst of the worst needs like our child care providers and keep that intact and good on Governor Evers good on I know I've been tough on Maggie Gall the governor's chief of staff good on her She was able to stand toe to toe with speaker Robin Voss and get the best deal available

More money for UW system.

I know it's not what I would like about an eight and eighty seven million dollar cut eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two four eight four two Let's go to Jack in Merrimack Jack.

Thanks for calling.

You want to talk about education when it comes to the budget?

What's a

you?

Yeah, first of all

I taught in public, private, and parochial schools, and I taught at all levels, literally every level, from sixth grade

to

university.

So

I have a bit of experience in this situation.

We still have, at this point, a two-tier educational system.

And what's really disgusting for me is that it is separate, but it is definitely not separate but equal.

the fact that 90% of our special education costs in private schools are covered, but less than 40% in

this new

budget is covered.

And they also, the fact that the per pupil payouts.

that we have for the second education system, the private education system, it's more per pupil than three quarters of the school districts in the state.

Actually, a little more than three quarters of the school districts, if my numbers are correct.

This is a situation that absolutely needs to be corrected.

And until we do something about it, and as an educator, I have no problem with

with people that can't afford to send their student to private school, but they have no other good educational choice.

But again, we have a system that is paying basically welfare to people that also are sending their kids to private school that two-thirds of them, if I don't know if I've read my statistics correctly, two-thirds of them or so,

We're already sending our kids to private schools.

They were paying for it anyway.

Now they're wealthy people.

It's apparently wealthy enough to do that.

And now they're getting welfare.

Again, I have no problem with someone that can't afford it and has no other choices that are decent.

But we need a means test at an absolute minimum.

Right now, we're spending nearly three quarters of a billion dollars a year.

just to send kids to private school.

Right, Jack,

I don't want to cut you off, but let's keep Jack's mic open, because Jack, I got one minute left, Jack, and I want your perspective.

According to the Associated Press, this budget agreement has funding for case 12 special education programs, an increase of $500 million, you know better than anybody else, at least helping these local public school districts out with that special education program funding, that's a huge problem for them.

I totally agree that it doesn't go far enough for gen-

K-12 spending, but is that something?

Is that something to be wanted or no?

Well,

it's better than nothing yet.

That's much harder, I will say.

And I do understand about politics that it is, as the saying goes, the art of the compromise.

Although it's been my way with the highways from the Republicans for the last 15 years, but at least we've reached the, I'd say, some

kind of a decent compromise.

I get it, Jack.

I'm against the clock, Jack, but always appreciate your perspective, Jack.

Always appreciate that experience.

Come on back.

Maybe a little bit more budget talk.

What's going on out in DC?

And what's worse?

Don't go anywhere.

It's a Tuesday edition of the All About Show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Ready Network.

It's a meet in the middle.

Kind of Tuesday.

Come on back.

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