(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Democrat Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin wielded his veto power to raise funding for the state’s public schools for the next 400 years.
The plan increased per-pupil spending by $325 each year until 2425. The original plan only grew funding from 2024 to 2025.
The governor of Wisconsin had the greatest legal veto power of any governor in the country, allowing them to strike out words and numbers to drastically edit laws and proposals to their personal satisfaction.
Evers struck out the “20” and the hyphen from “2024-25” throughout the bill, originally written and proposed by the Wisconsin GOP.
The bill contained a $3.5 billion tax cut—households making between $36,000 and $405,500 would have seen a 17% decrease in their state taxes had Evers kept it in the bill.
Evers also vetoed a plan to uproot diversity, equity and inclusion programming at the University of Wisconsin.
When writing the budget, Evers relegated money for universal school breakfasts and lunches, targeted tax relief, healthcare expansion, the legalization of marijuana and vaguely referenced “community-driven solutions to workforce challenges.”
The governor admonished the state’s GOP for their “short-sighted decisions.”
“Republicans in the Legislature have failed to meet this historic moment, sending my budget back to my desk absent critical investments in key areas that they know … are essential to the success of our state,” Evers’ said in his veto statement. “That decision is, to put it simply, an abdication of duty.”
Republicans in Wisconsin’s state House said they would overturn the vetoes, particularly the one on tax cuts.
“We want to make sure the people of Wisconsin remember who’s on their side and who’s not,” said State House Speaker Robin Vos. “We are not going to lay down.”
Recently, a Wisconsin-based newspaper caught the governor paying thousands of dollars for positive reviews and accolades via a business group known as People First.
The group pushed causes and candidates on the far-left side of the political spectrum for its clients, including Evers, who shelled out $52,000 for the fake support.
