Scott Walker's Latest Budget Hijinks All About That 2016 Base
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) new state budget is tailor made to do two things: endear him to conservatives and enrage liberals, both in and out of Wisconsin. The budget is widely perceived in Wisconsin as an opening salvo in Walker's 2016 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, a way to solidify his bona fides with the conservative primary base.
The proposal, which Walker unveiled earlier this month, has gotten plenty of national attention just for Walker's proposal to drastically change the mission statement of the University of Wisconsin system, which is something of a cherished moniker in the state.
But the Walker budget hits a number of other hot buttons, too. It slashes public broadcasting funding in the state, cuts $300 million from the University of Wisconsin system, shrinks the secretary of state's office (which battled Walker over his push to roll back collective bargaining rights), proposes drug testing for recipients of food stamps, Medicaid, and jobless benefits, and makes major changes to the state's judicial branch (including targeting the liberal chief justice of the Supreme Court with a pay cut).
"I think everybody believes it's tied to the presidential campaign," University of Wisconsin political scientist Barry Burden told TPM. "That this is a way to demonstrate to conservative activists who will be very involved in the Iowa caucuses ... pretty dramatic success in scaling back the scope of state government here and in lowering taxes. It's not just that the government is going to grow at a slower rate than it had been or that it's going to grow slower than inflation, in at least one of the years in the next budget, there's actually a reduction in the total spending of the state. So it's a pretty dramatic budget."
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/scott-walker-budget-wisconsin
= new reply since forum marked as read
