MILWAUKEE — As Gov. Tony Evers highlights the 2025-27 biennial budget on his statewide budget tour, he joined Kristin Brey and Steve Scaffidi on Point Taken.
The Democratic governor and Republican-controlled legislature brokered a compromise budget deal in record time last week.
“It was significantly different from the other budgets we’ve worked on,” he told WTMJ. “It was hard bargaining and everyone took one on the chin on something.”
The budget reflects Gov. Evers’ declaration that 2025 is the “Year of the Kid” with first-of-its-kind funding for child care, a historic funding increase for special education and the biggest increase in nearly two decades for the Universities of Wisconsin. It also supports healthcare access, especially in rural communities, and reduces income tax.
“We need to do more for our public schools, we need to make sure that our university system is working well, but overall I was pleased with it,” Gov. Evers said.
One reason behind the swift budget signing was a race against Congress to secure a federal Medicaid match before President Trump signed the tax and spending cuts package on Independence Day.
But one thing the state budget can’t prevent is the Trump Administration’s deportation efforts reaching Wisconsin. Gov. Evers said Wisconsin should be concerned about undocumented workers in agriculture and manufacturing.
“Even though it hasn’t happened to our knowledge in any large way. . . that could happen overnight, where somebody makes the decision in Washington D.C. that anyone who’s undocumented has to go home. That would be b******* for Wisconsin. That would kill our economy.”
Gov. Evers did not have an answer about the 2026 race for governor — he has said he would announce his decision about running for a third term after the budget was finalized.
