Molly Beck
MADISON - Republicans who control the state Legislature will pursue their own plan to overhaul the state's system of corrections and seek a "broad-based" tax cut outside of the state budget process instead of supporting the Democratic governor's proposals, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said.
In a Tuesday event hosted by Wispolitics.com in Madison, the state Legislature's most powerful Republican lawmaker said Gov. Tony Evers' 2025-27 state budget spends too much and is not "realistic."
Here are takeaways from Vos' appearance:
Vos blasts provisions replacing 'mother,' 'father' to account for same-sex couples
Evers has faced heavy criticism from Republicans and some Democrats over a proposal in his two-year state budget plan to change language in state law related to same-sex couples and the process of having a baby through in vitro fertilization, sperm donors or the use of surrogates.
Evers proposes to swap out "husband" and "wife" for "spouse." In areas of state law related to same-sex couples and legal rights to children they choose to have through in vitro fertilization, sperm donors or surrogates, Evers proposes replacing "woman," "mother" and "wife" with versions of "person who is inseminated," or "inseminated person." On Tuesday, Vos blasted the provisions and dismissed the idea that statutes needed to change to address situations involving fertility treatments for same-sex couples.
"There's no court case out there. There's no issue that this was trying to solve. There wasn't somebody who came and lobbied and said, 'Wow, if we don't fix this IVF problem that we just discovered, like over the weekend, that all of a sudden we're going to have to have a problem.' This is what they came up as an explanation for something that is stupid," Vos said.
"It's really one of those times where you have an answer to a problem that nobody agrees exists," Vos said. "It's really made Wisconsin a national embarrassment."
Evers defended the provisions in an appearance Monday in Wausau, saying they are meant to provide legal clarity for same-sex couples in the process of growing families through sperm donors or surrogates.
"What we want is legal certainty that moms are able to get the care they need," Evers said, according to WSAW. "That's it. End of story."
“What the Republicans say is a lie, so of course I'm pretty (pissed off) about that,” he said. “It gives people using IVF legal certainty … Moms are moms. Dads are dads.”
Republicans will seek tax cut outside of the state budget process
Vos also said Tuesday his caucus and Senate Republicans were meeting Tuesday to hash out what kind of tax package they would release ahead of the state budget.
Lawmakers and Evers have about a $4 billion budget surplus to spend. Vos said Republicans are seeking a tax cut across the state's tax brackets.
"I want tax cuts that people can actually feel," Vos said.
Evers' spending plan would cut income and sales taxes by $900 million and take steps to lower local property taxes by more than $1 billion. In separate provisions, the plan would raise state taxes by $3.3 billion for a net increase of $2.4 billion. One measure would create a new top income tax bracket for the ultra wealthy in Wisconsin.
By pursuing a tax cut through a separate bill, Republicans are eliminating the chance that Evers could again sign a budget into law that includes a Republican-authored tax cut and be able to campaign on doing so should he run for re-election in 2026.
Republicans unlikely to support Evers' plan to close Green Bay prison, overhaul others
Vos said Tuesday he won't get behind a $500 million plan put forward by Evers to close the Green Bay-area prison and overhaul others while expanding early release programs for non-violent offenders with less than two years left in their sentences.
Vos said because Evers did not include Republicans in drafting the plan, he would deliver to Evers their own plan.
"I have a feeling that those of us who have an interest in some kind of corrections reform will get together, we will come up with our own package, we'll present it to the governor and say, 'here it is,'" he said.
Robin Vos is now 'tight' with Trump
President Donald Trump once helped fund a challenge to Vos following the 2020 election over Vos' refusal to try to overturn Trump's loss, which would have been illegal and impossible.
But now, the two are "tight," Vos said.
"I am a team player. The president is the president. It is good for Wisconsin to have Republicans who have relationships with him. I want to make sure that the good things that he is doing have a direct benefit for the people of Wisconsin, and ultimately, I think we all benefit from that," Vos said.
Vos at one point in 2023 called the nomination of Trump as the GOP presidential candidate a "suicide mission" for Republicans but reversed course after it became clear Trump would be the nominee and endorsed him.
Vos has been a target of Trump since 2021 when he refused to take steps to overturn Trump's loss in Wisconsin and withstood a primary challenge Trump helped fund, leading Vos to pledge to try "as hard as I can" to ensure Trump did not secure the GOP nomination.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
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