MADISON, Wis. – Republicans said Monday that the state Senate would vote to override up to 36 of the governor’s vetoes, including a bill to combat PFAS pollution — measures that Democrats derided as desperate election-year maneuvers.
At the same time, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers struck back at the Republican-controlled Legislature in a fight over spending $50 million on a new literacy program.
Both measures come six months before the election and are just the latest examples of political disputes between Evers and the Legislature. Both are trying to use the impasse over PFAS funding and other issues to their advantage in the November elections, as Democrats hope to pick up seats in the Legislature under the state’s new legislative boundary maps.
Three dozen bills are slated for possible veto override attempts on Tuesday, but Republicans highlighted just five that they definitely planned to pass. All will likely fail. Any changes would also need to be approved in the Assembly, but Republicans do not have enough votes to do so.
“We don’t need another round of press conferences and pointless votes, we just need Republicans to release the money they’ve already approved and get out of the way,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Joe Oslund.
Republican state Sen. Howard Marklein, co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee, said at a news conference that overriding Evers’ vetoes was “making good public policy, getting money out.”
Marklein called the veto override the last opportunity to spend $125 million to combat PFAS pollution and to spend $15 million in response to hospital closures in rural western Wisconsin.
“I don’t see another way, unfortunately,” Marklein said.
Evers and lawmakers have been fighting for months over the best way to combat PFAS chemicals that have polluted groundwater in communities across the state. Evers and Republicans have said combating chemicals is a priority, but they have been unable to agree on what to do about it.
Evers called a Legislature budget compromise meeting last month to release the $125 million that was previously approved in the budget, but Republicans did not show up and accused Evers of political gamesmanship.
Instead, Republicans will vote to override Evers’ veto of a bill that lays out a framework for spending the money.
Other bills subject to veto override would require new post-election audits, set a new goal for the state’s gray wolf population and change the structure of teacher apprenticeship programs.
While veto overrides are almost certainly doomed to fail, forcing a vote will give Republicans fodder they can use against Democrats in the campaign.
Meanwhile, as Republicans held news conferences across the state announcing their plans to override the veto, Evers said he was suing the Legislature. He filed a counterclaim in a lawsuit filed by Republicans in April challenging partial vetoes he made that changed how $50 million would be spent on a new student literacy program.
In a statement, Evers said it was “unfair” that Republicans had not released funding for PFAS, the literacy program and rural health care.
