Holding the budget hostage

How dare Assembly Speaker Robin Vos advance a transportation budget that lives within current law revenue? Who does he think he is to oppose $700 million in still more highway debt (“Assembly GOP leader: Senate Republicans need to accept ‘reality’ on state budget,” July 12)?

What’s he trying to do — actually “live within our means”? How oldfashioned is that?

The social media and talk radio chatter driving the state budget is dominated by the narrative that Vos is “holding the budget hostage.” Surrogates for Gov. Scott Walker and Senate Republicans complain that a delayed transportation budget could bring some current projects to a halt and delay the start of others.

That, of course, is 100% accurate. Why? Because without yet another borrowing binge there simply is not the money to keep some projects going and start others.

Vos is willing to lay those cards on the table. In contrast, the governor and Senate Republicans cannot bring themselves to utter this simple sentence: Revenue from the gas tax and vehicle registration fee is insufficient to finance necessary projects.

Walker and the Senate GOP say “no” to new taxes. Vos and the Assembly GOP leadership say “no” to new borrowing unless there is new revenue to repay the debt.

The reported Assembly position is to accept the “reality” of opposition to new taxes by Walker and Senate Republicans. In light of that reality, Vos says it’s time to accept the consequences of current law revenue. That is, it’s time to live within our means.

It is the governor and Senate GOP who say, in effect, “no way.” They’re the ones saying the budget must include hundreds of millions in new debt with no new revenue to repay the debt.

So, who’s holding the budget hostage?

George Mitchell Sister Bay