In Senate, GOP reverses course on road funds

MADISON - Two years ago, Republicans in the state Senate tried to prevent the state from issuing more bonds to build roads, declaring they were dead set against relying on borrowing for highways.

Now, they’re eager to break out the state’s credit card to pay for highways as they try to end a budget stalemate.

“We’re not going to kick the can down the road,” Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) said

in November 2015 when she and other Senate Republicans unsuccessfully tried to block issuing $350 million in bonds for I-39/ 90 and four other projects.

But on Tuesday, Darling — the co-chairwoman of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee — joined her Senate colleagues in embracing a plan that would borrow $712 million over the next two years for roads. Nearly half of that amount would be paid back from the account that funds schools and health care programs instead of the transportation fund.

Borrowing is the only way to pay to rebuild I-94 in southeastern Wisconsin, she said.

“It is impossible to pay for those projects with cash,” she said, referring to the Zoo Interchange and sections of I-94 west and south of Milwaukee.

She’s not the only one to have a change of heart.

When he sided with Darling to vote against additional borrowing in 2015, Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) issued a statement that said, “I do not believe we should be going further into debt when we haven’t created any new sources of revenue to make the payments on this new debt.”

On Tuesday, Marklein appeared at a Capitol news conference with Darling and other GOP senators to announce their budget plan that includes the $712 million in borrowing for roads. He issued a statement afterward praising the plan in part because it would take care of “infrastructure throughout the state.”

Since Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans took over all of state government in 2011, they have borrowed $2.5 billion for transportation, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. That continues a trend started under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of borrowing heavily for highways.

Democrats this week said Republicans should find a permanent solution for funding transportation, as they have been promising to do for years.

“Rather than doing their job, Senate Republicans continue to mislead the public and flip-flop on their promises whenever it’s politically convenient,” Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said in a statement.

A new budget was supposed to be in place by July 1, but lawmakers missed that deadline because of their differences over transportation and other issues.

Funding will continue at the levels set in the last budget until a new spending plan is approved. If the stalemate continues, some road work could be delayed as early as Aug. 8.

Darling, Marklein and other Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee took their stance against borrowing in November 2015, when the panel considered issuing $350 million in bonds to prevent delays on five major projects. The measure passed 10-6 with the support of Assembly Republicans and Democrats from both houses. The six no votes came from Senate Republicans.

Now, Assembly Republicans are the ones drawing the line on borrowing.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has said his caucus won’t back any borrowing for roads because the state doesn’t have enough money to pay it back. His plan would result in severe delays for projects around the state.

Vos had sought raising taxes or fees to fund roads but last week said he was giving up on those efforts because of opposition from Walker and Senate Republicans.

Vos, Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) met for more than an hour Wednesday. Vos said afterward the three “didn’t go into any great depth about specifics.”

Vos said Assembly Republicans remain opposed to borrowing for roads without an influx of new money.

“If we’re going to borrow more money on the credit card, we have to have a way to pay it off,” he told reporters.

He signaled Assembly Republicans were unlikely to accept the Senate Republican transportation plan.

“We had problems with bonding at $500 million, which is where Gov. Walker was, so obviously a number significantly north of 500 doesn’t make any sense,” Vos said.