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for joining us.
>> Hey, thank you for your

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time. I hope you have a
good, good weekend.

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help us better understand
the broader motivations and

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implications of this deal,
we turn to our reporters at

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Inside Wisconsin Politics
Zac Schultz of PBS

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Wisconsin and Shawn Johnson
and Rich Kremer from

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Wisconsin Public Radio.
>> To me, this is a

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political Rorschach test.
How you view this

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particular deal kind of
matches your view on

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politics for some people
and for a lot of ordinary

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people around the state,
this was the epitome of a

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compromise. And as we're
about to run for election,

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those are things that
normally you'd want to see

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politicians pass. The other
side of that test is

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political purity. And there
are a lot of people looking

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at this deal saying, this
isn't as good as I would

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like it to be, and I think
we can do better when we

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have more power next year.
>> We had a very unusual

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scene kind of play out. The
assembly met after waiting

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all day to see what the
Senate was going to do.

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They passed this bill in
short order. The Senate is

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meeting at the same time,
and it's clear that things

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are not going well there.
And this bill actually

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fails on a vote of 15 to 18.
And I know people probably

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think big deal things pass,
things fail. Bills don't

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actually get to the point
of failure hardly ever in

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the state legislature. If
it doesn't have the votes,

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it does not come to the
floor, especially something

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as big and dramatic as this.
And for the governor to

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negotiate this and his
Senate Democrats stand

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unified against it to help
kill it with a few

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Republicans is something we
do not see every day. Zac,

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what do you think was
motivating Senate Democrats

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here?
>> There's two factors. I

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think. First is they were
insulted. They were left

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out of the loop.
>> That is huge, actually.

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>> That everyone knows they
need at least a couple

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Democratic votes and
probably more so. The fact

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that they were not
consulted did not have any

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input on this bill, and
made it clear from the very

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first time it was announced
that they were unhappy with

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it, showed the second part
of why Senate Democrats

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were not in line with this
comes next fall. And that's

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what the reelection there.
They are not quite certain,

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but very confident that
they're going to flip the

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majority in that chamber
and that when they come to

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power in the next session,
they will not only have a

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say, they will be the
deciding factors in how any

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bills are passed and how
budgets are passed, and so

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they can direct where that
money goes. And if they

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think they get lucky and
there's a Democratic

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assembly, then they're
going to say, all this

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money will be available for
us to spend in ways that we

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prefer instead of having to
compromise.

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clear cut case where
circumstances matter

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completely. You know, if if
Tony Evers were running for

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election in November and he
said, this is my big bill,

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Democrats, this is what I
want to run on. I mean,

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they would have voted. They
would have voted yes. No.

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Republicans probably
wouldn't have brought it up

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in that case. So, you know,
it's a it's a theoretical

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exercise. But but Senate
Democrats, I'm confident,

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would have been with him.
He is not on the ballot,

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though, this November, as
Diane Hesselbein noted, and

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Senate Democrats are poised
to. They think, take that

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majority. She has
essentially been a co

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majority leader on some of
the big bills that have

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come through the Senate
this year, from the budget

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to gambling. And so to
freeze them out of talks

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like this, which is the way
they viewed it, certainly,

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and to end up with a bill
that was pretty Republican

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in nature, about a billion
and a half in tax cuts, was

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not something that they
enjoyed, you know.

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>> Well. And don't forget,
there is another factor

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when it comes to everyone
looking at the next budget

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and the next year. And that
is there's a lot of people

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who think we may be looking
into a recession. Yeah. So

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most of this surplus is a
projection of what the

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economy is going to bring
in for tax revenues. If

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there's an economic
downturn in the next six

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months, that money
disappears all by itself

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without having been sent
out. So you send it out.

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Even though most of this is
one time spending, it may

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not be there next year. Now,
they say even in the worst

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of circumstances, at least
the state will have a

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little bit money to start
the next year with. So that

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is a legitimate concern
considering where gas

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prices and grocery prices
are right now. And with no

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end to a war in Iran, that
the economy could shift and

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go down and these tax
revenues may not

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materialize.
>> Rich, one question I had

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for you that we kind of
traded notes on throughout

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the night was, will voters
actually remember this?

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Like, will anybody be
rewarded or punished?

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>> You know, it's it's a
huge question. You all of

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what you're saying makes
sense to me, someone who's

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been really following this.
But, you know, I also

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remember being at a Supreme
Court election night event

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and a fellow at the hotel
not knowing there was an

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election that day. So
there's a part of me I'm

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always skeptical that this
sort of thing will stick in

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voters mind. It's different,
I guess, if you're getting

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your door knocked
consistently and people are

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reminding you of that, or
if you see a lot of

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commercials. But, you know,
in the grand scheme of

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things, a $300, $600 check,
that's a big deal. But, you

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know, all the political
infighting and everything