Is a state budget compromise close?

Here are some of the issues:

"Proposals to fix it include delaying a $125 million payment of state aid to schools, refinancing bonds from tobacco settlement payments and taking money from the state's transportation fund to be replaced with increased borrowing."

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Assembly Republicans, lacking the time or the inclination to act on any serious issues like health care or campaign finance reform, did manage to insult the voters by passing this piece of trash, seeking to shut up voters who want to talk about issues the politicians would rather duck. WISN-TV reports:

Bill Would Curb Municipal Votes On Iraq War, Other Issues

Measure Passed Along Party Lines, 48-44

MADISON, Wis. -- Citizens could no longer force municipal votes on measures calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq or other issues under a measure approved by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly on Tuesday.

The plan would allow cities and villages to refuse to act on citizen initiatives that don't relate to local governmental functions.

Under current law, anyone who gathers enough signatures in support of a proposal can force city councils and village boards to either adopt it or put it to a vote.

Activists used this tactic to force votes on several symbolic anti-war initiatives in 2006 over the opposition of some community leaders.

The Assembly voted 48-44 along party lines to adopt the plan.

It's a little too early for this sort of bluster, but Speaker Mike Huebsch says Assembly Republicans may refuse to pass a state budget.

Before he leads his party too far down that path, Huebsch might want to touch bases with Newt Gingrich when he's in Wisconsin tomorrow.

Gingrich, you may recall, was the architect of the 1995 shutdown of the federal government, in a showdown with President Bill Clinton.

Gingrich and the GOP were emboldened by a sweep in the 1994 Congressional midterm elections which gave Republicans control.

But Gingrich and Co. overplayed their hand, and, while achieving some of their budget objectives, paid a huge political price for losing the public relations war. Gingrich left government not too long after that disaster.

And Gingrich arguably had a mandate at the time. Huebsch and Wisconsin Republicans, on the other hand, had their heads handed to them in November, losing control of the State Senate and suffering big losses in the Assembly, while Gov. Jim Doyle was re-elected handily.

This does not seem like the time to be making threats and forcing an impasse.

Pabst Farms - - Not Taxpayers - - Can Pay For New Mall Interchange

Planning in southeastern Wisconsin has been legendarily bungled for years - - but the revelation that the vaunted regional freeway expansion plan doesn't contain funding for an interchange for Pabst Farms' shopping mall is a doozy.

Planning in Western Waukesha County has long been the nearly-private preserve of a handful of powerful interests.

A Pabst Farms' initial consultant was Ruekert & Mielke, the same firm that has done water supply studies for both fast-growing Waukesha and New Berlin, and is also managing the regional planning commission's (SEWRPC) three-year-long water supply study.

Dan Warren, Pabst Farms project manager, is the chairman of the Waukesha Water Utility commission.

The bills before Congress affect our nation's budget - and yours.

Washingtonwatch.com tracks the bills in Congress, along with estimates about their costs or savings, when available.

This is a great site that gives you interesting information on new bills and what their financial impact will be on you, your family, and your friends. 

Location(s)

From the excellent (and far smarter than me) folks over at TPMCafe.com:

Tax Day Silliness

By Jared Bernstein | bio

I took part in a rousing debate last night on Larry Kudlow’s show last about fairness and tax policy.

While I fear such debates generate more heat than light, the argument really breaks down very simply: if you want to make our tax system sound unfair, you do two things. First, you talk only about income taxes, ignoring payroll and other sources, and second, you talk about the share of taxes paid by each income class.

Note that last one. You don’t talk about the share of their income that families pay in taxes, a much more intuitive measure of fairness. You talk about the share of total tax receipts paid by different groups. Then you can say stuff like, “the top 1% pays for 25% of the total tax bill.”

Ah yes, they're at it again. The congress is again trying to kill off public television and radio. Help Keep Big Bird and NOW! and Mystery and Nature and - well, 90% of the things I watch on television - and if you read this site, it's likely that it's 90% of what you watch as well.

Go to the MoveOn petition , sign it, pass it on to your friends. They have 1.4 million signers already - but the vote is currently scheduled for tomorrow so a few more can't hurt.

Breaking: House, Senate Conservatives Agree on $70 Billion In New Tax Cuts for the Rich -

House and Senate conservatives just agreed to move forward on another budget-busting tax bill favoring the wealthiest Americans. The latest plan — announced today “after months of tense negotiations and slipped deadlines” — will spend $70 billion to extend the 15 percent tax rate for capital gains and dividends until 2010. Today’s agreement “paves the way for House approval of the measure as early as Wednesday. The Senate could clear the bill for Bush’s desk by week’s end.”