As Wisconsin’s budget crisis grows, and the UW System is bracing for a record $300 million cut, Scott Walker spent the weekend prior to tomorrow night’s budget address not putting the finishing touches on a serious plan to correct the state’s $2.2 billion deficit, but previewing his foreign policy and courting Tea Party supporters in Washington, D.C.
After last week being widely panned and receiving a “Pants on Fire” ruling from PolitiFact Wisconsin for his ridiculous claim that Ronald Reagan’s anti-labor policies were the center of his foreign policy strategy, Walker attempted to regain a shred of credibility yesterday on ABC News’ “This Morning,” suggesting that he would put U.S. boots on the ground in Syria if he were president.
The apparent rollout of a Walker doctrine followed a Friday speech in Washington, D.C. where Walker called for “big, bold” leadership from a “fresh” face. A career politician, Walker has spent the majority of his adult life running negative campaigns and holding elected office.
Back in Wisconsin, Walker is slated to give a budget address tomorrow that will include a $300 million cut to the UW System — the largest in history — and a plan to drastically increase the state’s debt by more than $2 billion with $1.3 billion in new borrowing to offset the transportation fund shortfall and nearly $900 million in approved borrowing for new buildings.
“Scott Walker’s plan to blow up a deficit with record borrowing, enact historic cuts to higher education, and send U.S. troops overseas doesn’t sound “fresh,” “big,” or “bold” — he sounds like a carbon copy of every other Republican running for president in recent history,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Monday. “Fixing Wisconsin’s $2.2 billion budget deficit in a way that protects middle class families might not be too sexy to Iowa caucus voters or DC insiders, but that’s the job Scott Walker was elected to do.”
