Could you fail to do your job for two weeks and still be employed?

Today is July 13th. Two weeks past the deadline for passing a new state budget in Wisconsin. The new budget was due June 30, but two weeks later the state is still no closer to finishing the document. In fact, they still aren’t even close. The key budget committee hasn’t met in weeks, and the only discussions seem to be in the form of bickering, all of that behind closed doors. Meanwhile, local school districts and local governments across the state are still wondering how much state aid they can get. If a new budget isn’t passed soon, more road projects in the state could be put on hold. The key fight remains over transportation, with a wide divide remaining over whether to pay for road work with more borrowing, or a new revenue stream such as a gas tax increase or higher vehicle registration fees. Governor Walker has talked about asking President Trump for ten times more transportation money, but that seems unlikely, given that Trump has proposed slashing the federal transportation budget by more than 10 percent. The bottom line is our lawmakers in Madison need to stop bickering and start finding solutions to the $96 million hole in the transportation budget. Their only job as lawmakers is to pass a state budget, and they are already two weeks late. Even Illinois has passed a new budget. Imagine if you were two weeks late meeting a deadline at your work. Would you even still have a job?