Wisconsin Republicans ignore governor's call to spend $125M to combat so

MADISON, Wis . (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans on Tuesday planned to ignore the latest call from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to spend $125 million to combat so-called forever chemicals.

Evers invoked a rarely used power and called a meeting of the Republican-led Legislature’s budget committee, urging it to release the funding that was previously approved in the state budget. But Republican co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee said in a response to Evers that they would not meet, calling Evers’ move “blatant political game-playing.”

Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Mark Born, the Republican committee co-chairs, said in the letter delivered to Evers on Friday that although the governor can call a meeting of the budget committee, he can’t actually require it to meet or take action. The committee will not meet, they said.

“We are disappointed in your disregard for a co-equal branch of government, as well as the legislative process,” Born and Marklein wrote to Evers.