Governor Walker vs Speaker Vos?

If anyone has been following Wisconsin politics lately...and I hope you have because the budget is kind of important...

Its no secret that Speaker Robin Vos and Governor Walker haven't seen eye to eye on transportation funding.

From June 2016 Vos said:

Vos said "all options should be on the table" when it comes to the funding.

"I just disagree fundamentally with Gov. Walker's assumption that we can kick the can down the road, push decisions onto a future legislature, which will end up being more expensive and potentially not in the interest of taxpayers," Vos said.

Last year, the governor proposed borrowing $1.3 billion over two years for roads spending. Republican legislators disagreed, and cut the amount to $850 million.

A legislative audit of transportation spending is expected to be released this fall. Vos said the audit would help legislators figure out how to move forward, whether that's with revenue increases or other fiscal changes, during budget negotiations next year.

Vos said the public can play a role in convincing the governor to change his mind.

"We just have to have the public engaged in that conversation to work on convincing Gov. Walker that it's not more conservative to borrow as opposed to spending it smartly now," Vos said

Fast forward to today when the Speaker was visibly frustrated with portions of the Governors budget address

Then as an exclamation point, Vos reminded reporters he's an equal branch of government and does not feel the need to salute the Governor. These are not signs of a quiet rumbling beneath the surface, they are cannon balls fired between two ships.

We are reading the early chapters of what is sure to be a spicy and contentious story:

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said on Wednesday that fellow Assembly Republicans want to tackle the transportation issue this year and that he doesn't have an answer than they have right now.

"And if that means we go till October, that's not my goal. I would prefer to be out by July and enjoy the summer," said Vos. "But I also think we gotta have an answer that's actually gonna happen."

Speaker Vos says a recent audit shows the state's transportation budget deficit is actually closer to $2 billion, than the roughly $1 billion lawmakers thought they were dealing with.

(I definitely laughed when I saw the TMJ4 video of Vos making faces behind Walker as he talked about transportation funding...well played Speaker..well played)