Month: May 2026

A $1.8 billion Wisconsin tax relief and school funding package failed in the state Senate on Wednesday, ending a day of fast-moving but ultimately unsuccessful negotiations.

The State Assembly passed the bill earlier in the day after reconvening in the late afternoon following a lengthy recess. The measure then moved to the Senate, which delayed its start time by about six hours before taking up the proposal.

The Senate voted down the bill 15-18, with all Democrats opposed. The result effectively halts the plan, which needed approval from both chambers before advancing to the governor.

Republicans supported the package as a bipartisan compromise aimed at providing immediate relief to taxpayers and schools amid rising costs. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said earlier the deal balanced tax cuts with education funding and remained open to adjustments.

Evers said the proposal included more than $600 million for K-12 schools, including increased special education reimbursement, along with hundreds of millions in general school aids, property tax relief through technical college funding, direct payments to working families, and an end to state income tax on tips and overtime.

In a statement, Evers said Wisconsin students and taxpayers would miss out on needed investments, adding: “Wisconsin’s kids and schools aren’t going to get the investments they desperately need this year because… a few Republican and Democratic lawmakers chose to blow up a bipartisan plan.”

He added, “So many Wisconsinites feel left behind… And today, they’re right.”

The defeat leaves the proposal unresolved as lawmakers approach a Friday deadline for action.

U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in April, posting their biggest gain since early 2022, the latest indication that inflation was accelerating amid ​the war with Iran.

The Producer Price Index for final ‌demand surged 1.4% last month after an upwardly revised 0.7% advance in March, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday.

In the 12 months ⁠through April, the PPI jumped 6.0%. That was the ​largest increase since December 2022 and followed a 4.0% rise in March. ​Part of the surge in the year-on-year PPI rate ‌reflected last year’s low readings dropping out of the calculation.

The rise in inflation is becoming pervasive, posing a challenge for the Federal Reserve. The BLS reported on Tuesday that the Consumer Price ⁠Index rose further in April, with the annual inflation rate posting its largest gain in three years.

The U.S. central bank tracks the Personal Consumption ⁠Expenditures price indexes ‌for its 2% inflation target.

Prior to the PPI ⁠report, economists estimated PCE inflation, excluding the ​volatile food ‌and energy components, could rise by as much ​as 0.4% ⁠in April after gaining 0.3% in March. Estimates for the year-on-year increase in the so-called core PCE inflation were as high as 3.4%. It increased 3.2% in March.

After months of negotiation, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders in the Legislature said Monday they’ve reached a deal that would spend down the state’s budget surplus on tax relief and education.

The roughly $1.8 billion deal, which is expected to go before lawmakers for a vote this week, includes $850 million in direct payments to taxpayers, and the elimination of state income tax for overtime pay and tipped earnings. It would also boost spending on K-12 education by $600 million.

That school funding figure is split between general school aid and increasing the state’s special education reimbursement rate, which has been a point of contention from Evers’ team since the passage last summer of the two-year state budget. Since that time, higher-than-expected costs of special education lowered the total amount received by school districts from the state.

The deal would spend down much of the state’s projected surplus — which the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau had previously estimated at roughly $2.5 billion — but leave the state’s rainy day fund untouched.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Evers touted the deal as a win for schools, with compromises for Republican tax priorities.

“Money for schools is obviously the most important thing for me,” Evers said. “We’re in a position to actually compromise and have Republicans and Democrats — at least at the leadership level — getting something done.”

In separate statements, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said the deal would put the state’s surplus toward tax relief.

“We’re sending (the surplus) back to help families with the pressure of increasing costs, reward hard work, and to continue investing in schools to help stabilize rising property taxes,” said Vos.

“This deal will provide immediate relief with $600 in surplus refund payments and provide permanent property and income tax relief for Wisconsin families,” said LeMahieu in his statement.

While the state Legislature has adjourned for the year, both the Senate and Assembly would need to pass this deal for it to become law. That means that a special session of the Legislature will be called. According to the governor’s office, that path will be expedited, with the Legislature’s budget committee expected to move it forward on Tuesday, and the full Legislature set to debate it as early as Wednesday.

Between the week ending March 20 and the week ending April 24, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a total of 17.5 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), according to data in our Weekly Petroleum Status Report. DOE released 7.1 million barrels in the week ending April 24, the most released since the week ending October 7, 2022. SPR stocks are currently 397.9 million barrels.

The United States is in the process of releasing 172 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. SPR. The U.S. SPR release is part of a coordinated effort with the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 400 million barrels of crude oil and refined products globally to address disruptions in oil supply stemming from the conflict in the Middle East.

The U.S. SPR release is structured as an exchange, which requires the original volume of oil, plus additional barrels, to be returned to the SPR at a later date.

The SPR was established in the 1970s to reduce the effects of unexpected oil supply disruptions. The reserve has an authorized storage capacity to hold up to 714 million barrels of crude oil across four storage sites along the Gulf of America, where much of the U.S. petroleum refining capacity is located.

UnitedHealthcare plans to eliminate prior authorization for 30 percent of services that require insurer approval, reducing delays and paperwork for patients and doctors.

The company said, by the end of 2026, it will remove prior authorization requirements for certain outpatient surgeries, diagnostic tests such as echocardiograms, and some outpatient therapies and chiropractic care.

Wisconsin lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in 2025, driven in part by an aging workforce and hesitancy to expand hiring in an uncertain economy.

Between January 2025 and January 2026, the state’s manufacturing workforce shrank by about 9,500 jobs, falling from 461,100 workers to 451,600, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The manufacturing workforce nationally declined by about 91,000 jobs over the same period.

Industry leaders say the job losses were driven more by worker retirements than widespread layoffs, though shifting tariffs and broader economic uncertainty have made some manufacturers more reluctant to hire.

The state’s manufacturing workforce generally follows national trends. Both contracted sharply during the 2008 Great Recession and gained ground during the 2010s, according to federal data.

The manufacturing workforce shrank again during the COVID-19 pandemic, before growing steadily until late 2022 in Wisconsin. From April 2020 to October 2022, Wisconsin’s manufacturing workforce grew from 438,900 workers to 484,300, but it has declined steadily since, federal data shows.