Lawmakers protected state universities from further deep cuts Friday as they moved to try to fill a $1.6 billion hole in the state budget.
The move by the budget committee comes as Gov. Jim Doyle and lawmakers seek to impose cuts on schools, local governments and most other state agencies in response to falling tax revenues.
But Democratic lawmakers said they feared doing more harm to the UW System, which absorbed severe cuts in 2003 and isnâ??t receiving enough money in the upcoming budget to keep pace with rising costs.