I talked some about this earlier in the week and mentioned how stupid the GOPs were being on Medicaid expansion, but I wanted to include a little reaction from today's session, because the lines being spread by the GOP just don't add up.
Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said Gov. Tony Evers’ budget was “so tightly wound” with the Medicaid expansion that pulling it out threatened funding for a host of other programs. That included, he said, money for K-12 and expanding access to behavioral health...Well Amy, there certainly is nothing stopping you GOPs from setting aside money for those things, but it's a lot easier to do it when the Feds pay 31% more of the bill. They're apparently taking the route that Scott Walker chose when it came to finding money to fix the state's roads.
But Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, R-Clinton, ticked off a series of healthcare proposals such as a dementia care specialist, dental programs and coordinating services for drug treatment that remain in the document. She pledged Republicans would still find ways to fund those priorities without the expansion money.
“A lot of what we’re hearing that we’re not going to be able to do because we’re not taking the expansion are simply false,” Loudenbeck said.
Don't think that mentality worked too well for WisDOT these last few years, and it likely will fail just as badly for Medicaid and everything else WisGOP now is tasked with having to find a means to pay for. And yes, since they removed Evers' methods of paying for services (via Medicaid expansion and reversing tax cuts for the rich and corporate), the GOPs will now own the continued deterioration and lagging performance that will likely happen in Wisconsin for the next 2 years. That'll be doubly so if they refuse to raise the gas tax and/or other fees to pay for the state's crumbling roads.
In addition to refusing Evers' proposal to allow all Wisconsin communities to raise its revenue limits by 2% in that omnibus provision, the GOPs on Joint Finance also voted to continue to handcuff Wisconsin's local governments by refusing to give the inflation-level increases in state aid that Evers wanted.
The guv wanted to give each community a 2 percent increase in state aid after cuts over the past 15 years left county and municipal aids 20.7 percent lower in 2019 than in 2003.
But Republicans rejected a Dem motion to embrace the plan, leaving current law in place. Funding would remain at $763.1 million annually.
Don't expect this to get cleaned up after today's action.
Sen. LaTonya Johnson and Rep. Evan Goyke are both Milwaukee Dems, and were especially angry at this move, given how their hometown has been especially hurt by the cuts in state aid over the last 16 years, and coming on the heels of a state report that showed Milwaukee County was (again) the largest attractor of tourism dollars in the state in 2018.
But Wisconsin's current local government system gives the state's largest city and tourist attraction little to no way to retain the money that is generated in that town. And given GOP Joint Finance Chair Rep. John Nygren's mumbling today about "fiscal restraint", I wouldn't count on any help from the GOP Legislature in fixing the problems that have multiplied in recent years due to tight revenue caps.
That's funny to hear Nygren talk about "restraint", because the WisGOPs also removed Evers' proposed freeze on voucher students and new schools, which will inevitably cost more tax dollars, and add to the $1.4 billion hole that GOPs put in this budget. It was also absurd to hear GOP Rep. Shannon Zimmerman moan about how Medicaid expansion was a bad idea due to a $22 trillion federal deficit when it's the GOP's Tax Scam that has exploded the deficit and made debt climb much more rapidly.
Equally absurd was this press release from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which claimed that WisGOP's choice to keep the $516 million+ giveaway was a worthwhile policy.
“We know the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit is a critical reason we have seen thousands of family-supporting manufacturing jobs created in recent years,” said WMC Director of Tax, Transportation and Legal Affairs. “ACI alone made a large capital investment in new equipment thanks to the MAC, and they were able to hire 84 new employees in 2018.”"Thousands of family-supporting manufacturing jobs" have been created by the MAC? That's not what the numbers say, guys. In fact, Wisconsin has fallen far short of the rest of the country in adding manufacturing jobs since the Big Giveaway was put in place.
WMC earlier in the week applauded Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling – the Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance – for working to remove the language from Gov. Evers’ proposed budget that essentially repeals the MAC.
“Raising taxes on the industry that built the middle class in our state is not the way to keep our economy strong,” added Fish. “We thank the legislature for defending Wisconsin’s manufacturers and their thousands of employees around the state from this massive tax hike.”
Also note how reversing a tax cut now becomes a "tax hike" in GOP World? Combine that with the convenient ignoring of the massive federal tax cut given to corporations by the GOP Tax Scam (which happened after MAC was put into place), and the bad faith just reeks in those statements by WMC.
As I've said before, I want to see real numbers behind the claims by WMC and WisGOP that Wisconsin is in uniquely great shape among US states. Because there is nearly ZERO I have found that shows this to be the case, and it is much easier to argue that we have been held back by these small-timers who don't care about anything except grabbing more money and power for themselves and their allies.
If the voters of Wisconsin wanted to continue Scott Walker's policies, they would have re-elected Governor Dropout last November. They didn't because we'd seen how much the ALEC agenda had held the state back for the last 8 years and wrecked our previously-strong quality of life. But WisGOPs aren't paid by Diane Hendricks, the Bradleys, the Kochs, Betsy DeVos, and other right-wing oligarchs to listen to voters and do the right thing.
So all we can do is strap it in, keep pounding, and realize that it takes more than 1 election to stop the right-wing madness in Wisconsin.
It isn't just that our crumbling roads need to be fixed, some need to re-routed and/or reconstructed because they are now vulnerable to flooding due to climate change. Think about that and then realize that roads are not the only infra-structure affected by climate change. These GOP idiots are destroying the state for political points. Raise your hand if you are leaving to retire elsewhere. Raise your hand if you are moving for a higher paying job in another state after graduation.
ReplyDeleteWe have a home in Wisconsin. We were born and raised here. My husband has worked in different areas of the country. He spent most of the time in the great state to the west. Wisconsin was a wonderful state to grow up in, raise our kids, and work until Walker got in as governor. I find myself so many times now whispering under my breath how I hate this state. My husband has 2 more years and then he is planning on retiring. He is spending his last 2 years working out east. He is working here now, planned on staying until he retired but he doesn't like it so he is leaving. He didnt even tell me he was leaving at first but I knew something was really wrong because he always came home angry and that is not in his nature. Our daughter and son-in-law plan on moving to Minnesota from the east coast next year because that is where he was born and raised. They want us to move there. We are seriously considering it after my husband retires. I told somebody here that we would like to move to Minnesota and their response was do you think it would really be better there? That came from someone who has never been there. We had spent almost 6 years with an apartment near the Twin Cities in recent years. I can say with certainty that Minnesota is so much better. It is all I think about anymore. I get sick every time I see the faces of Fitzgerald and especially Vos in the news now. Talk about disgusting. There is so much wrong here.
ReplyDeleteSad stuff, but thanks for sharing. I believe the GOPs want to drive out any talent and independent thinkers from the state, which only keeps oligarchs and dead-enders.
ReplyDeleteBut electing Evers at least allows for a DNR that will enforce pollution laws, and block things from being even more destructive. It's a long road back, but I'm not in the mood to let FitzVos win by wrecking the state that we care for.