Pigheaded WisGOP still trying to mess things up for Biden, Evers

The Wisconsin GOP has been trying to impound have a say in what happens to the billions of dollars heading to state government via the recent stimulus bill signed by President Biden. But they're so bent on trying to grab the money that it would be illegal for them to use the money the way that they want to.

Some of the biggest items in the GOP package to spend $3.2 billion in new federal stimulus aren’t allowed under current guidance, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Meanwhile, the GOP plan to use nearly $1.1 billion of the $3.2 billion to send property owners a rebate equal to 10 percent of their property tax bill looks like it’s an allowable expense. But further guidance is needed to make sure the federal government wouldn’t require the state to repay the money if it went forward with the proposal.

…[U]nder current guidance, the agency believes the proposed $500 million to pay off general obligation debt and retire transportation bonds and $308.5 million to create grants to pay for local highways aren’t allowed.

The same goes for a proposal to spend $53.2 million of the money for emergency communications and $15 million to expand psychiatric bed capacity at an Eau Claire hospital.

Testifying before the Joint Finance Committee today, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, suggested the LFB memos were “just based on speculation at this point.”

After all, when did the law or facts stop Republicans before, right? Not that Evers is going to let the GOPs do this anyway, but they could at least have asked if their scheme was legal before trying it.

This is also the same week that we had it confirmed that thousands of Wisconsinites will have their food benefits cut after the Wisconsin Supreme Court shot down Governor Evers’ COVID emergency.

Timing of Supreme Court ruling ending Evers health order cost Wisconsin millions in food assistance https://t.co/SxNwUmtfrR

— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) April 8, 2021

Here’s the full article, which says that these Wisconsinites are slated to lose this help in 3 weeks.

Wisconsin will lose tens of millions in food assistance for the month of May following a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling eliminating the state's public health emergency declaration.

If the ruling had been made a day later, the funding would have been preserved, according to the Department of Health Services.

"Because the Wisconsin State Supreme Court chose to rule March 31 and not in April, families will not receive their emergency FoodShare allotments for May.... and each month thereafter, leaving tens of thousands of families without access to much-needed nutritious foods," DHS spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt said.

Whether the additional funding for Wisconsin's food stamp program known as FoodShare would be lost had been in question until Wednesday, when Goodsitt confirmed the money was lost for May and would be in jeopardy for the future if lawmakers do not act to enact an emergency declaration.

"The ripple effects of this change will be immediate and devastating for individuals, families, and entire communities," Goodsitt said.

And what was the point of the WisGOPs blocking Evers' emergency declaration anyway? They claim they want to have a say in how we fight against the pandemic, but they went on a 9-month paid vacation last year instead of passing...well, anything. And while they've had committee hearings on power grabs and stupid cultural BS, they haven't done a thing on the state's response and adjustment to the COVID World that still lingers.

But then I read this, and it put both of these concepts together to show the GOP "strategy".

They are gonna send Evers a bill that saves the food aid but only if he also lets them control the federal COVID money. He will veto it and they will try to blame the loss of the food aid on him, even though they are the ones using it as a pawn in a deranged power struggle. https://t.co/5dC1oTrEau

— Nick Fleisher (@nickfleisher) April 8, 2021

Not that I see this claim of "it's Evers fault there's no food aid" working anywhere outside of RW Bubble World, but that's not really the overall goal. What IS the goal for WisGOP is to hamstring the recovery and quality of life for Wisconsinites, and then blame the stagnant situation on Evers and Biden, then take advantage of voter discontent to get back into power in 2022.

WisGOPs do not care about what happens to people, and they do not care how many are hurt - they just want to be the ones in charge. So they're going to re-package their 2010 playbook as much as they can.