No lead reduction. No advanced vocational training. No upgrade to an archaic unemployment system. Republican legislature says one-time pandemic remedies should be used instead.
The list of items Republicans said on the Legislative’s Joint Finance Committee need not be included in the next state budget – and could instead be covered by the federal pandemic relief fund – became significantly longer than the majority party on Wednesday went on to reshape what Governor Tony Evers and the Democrats have proposed.
On Tuesday, Joint Finance’s 12 Republicans voted to remove line items that provided:
- $ 40 million in forgivable resident loans to replace lead water pipes
- $ 28 million to expand employee training programs
- $ 15 million to upgrade the state’s outdated unemployment system
- $ 20 million for pantries to purchase Wisconsin products
Last week, the same lawmakers used the federal ARP funding destined for Wisconsin school districts as a justification to cut requests for additional school funding. This led to a warning from the U.S. Department of Education that such a move would jeopardize the $ 1.5 billion federal budget allocated to schools. When asked if this gave them a pause in their decision, committee co-chairs Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) and Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) unanimously replied, “No.”
“It’s getting harder and harder to trust this committee as we care for Wisconsinites, especially the most vulnerable,” said Senator LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), one of the committee’s four Democratic members. “Sometimes I wonder if we’re really getting it in this body.”
Joint Finance Democrats noted in a press release that this decision is one of a series of decisions made by their Republican counterparts that left federal dollars on the table, including:
- $ 25 million in federal unemployment insurance payments because Republican legislators didn’t act fast enough to lift the week-long wait
- $ 1.6 billion over the next two years for refusing to expand BadgerCare in 2021
- A total of $ 1.6 billion for BadgerCare not upgrading since 2013, when the Medicaid upgrade first became available
Republican legislatures also lost nearly $ 70 million a month to the state’s FoodShare program in trying to end Evers’ pandemic-related emergency statements; these funds were restored when Evers’ administration negotiated a compromise with the US Department of Agriculture.
RELATED: Republicans want to spend less on schools than ever proposed, but it could cost $ 1.5 billion in federal aid
Evan Goyke (D-Milwaukee) MP lamented all “missed opportunities” during Tuesday’s hearing; any funds that remain on the table, as well as any programs to help the state recover from the pandemic, improve people’s health and wellbeing, and get Wisconsinites back to work.
Born stressed that the Republican priority for the Department of Workforce Development’s budget is “getting people back to work.” Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls) spoke about his winery being so understaffed it had to close on a Saturday; he lamented the state’s “employment crisis”.
According to seasonally adjusted figures released by the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) last week, the state’s unemployment rate was 3.9% in April, not much higher than 3.2% in March 2020, the last reporting period before the pandemic led to widespread layoffs.
Congregation spokesman Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has proposed cutting unemployment benefits by $ 300 a month and penalizing people who are unemployed and fail to show up for interviews. When asked about such suggestions, Evers said he believes the people who are still unemployed still need this help and that the best way to address the labor shortage is to make Wisconsin a more attractive place to live.
Johnson pointed to a study reported in Urban Milwaukee that reducing unemployment benefits did not affect the unemployment rate, but it did cut spending – something that would hurt businesses.
Goyke pointed out that the republican change to the DWD’s budget only requires a study to be conducted looking into how people can be brought back to work, while Evers’ budget proposal includes vocational training and a program to help the DWD Connect employers with job seekers.
“[Zimmerman] says: ‘We have to take action’ and then makes a proposal that does not take any action, ”said Goyke.
Born said that if the DWD wanted these programs, the department could use ARP funds to fund them.
Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-West Point) expressed his frustration that the Republicans who spent the pandemic pelting Evers with stones for the unemployment system now did not want to invest in modernizing the system. He pointed out that lawmakers knew the unemployment system needed an update and during the pandemic their “phones began to glow”.
“For a brief moment during the pandemic, [Wisconsin] Republicans pretended to ensure that unemployed Wisconsinites had access to theirs [unemployment] benefits as soon as possible, ”tweeted Johnson. “Now, when it’s time to actually fund the corrections to the 1970s system, it’s off to the mountains.”
Johnson was particularly angry about the cut in funding for lead pipe removal, which Rep. Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) said could also be addressed with ARP funding. During the last budget meeting, lead pipe replacement was also removed from the budget because Vos and others said too much of the funds would go to Milwaukee, the largest and most diverse city in the state that traditionally elects democratically.
Rep Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said the reality is that many Wisconsin communities have lead pipes. She said “an essential role for the government is to make sure people can drink the water from their tap”.
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