I wanted to thank the hundreds of constituents of the 37thAssembly District who took the time to fill out my Spring Budget Survey. I promised to share the results and they demonstrate how your priorities became my priorities as we decided on a spending plan for the next two years for Wisconsin.
The budget will be voted on in the Assembly next week, and according to your survey results, the top budget priority is a tax cut for middle class families. I’m proud to say that the budget achieves that with a cut targeted to the bottom two tax brackets. In addition, the spending plan includes the largest total investment in actual dollars (nearly $12 billion) to K-12 education in our state’s history. It also includes more money for the Rainy Day Fund, already at its largest level in history.
Despite saying in interviews that he “wasn’t going to raise taxes on anyone” before the election, Governor Evers’ budget proposal included more than a billion and half in new taxes. I was completely against that and not surprisingly, a great majority of you are as well.
It’s clear based on the survey results that you agree with me that you don’t want an expansion of welfare in Wisconsin. You also want more oversight in those programs. That’s why we removed Governor Evers’ Medicaid expansion and eliminated the provisions in his proposed budget to remove drug screening and work requirements for welfare recipients.
Governor Evers’ budget proposal also included many “policy” items, which were rightly removed from the budget by the Joint Finance Committee. The same policy removal was done with Scott Walker’s last proposed budget. Even if you agree with Governor Evers on these proposals (and the survey shows that you don’t) they deserve to be discussed on their own merits and not included in the massive spending plan.
Among the items I was happy to see removed from the budget were Governor Evers’ idea to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants and provide illegal immigrants the financial benefit of in-state tuition at our universities. The survey results also show you don’t want to see a forced increase in the minimum wage or state dollars going to fund Planned Parenthood.
The finance committee also removed a provision to authorize a medical marijuana program and decriminalize marijuana for recreational use. I agree with the decision to remove them because I think they should be discussed and vetted on their own. As I have indicated, I would likely support a carefully structured medical marijuana proposal. As for complete legalization, I am not on board yet. As some of our neighbor states move in that direction, it will give us a chance to closely monitor the effects of legalization before taking action.
The survey also asked for your thoughts on gun control laws and our voter I.D. law, two topics which generate a lot of emails into my office. I’m pleased, but not surprised, that a majority of you agree with me on these two issues…
The last one is always a scary proposition for me. How good of a job am I doing? We asked you to rate your elected official. Here’s how it broke down.
Once again, thank you for your input and your time. Next week we will be voting on the budget in the full assembly. I will give you a full summary of the final package late next week. I’m confident that it will meet my and your expectations for moving Wisconsin forward.
Pro-Life Bills Vetoed
Today Governor Evers' announced that he has vetoed pro-life measures that had passed the Legislature. I am disappointed with the Governor's decision to veto these four bills. The fact that the Governor is pushing a pro-choice agenda is not surprising. However, the fact that he vetoed the "born alive" bill shows how extreme his views are.
A pro-life rally was held at the Capitol yesterday to encourage the Governor to sign the bills. Among those who spoke at the rally were two women who had survived botched abortions. For more information on the bills, click the links below.
AB 179 dealt with medical care provided to those born alive during an attempted abortion.
AB 180 would have required informed consent regarding medication induced abortions.
AB 181 would have affected abortion providers who also accept Medical Assistance programs.
Lastly, AB 182 would have banned abortions that are gender or disability based.
