MADISON, Wis. — Lowering costs for hard working Wisconsinites, protecting consumers from price gouging and insurance company abuses, and investing in training the next generation of teachers and health care workers were among the popular measures the legislature’s budget writing committee could have supported today. But an earlier vote by the Republican majority on the Joint Committee on Finance stopped these measures from coming before the committee as part of the consideration of several state agency budgets today.
These latest missed opportunities come on the heels of Republican legislative leaders’ walkout of budget discussions with Gov. Tony Evers last week.
“Republicans, including Finance committee co-chairs Howard Marklein and Mark Born, walked away from talks on a bipartisan budget deal with Gov. Evers. And they’ve blocked votes today on budget proposals that could really help the people they’re supposed to be representing,” commented A Better Wisconsin Together Deputy Director Mike Browne. “You have to ask, who are they working for? Because it certainly is not Wisconsin working families.”
Wisconsin Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee threw out more than 600 items from the state budget last month in one vote. The Republican-controlled committee is now meeting to vote section by section on the budget, but items rejected by the GOP’s previous action can’t be considered now.
As the Joint Finance Committee takes up state agencies including the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and the departments of Workforce Development and Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection the following are just a few of the items banned from consideration today:
- Creating an Office of Prescription Drug Affordability;
- A cap on the cost of insulin copays;
- Cracking down on health insurance denials of coverage;
- Family and medical leave expansion;
- Funding for food inspection;
- Protections against price gouging;
- Apprenticeship programs to train teachers and health care workers.
“Instead of uniting around popular and impactful policies like lowering prescription drug costs, mental health support for first responders, making sure our food is safe to eat, and marijuana regulation, Wisconsin Republicans have once again chosen to play partisan politics with funds that could otherwise make Wisconsin a better place for all of us to live and thrive,” Browne concluded.
