On January 6, 2021 Wisconsinites were glued to their TV screens, witnessing something most of us never thought possible. Rioters beating up Capitol police officers with flagpoles. Confederate flags in the US Capitol. Lawmakers being evacuated as the mob called for their execution.
As we enjoy our beers and hamburgers, we’ll also be partaking in another uniquely American pastime—the kind of dissent, criticism, and organizing that are borne out of love for this country, and the desire to make it the very best version of itself that it can be.
The leaders who are supposed to govern in our name are squandering a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in our future. The Senate’s decision to approve this budget, without the amendments it so desperately needs, will reverberate over the next couple of years and beyond. We deserve better.
Under Governor Evers’ budget proposal, our schools, small businesses, and local governments would receive the resources they need to give every Wisconsinite the opportunity to keep a roof over their family’s heads, put food on the table, and get access to a doctor when they are sick. Under the budget passed by the Assembly, the rich get richer and everyone else keeps struggling. That’s not how Wisconsinites treat their neighbors, and we’re calling on the Senate to vote down a budget that fails to invest in us.
Republicans know their ideas aren’t popular, so they want to rig the rules to make it more difficult for Wisconsinites to have a say, all the while handing tax breaks to their wealthy friends and corporations. The good news is that we have leaders like Governor Evers and Democrats in the state legislature alongside Senator Baldwin and Representatives Moore, Kind and Pocan to stand up for our freedom to vote and fight for a future where we all get what we need.
Instead of putting Wisconsin on the path towards a vibrant economy and good jobs for our residents, Republicans are taking us down a dead end, with vindictive cuts to public transit and insufficient access to the DMV. There is a better roadmap forward, and it includes supporting Gov. Evers’ budget plan that invests helping workers get to work.
On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau updated its revenue estimates, revealing that the state is poised to have billions more than previously expected. This new information snatches away the final fig leaf for legislative Republicans who have attempted to defund popular and necessary services, including education, job training, and financial aid for technical college and University of Wisconsin students.
Republican leaders evidently wouldn’t know good policy if it showed up and knocked on their door. Legal cannabis would mean pain relief for those suffering from cancer, eliminating unnecessary criminal records and barriers to employment, fewer people in our prisons, and more money in our coffers.
We all share the goal of getting Wisconsinites back to work, in well-paying jobs that support a family. The best thing we can do to advance that goal is to respect our workers. That means taking up the policies proposed by Gov. Evers in his budget that would make sure Wisconsin workers have a voice on the job, the freedom to bargain together, good wages, and benefits like family and medical leave.
Governor Evers’ budget makes bold, strategic investments in the things we need for a better future for everyone in Wisconsin, and his plan to support public schools in every community and for all students shows that. The cuts Republicans made to the proposed education aren’t just fiscally irresponsible, they are a disservice to our children.
Instead of bringing good jobs to their communities and expanding BadgerCare to people making less than $18,000 per year, Republicans in the State Legislature are playing politics with our lives and livelihoods. It’s time to expand BadgerCare and live up to our Wisconsin ideals of caring for our neighbors and building stronger and more vibrant communities.
BadgerCare Expansion exemplifies what the Evers administration is all about: working towards popular, bipartisan policies that would make a real difference in Wisconsinites’ lives. It is time for Republicans to come together with Democrats to make this healthier, more prosperous future a reality.
Today, the United States Senate is taking another step in the long march towards securing the freedom to vote for all Americans, a journey that began with the very creation of this country and has travelled through difficult terrain, from the suffrage movement which permitted women to vote to the Civil Rights Movement and the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
They said ‘no’ today, but if we reject their politics of division and unite in favor of a better future, we can have a Wisconsin that says yes to everyone getting what they need to live a safe, healthy, and prosperous life.”
The JFC knows the budget is popular, which is why they don’t want you to hear more about it.
We are healthier and more prosperous than we were when President Biden took office, and with 1,362 days to go, we can expect a more equitable, hopeful future, with good jobs and justice on the horizon.
This bill is transphobic, plain and simple. Trans children are not, and should not be, a political football for Robin Vos or any other politician.
In marking Earth Day each year, there are any number of issues to focus on, from the traditional, like climate change and pollution, to those that demand more attention like racial justice. This year, we are celebrating having leaders who recognize the importance of our environment to everything we care about, and are committed to equitable and judicious care of our planet.
While the outcome is appropriate, it is not a cause for celebration. That it takes a global movement to take one step towards accountability is a fundamental reminder that the current unjust system does not work for too many in our communities.
Most Wisconsinites, regardless of race or place, just want our families to be whole and our communities to be vibrant. But, for too long, cannabis laws have been used to target, harass, and criminalize Black and Brown communities in Wisconsin, and across the country.
As Senator Stroebel grandstands about transparency in public, his private actions reflect a contempt for Wisconsin’s Open Records Law and for the right of the public to hold their elected officials accountable.
Just five months after one of the most important elections in living memory and for the fifth time in this pandemic, Wisconsinites returned to the ballot box, and, once again, we have voted for our future and our communities.
Together, we can make child care more affordable, more sustainable, and higher quality, supporting both the families and providers. That alone is a reason to make this investment. But we know the data shows there’s more than that. The investments in the care economy from President Biden and Democrats' American Rescue Plan and Governor Evers’ budget proposal will create jobs and ensure that all our communities are a good place to raise a family.
While the American Rescue Plan will help, Wisconsin must expand BadgerCare to reap the full benefits the ACA
We support the efforts of the nurse members of SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin seeking a fair contract.
Things are looking up in Wisconsin, with the state leading the nation in COVID vaccine distribution and Spring in the weather. Unfortunately, not all of Wisconsin’s elected officials are looking ahead to a brighter future or paying attention to the real needs of our communities.
Every year, around the world on March 8th, women and their allies gather in protest and solidarity for reproductive justice, equal pay, healthcare, safety against sexual and domestic violence, and many other issues that affect women around the world. This year in Wisconsin, we’re unifying around Governor Evers’ budget.
No matter where you come from or what you look like, we can all agree that voters pick their leaders; leaders shouldn’t get to pick their voters.
Accessible and secure elections are the bedrock of our democracy. This pandemic has shown us the lengths Wisconsin voters are willing to go to cast a ballot and make their voices heard, but it doesn’t have to be this hard. Governor Evers’ budget takes huge strides towards modernizing our elections and giving all Wisconsinites a chance to pick their leaders, and the future they want.
We’re coming together to build new dreams and invest in our collective future. The budget that Governor Evers announced this evening will help our communities bounce back even stronger in 2021 and beyond by investing in us.
As Wisconsinites worry about putting food on the table or bringing home a deadly virus to a vulnerable family member, Republicans in the legislature have spent more time arguing over how best to attack and undermine the Democratic Governor’s effort to keep us safe than trying to provide constructive solutions.
It was already bad enough that Republicans in Wisconsin’s state Senate were voting to overturn a live-saving public health order, all to undermine the Democratic Governor.