Contact: Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, 608.266.0650
MADISON—Representative Jonathan Brostoff (D-Milwaukee) released the following statement today reacting to the passage of Wisconsin’s 2017-2019 Biennial Budget.
“After more than two months of waiting past the budget’s due date, we have been presented with a substandard mess with lack of full consideration for some of the most critical functions of our government.
With the school year already in swing, our kids and teachers should be confident they have the tools they need to succeed in the classroom. However, schools are over $1 billion short of funding. Repubs are not doing enough to ensure our children and their schools are provided the supplies and spaces essential for learning.
The Democrats proposed an amendment which would have provided a growth in funding to special education, an area that has not seen a rise in over 10 years, and increased access to full day 4-K, which guarantees fair educational opportunity to all children. It would also give communities more control over how their tax dollars are spent. This amendment was not picked up by the Repubs.
Wisconsin’s road system is 50-years-old and in poor shape. Our neighbors spend and extra $637 annually fixing the resulting damage to their cars, a cost which is over the national average. We have witnessed much talk and no action as the Repubs have failed to fix Wisconsin’s crumbling roads. This budget actually reduced highway funding by more than $250 million, leading into no opportunity for a future solution.
All Wisconsinites should have access to affordable health care, but in this budget Repubs are costing Wisconsin families $1.07 billion with their refusal to expand BadgerCare. As many as 311,000 Wisconsin residents may lose their health care coverage under the repeal plan.
Health care is vital for all of Wisconsin’s communities, and this attacks what should be a safe, and strong system trusted by our residents. Had the Repub-controlled invested in our communities and addressed these issues, we could have begun to reverse the path of failure to start putting Wisconsin families first.
