[Madison, WI] – In case you missed it, Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Mark Jefferson penned an op-ed in Empower Wisconsin highlighting how Tony Evers’ proposed state budget would have prioritized the far left over Wisconsin families. As Wisconsin returns to normalcy, our state budget needs to uplift taxpayers and empower people, not big government. Unfortunately, Evers proposed a budget that put far left policies first — including government-run health care, school choice caps, the repeal of work search requirements for unemployment insurance recipients and more.

Evers’ far left priorities were completely wrong for a post-pandemic budget. Fortunately, Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature have promised to deliver a budget that is responsible, realistic and uplifts taxpayers, not bureaucrats. As Jefferson notes, “when Wisconsin families have more money in their pockets to balance their own budgets and better options for educating their kids, they will have legislative Republicans to thank.”

Read more from Executive Director Mark Jefferson below:

Evers’ Tax-and-Spend Budget Benefits Far Left, Not Families
Empower Wisconsin
Mark Jefferson
June 3, 2021

Now more than ever, Wisconsinites know the importance of a responsible, focused budget. Over the past year, countless families have been forced to do more with less due to the financial impact of the pandemic, which was only compounded by Gov. Tony Evers’ costly lockdowns and failure to get unemployed Wisconsinites the assistance they were promised.

Unfortunately, despite the governor’s role in exacerbating the impact of the pandemic, Evers hasn’t taken any cues from Wisconsinites on how to balance a checkbook. Instead, he’s proposed a bloated state budget that featured hundreds of policies unrelated to the state’s fiscal programs, resembled more of a liberal wish list and included items that he knew Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature would never support.

As a result, Republicans on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee initially removed nearly 400 divisive policy items and over $8 billion in spending increases from Evers’ proposed state budget — including a $1 billion tax hike that would have hurt Wisconsin families while many are still struggling to catch up.

The governor’s budget would have posed major problems for health care and our education system and implemented a slew of divisive policy items that make no sense for a post-COVID budget. The tail-end of a pandemic is the worst possible time to lay the groundwork for a government takeover of health care. Yet Evers’ budget would have created a public option for healthcare, which economists have shown would crowd out private insurance from the market — eventually forcing over 3 million Wisconsinites off of their private plans — and devastate rural hospitals.

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Right now, our state budget needs to benefit people — not big government. Instead of being forced to send more money to the government to fund divisive programs and far-left priorities, Wisconsinites should be allowed to make the best decisions for their families as our state returns to normalcy.

Fortunately, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee have promised to deliver a budget that is responsible, realistic and uplifts taxpayers, not bureaucrats. When Wisconsin families have more money in their pockets to balance their own budgets and better options for educating their kids, they will have legislative Republicans to thank.

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