Madison – Tonight, the Wisconsin Assembly passed the Wisconsin State Biennial Budget 2023-2025 which cut countless investments from Gov. Evers’ budget while giving a historic tax break for millionaires and billionaires in the state.
Representative Madison (D-10) issued the following statement:
“This budget is an insult to the working people of Wisconsin – who work in good faith to make our communities better every single day. They expect us to work in good faith too, but instead of passing a budget that invests in programs and services to benefit everyday individuals, the Republicans would rather actively defund services and give away millions of dollars worth of tax breaks to the wealthiest millionaire and billionaire Wisconsinites. This is not democracy, this is a robbery – Republicans are using their gerrymandered-backed power to force Wisconsin into an austerity-driven downward spiral all while we sit on a nearly $7 billion dollar state surplus.
Just a few weeks ago, Republicans voted for the largest increase of public funding for private and charter schools. They claimed to be operating in the best interest of students and young people in our state. Now we see their values for what they really are: choosing private companies and profits over adequately addressing the needs of our young people. They have stripped programs from the budget that our working families and youth are in desperate need of: mental health services, paid family leave, lead service replacement, clean water programs, climate action, and so much more.
They won’t support Medicaid expansion, even though it will help working people AND save the state over a billion dollars. The Republicans even stood together while voting down an amendment on expanding medicaid for postpartum women, despite the fact that 27 Republican Representatives have co-sponsored the exact same bill. Most egregious of all, the Republicans cut funding for the Child Care Counts program, even though it will lead to the closing of approximately 2,110 child care programs and leave 87,425 Wisconsin kids behind.
With this budget, the Republicans have shown us exactly who they are: they don’t care about impacts on working people and they don’t even care about their own stances on a policy position. They continue to legislate with hate, fear, and division – pushing working families to a breaking point while celebrating their next campaign donation.”
