MADISON, Wis. – Today, Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-19) led the charge against bills that continue Assembly Republicans’ recent attacks on the programs and services that undergird Wisconsin’s economy, speaking against AB 164 and AB 165. AB 164 would add new requirements to unemployment insurance for both workers and program administrators, requiring the latter to redirect agency resources into investigating applicants’ work activities. AB 165 preempts local control over “unrestricted cash transfer” programs, including a pilot supporting postpartum mothers and children in Milwaukee.
An additional bill adding state restrictions on Medicaid/BadgerCare (AB 163) access did not make it to the floor, following aggressive opposition from disability advocates in committee.
Rep. Clancy (D-19) issued the following statement:
“Unemployment insurance is a Wisconsin idea, through and through, the product of hard work and the actual blood of socialists and labor organizers who understood that unemployment insurance is an investment in workers and our workforce.
Sadly, AB 164 takes a group of people already hit hard by disastrous Republican policy –many of whom have already lost their jobs because of the Trump regime– and seeks to make their lives even more difficult by suggesting that they’re bad people trying to defraud the same unemployment insurance system they’re accessing just to get by. These changes would swamp the Department of Workforce Development with more bureaucracy, slowing down its ability to help at a critical time. It’s inhumane for Republicans to cut away the safety nets that they make necessary.
Alarmingly, neither lead author of AB 165 seems familiar with the many, many studies showing how effective it is to help folks, like new mothers, with unrestricted cash transfers. We know that giving cash to people in poverty helps them not to be poor. In Milwaukee, we’ve seen folks use the benefits of these programs to pay rent, to buy a vehicle to get themselves to work and school, and even to take a few weeks off after the birth of their child to bond with them. The data supports this clearly, if only the authors would read it.
Neither AB 164 or AB 165 help workers, or employers, and they do nothing to solve Wisconsin’s structural workforce problems. We have wasted yet another day on legislation that Governor Evers has already vetoed, and will veto again. It’s shameful.”
