MADISON, WI – Today marks the official closure dates of the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program facilities in Green Bay and Chippewa Falls, displacing multiple veterans who are currently struggling with homelessness and addiction and cutting off support for any vets who may struggle in the future. Wisconsin State Senators Dianne Hesselbein (SD-27) and Jamie Wall (SD-30) held a press conference this morning to call attention to the closings and make it abundantly clear that Senate Democrats have been working to keep these facilities open, while Republicans have voted to close them multiple times.
During Budget negotiations, Governor Evers included funding for these facilities in his budget but the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee took the funds out. Democrats then offered the necessary funding as an amendment to the budget, which Republicans voted against. Finally, Senators Wall and Jeff Smith authored a stan alone bill that would keep the facilities open that Republicans have failed to support.
Senator Hesselbein made the following comment on the closing of the Veterans Housing facilities:
“We are here fighting for our veterans. We were ready to vote on this [to keep fund the housing facilities] in Joint Finance, we were ready to vote on the amendment that came to the floor, and we are still standing strong in support of these stand alone bills. We can get this done. We are willing to work together, we want to work together. But unfortunately it is the Republicans decision to vote these efforts down, to close these facilities, and to turn their backs on Wisconsin veterans.”
Senator Wall made the following comment on his bill to save these facilities and Democrats efforts to stand up for Wisconsin veterans:
“Senator Smith and I introduced a bill that would have restored the funding for these facilities for homeless veterans. That bill has attracted some bipartisan support, and I can tell you that every member of our caucus would vote for it if it came to a vote today. My disappointment is with leadership, legislative Republicans have not made this program, have not made this bill, and have not made homeless veterans a priority. They’ve run out the clock, and here we are on September 30th and the funding is going away.”
