MADISON, Wis. – Republican State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is standing in the way of providing new Wisconsin moms with critical pregnancy-related healthcare provided by Medicaid. Today on the Assembly floor, my Democratic colleagues and I exhausted every avenue possible to get a vote on Senate Bill 23, which would extend Medicaid coverage to new Wisconsin moms. The bill would offer accessible, affordable, quality, and continuous healthcare to new moms who need it. Currently, that coverage lasts a woefully inadequate 60 days. At every turn, Republicans inexplicably and repeatedly used procedural maneuvering to block this bill.
This bill has overwhelmingly passed the Wisconsin State Senate for two sessions in a row, but today Republicans in the Assembly failed Wisconsin moms once again. The Democratic efforts today come after a failed motion in Rules Committee last week to bring this bill to the Assembly floor. Every Republican in the room voted against bringing this proposal forward, including one of the bill authors.
This bill is cosponsored by 72 of 99 Representatives in the Assembly. Yet Republican leaders have refused our attempts to move it in Committee, sign a petition to move it, move it under special privilege, amend another bill with it, and pass it via special motion on the Floor.
Their maneuvers are reckless and endanger the health of new moms and their babies.
