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Robin Vos: Governor should sign bill to end supplemental unemployment benefits
My colleagues and I wrote legislation to end the supplement so we can encourage workers to come back to the workforce. Unfortunately, Gov. Tony Evers is expected to veto it, and he is wrong to do so.
Dave Zweifel: Thanks to Vos, you can kiss those tax dollars goodbye
Now that Wisconsin's budget projection shows a big surplus in the coming biennium, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos isn't interested in using some of the money for more aid to schools and broadband expansion, arguing instead that it should be returned to the taxpayers because they're the hardworking people who made the surplus possible.
Steven Walters: Windfalls set up another showdown over spending, tax cuts
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the Legislature got a stunning update on state government’s cash position from Lang: Tax collections will be $4.4 billion higher than expected by mid-2023.
Howard Marklein: More investment in rural roads, state parks, law enforcement
The Joint Finance Committee invested $100 million for local, rural roads and increased General Transportation Aids in both years of the biennium.
Bill Kaplan: Johnson’s comments on Biden’s Tulsa speech ignorant, racist
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson denounced Biden’s Tulsa speech as “awful and so incredibly divisive.”
Mollie Hemingway: YouTube silences U.S. Sen. Johnson
The powerful video-sharing company removed a video of a speech given by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and banned him from uploading new videos for at least seven days.
Dave Cieslewicz: Refund the police
Biden should couple increased police funding with all kinds of reform requirements, so that departments could only get the money if they met a set of standards and got certified by the Justice Department.
John Nichols: Vulture capitalists are preying on jobs in Janesville
In 2017, one of the city’s oldest manufacturing firms, Hufcor, was taken over by OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that has a record of dismembering factories with heartless disregard for workers and communities.
WisOpinion.com: ‘The Insiders’ discuss the state budget windfall and Evers’ reelection chances
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, comment on Gov. Tony Evers' announcement to seek a second term amid a $4.4 billion budget windfall.
Paul Fanlund: For these times, Joe Biden and Tony Evers are pitch perfect
Each embraces a no-drama, commonsense approach to the pandemic and the economy, which is spot-on both on policy and politics.
Reggie Jackson: A fear of the truth
The rationale behind laws to limit learning about racism.
M.D. Kittle: Evers continues to lock down historic sites
Gov. Tony Evers has more than $5 billion at his disposal to spend on any number of COVID-19-related relief efforts, yet he can’t seem to find a fraction of that windfall to re-open the storied historical sites his administration ordered shut down last fall.
Kevyn Burger: A pandemic rivalry in the Sr. Croix Valley
Two very different COVID-19 responses produce different economic outcomes in Hudson, Wis., and Stillwater, Minn.
Gregory Humphrey: Bipartisanship In Wisconsin!
Former Wisconsin governors Jim Doyle, a Democrat, and Scott Walker, a Republican have come together for the better health of our state. They have joined efforts to enlist their fellow citizens to get vaccinated so to stem the spread of COVID.
Ruth Conniff: How long can Republicans keep running on resentment and austerity?
It’s breathtaking the amount of money Republicans are determined to turn away on behalf of the people of Wisconsin.
Melody McCurtis: Community should decide how $400 million spent
That's how much federal pandemic aid city is getting. A participatory budget process is needed.
Dan O’Donnell: A sunk cost goes completely underwater
Milwaukee will invariably continue to throw money into the streetcar in a vain attempt at making Mayor Barrett’s vanity project finally work.
Bruce Thompson: Trump Country has much lower GDP
Yet the difference is smaller in Wisconsin. Why?
Katherine Loughead: Wisconsin’s surplus presents opportunity for down payment on future economic growth
Given the state’s revenue forecast, it makes sense to consider options for returning some of the excess revenue to taxpayers in a structurally sound manner while making Wisconsin more economically competitive in the process.
CJ Szafir: A fiscally prudent option for the surplus
With an additional $4.4 billion in tax revenue, the legislature and the governor have the opportunity to accomplish priorities that were often thought to be unrealistic: reduce taxes, implement a learning loss recovery program for students who have been left behind from school closures, or expand strategic investments like broadband to ensure all Wisconsinites have access to high-speed internet.
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