- With the elections coming up in the fall,
the legislature isn't planning on being in session
very long this year.
In tonight's capitol insight, we'll hear what legislative
leaders hope to accomplish in the next couple months.
First up, Republican Jim Steineke,
majority leader in the Assembly.
He joins us from Green Bay.
Thanks for your time.
- Thanks for having me.
- First off, I want to get your reaction
to the result of Tuesday's special election.
Governor Walker called it a wake-up call for Republicans.
What's your take-away?
- I think that's right.
I think the enthusiasm gap is obviously there,
so that's something we're going to have to work on.
I think as state legislators and state leaders,
the biggest thing that we have to do is continue to tell the
story of the transformation Wisconsin has seen over the
course of the last seven years and why it's important to keep
that momentum going.
- Now in recent days we've seen the governor agree to more
funding for rural schools, call for speeding up the overhaul of
the juvenile justice system and now a special session on welfare
reform.
What on that list fits with your agenda in the Assembly?
- Most of it does.
We've been looking at-- for the remainder of the session,
we've been looking at, focusing on economic development,
schools, welfare reform and some other things.
So it fits in pretty well with what we've been thinking.
- Regarding the welfare reform and the special session,
the Journal Sentinel reported that the current FoodShare work
requirements have cost the state $18 million and 24,
000 people have found jobs thru that program.
And 86,000 did not and lost money for food.
Is that a success?
And how will the new welfare bills change that system or work
with it?
- The biggest thing that we're seeing in Wisconsin is we've
gone from seven years ago not having enough jobs for the
people that needed them to a place where we have not enough
people for the jobs that are available,
which is a better problem to have, but it's still a problem.
So we need to make sure that as much as we can,
as we get people that aren't currently working that are able
to work, we need to get them back to work.
So whether that's getting them the skills they need and the
training or just getting them the motivation to start moving
in the right direction, those are things that we have to look at.
- But some of the welfare package includes an ID for
FoodShare cards using a photo ID is that necessary?
Will that get people working?
- Well, I think it's cracking down on waste,
fraud and abuse is always been something we've been working on
over the course of the last seven years.
One of the things that I hear on a regular basis as I go out into
the communities and talk to my constituents is they want to
make sure if they're sending their tax money to Madison to
help people that it's going to people that truly need the help
and it's not being wasted or fraudulently used.
- The governor vetoed the rural school funding in the last
budget and he's ignored calls to shut down Lincoln Hills in
recent years.
So Democrats are saying this rush of things,
ideas from the governor is just politics for an election year.
How do you respond to that?
- Well, listen, I can't put myself in their shoes because I
don't understand the thinking.
These are things that they want.
Just because he didn't embrace them when they wanted him to,
you know, they're criticizing him.
The point is we're on the way now.
We're getting more monies to schools and that's a good thing.
- Are you hoping for any of these bills to gather any
Democratic bipartisan support?
- I would certainly hope so.
I mean, over 90% of the bills that got signed into law
so far this year have had bipartisan support.
I would expect that to continue.
Because these are things that have broad support throughout
the state and something I would hope our colleagues on the other
side of the aisle would embrace as well.
- Now, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau
recently put out that the cost of public benefits for the
Foxconn project is now approaching $4.5 billion.
When you compare that with money cities around the country
are offering Amazon in order to win their new headquarters,
do you still consider Foxconn to be a good deal
for Wisconsin taxpayers? - Yeah, absolutely.
What people have to remember is that high line number is only
reached if they meet certain performance measures.
So payments-- money doesn't go out until they create jobs or
they make capital expenditures.
So as they do that, that's when the tax incentives
come into play.
So it's really a pay-as-you-grow kind of system.
I think it's going to prove to be a good thing for the state of Wisconsin.
- There has been a lot of political observers saying
Governor Walker is not campaigning on Foxconn and
Republicans aren't talking about Foxconn out in the world so that
they're afraid this deal.
They think it will hurt them in the polls and the elections this fall.
Do you think that will happen?
- No. I don't think so.
I've been talking about it freely.
I think others will as well.
As we start to see the ground being broken on this project,
as we start to see suppliers from around the state getting
involved in this project, it is going to touch every corner of
this state, this project will, and I think when people see the
jobs coming and the expansion -- you know,
the actual creation of the buildings,
I think it's going to be a good thing for all of us.
- All right, Representative Steineke from Green Bay,
thanks for your time today. - Thank you.
- Joining us now to respond is Democrat Gordon Hintz,
the minority leader in the Assembly.
Thanks for your time today.
- Thanks for having me.
- What is your takeaway from Tuesday night?
- I think Senator-elect Schachtner deserves a lot of
credit for a campaign she ran that demonstrated she was really
in touch with what people want from state government
on their basic needs.
I thought she ran an authentic campaign.
Obviously it was a rejection of what we're hearing from a lot of
people around the state of Wisconsin that they're tired of
a government at the national level that just focuses on tax
cuts for the wealthy, seems out of touch with dealing with
problems that we need fixed, like transportation
infrastructure, and really just getting back to the basics.
- Now, as the new minority leader part of your job looking
forward to the election is to bring in a lot of new members.
Are you sensing the same wave
that other people are talking about?
Do you feel that same energy?
- Look, Tuesday's results are fantastic for Democrats.
They followed a pattern that has happened all over the country.
We're hearing from people that are overwhelmingly rejecting the
Trump/Walker agenda on federal and state issues.
Besides the western Wisconsin race,
we won the city of West Bend in a special election in a race
that wasn't expected to be competitive.
So one of the things that we saw in the race the other night,
in the senate race, is across the board Democrats picked up
seats, including people who voted for Trump in '16 are now
coming around two years later and voting for Democrats.
That's a good sign.
- How will the election results and Governor Walker's wake-up
call on Twitter impact what legislation is introduced
and passed in the next couple months?
- Based on Governor Walker's excessive tweets following the
race and just each day this week,
it appears he's trying to make up for seven years of failed
leadership by taking Democratic ideas,
by trying to chase the politics of resentment,
by attacking people living on the margins,
which I think goes further to demonstrate how out of touch he
is with both the economy and the needs throughout the state.
- But when it comes to actually passing legislation,
if some of these are Democratic ideas or good policy,
it's better late than never?
- Well, look.
Democrats have long supported expanded health care access,
juvenile corrections reform, funding transportation,
dealing with sparsity aid and low-spending school districts.
I think we'll look at those actual proposals
if they come to the table.
We certainly would love to get them done regardless
if it's for political reasons or not.
But I think we'll wait and see.
The governor has said he's going to do things before.
We've got a month left in session.
It seems like a lot of desperation, but we'll see.
- What about this special session on welfare?
What about calling it a special session signifies it over some
of the other things he's pushing?
- Yeah, it's funny.
Democrats crush Republicans in western Wisconsin, blow it out.
Get a lot of support.
And the governor immediately gets on an airplane and flies
around the state and comes with a bunch of mean-spirited,
inefficient and costly legislation that he's never
talked about before with one month left in session.
And it seems a little desperate.
It seems completely geared at the election.
And it's trying to take us in a different direction message-wise
where he doesn't have to defend $4.5 billion going to Foxconn
or that fact that he's failed on fixing transportation
for seven years.
- And speaking of Foxconn, the $4.5 billion is the new number
that came out from the Fiscal Bureau.
How does that compare to what other cities or states are
offering Amazon, in particular, to move their headquarters?
Is that just the price to play ball nowadays?
- Look, I think everybody might have been willing to offer some
incentives and take some risk.
But when you're looking a cost with a payback that's at least
25 years and now it's costing even more money,
and there's a lot of questions about the long-term viability of
what they're going to be making, I don't think we've seen
anything like this.
I haven't seen the Amazon deal, but I understand it's a much
smaller investment and commitment from state government
and a much bigger return in terms of jobs and they've got
demonstrated success with what they've done in Seattle and
beyond and seem to be a company that is here for the long haul.
- Just the last few seconds, how big of an issue will Foxconn
be for Democrats in the fall?
- We didn't have to make Foxconn an issue.
It's already on voters' minds.
I just don't think people think cutting funding from
their public schools in their communities and cutting funding
from their universities to give money in cash payments
to a foreign company is the best investment.
- All right, Gordon Hintz, we'll leave it there.
Thank you. - Thank you.