Sorry about the hot dogs and
the pregnancy. I love it.
It's great.
All right, well, Senator, thanks
very much for joining us.
Great to be with you.
So we know that Congress is poised
to cut Medicaid and food
share. Is it your expectation
that the state will have to
backfill any kind of those cuts?
I think we need to absolutely be
prepared.
To do whatever we can to make sure
that families can survive.
Economic chaos and devastating
cuts that are coming out of
Washington.
I know that the governor had put,
I believe, 500 million dollars
in the budget in case
of that kind of thing.
Did Did that remain?
When the Republican Joint
Finance Committee members kind of
pulled things out.
You know, I think that the
Republicans have...
Basically just been plugging their
ears and trying to pretend that it's
not happening.
Uh...
And What we do know is that
almost a third of the state budget
is money.
That comes from the federal
government. So there is no way
that we can be fully prepared.
Before.
Whatever cuts come down and
certainly the scale.
Of.
The cuts are going to be devastating
to every Wisconsin family, whether
it's nutrition support.
Food Share.
Educational funding, transportation,
public safety.
And, of course, healthcare.
Your GOP counterparts say a
keen priority of theirs is what...
They call tax reform.
And they mention the middle class
and the elderly.
Do you expect compromise around
tax cuts in the state budget?
We've had a...
Mantra for decades of cutting
taxes and...
I think my Republican colleagues
talk a good game.
About the middle class, but when
they actually... Show us their work.
Their tax proposals are always
skewed toward the very, very
wealthiest among us in big business.
And at a time when people are really
gonna be struggling.
Struggling with higher costs, things
like groceries, housing, child care.
Prescription drugs.
We cannot be considering more
tax cuts for the wealthy.
That has gotten us nowhere.
And so, you know,
Democrats have proposed...
Reasonable.
Tax relief.
That is targeted towards the middle
class, the working class, those that
are striving to get there.
And Republicans have kind of thrown
that back in our face and said no.
Yet more giveaways for the
folks that are already doing fine.
And so you don't believe that
there's room for compromise around
that? You know, my hope is that
there would be.
I just haven't seen a lot of
evidence of that.
I mean, I think the compromise
position would be.
What Democrats have continually
proposed.
Which is.
Let's.
Scale that.
Tax relief and tax reform.
To the people who actually need it.
Rather than.
Just continuing to double down on.
Giving more money away to the
wealthiest.
As our.
Schools, our universities.
And our healthcare infrastructure
are all struggling for funds.
What are Democratic members'
priorities?
Well, I would say we want to make
sure. That we are addressing the
high costs of living for everyday
Wisconsin families.
So things like.
Child care.
Making sure kids have great
funded public education and healthy
school meals at schools that
we're funding opportunities for
advancement so that everyone can
thrive. Our universities, our
technical colleges.
These are the things that.
Make Wisconsin a good place to live.
And we have to be prepared to fund
those things. That's also what we
heard as we traveled around the
state. And listened to people's
public input. The number.
One and two issues that people cared
about.
K-12 public school funding.
Child care.
Uh... And We haven't had budgets
that have.
At the moment.
Now it is.
Pastime for our kids to get what
they need.
We know that the governor's budget
included $450 million
to continue the Child Care Count's
child care program.
But that was one of some 600
provisions pulled out by
Republican members of the Budget
Writing Committee.
What happens?
Uh... In june when the
federal subsidy for that goes
away If
The Republican majority budget
writers don't do something
around that.
We've been in a child care crisis
for a long time in this country.
Even before COVID.
But child care counts stopped
the losses, it stopped the closures
because it put more money.
In classrooms and teachers.
This is really a supply problem.
There aren't enough childcare slots
to go around.
In many places, there are two,
three, four, even more kids that
need a slot for every one that's
available. Because teachers can't
afford to stay in early childhood.
They can make more at a fast food
restaurant or at a gas station.
Starting wage.
Than they can.
With a bachelor's degree in early
childhood.
And It's
because...
Parents can't afford to pay more.
So this is where.
We do need.
Uh... The state to step in
as we did with child care counts.
And help close that gap so
that the most talented and dedicated
early childhood educators can
practice the profession that they
love and that our kids get what they
need. At a price that parents can
afford. Because what happens if...
We don't contribute toward
that.
We're gonna see massive closures
of childcare centers.
We're going to see.
You know, parents completely unable
to get a slot and...
The few that do are gonna be paying
even more than they do now.
And a lot of people, if they have a
kid...
They're paying more for their
childcare than they do for their
housing.
My husband and I.
One year, had two kids in
college at the University of
Minnesota.
And we spent less on
those two kids than we did for our
baby in daycare.
Speaking of K-12
funding.
And uh...
Education funding in general special
education is a priority for the
governor how you think that will
fair
special education is
a huge problem for our local school
districts because It
is a mandated service, we must
provide.
A great equitable education to every
student. No matter what they're
coming into the classroom with.
And yet...
The state only reimburses local
school districts about 30% of
the cost of that special education.
That means the.
Rest of those costs are all coming
out of the school district.
Bank account.
So local districts have to make up
the cost.
Private voucher schools that are.
Funded by taxpayer dollars but not
accountable to taxpayers.
They get 90 percent.
Reimbursement.
For serving special ed kids.
And of course, they can
discriminate. They can pick and
choose who they want.
To have in their student body.
I think it's totally unacceptable
that we continue to subsidize this
private voucher scheme.
Uh... Especially to the tune of
ninety percent reimbursement for
special ed Meanwhile.
The vast majority of Wisconsin kids
are educated in our public schools.
And they're having to scrimp and
scrape. And cut really important
services that...
For all kids.
So that they can meet the needs.
Of students with special education.
What do you think will
happen with funding for
universities?
Well, this is another area
where.
We've had 15 years of cuts.
And failure to provide inflationary
increases to the universities of
Wisconsin.
And it's put our
colleges, our public higher
education, into a really dire
situation.
They can raise tuition and they have
certainly done that.
They have done an incredible job of
getting more federal grant money
that's now at risk.
Really increase the number of
private contributions that
they're getting.
But at the end of the day, if we
want our public universities to be a
place where... Every Wisconsin kid
can go.
To.
Build a better life for themselves.
We need to make it accessible.
And we have to fund these
universities.
The amount that they are asking for.
Really just gets them back to the
place where they would have been.
Had they not received the
devastating cuts of the Walker era
and sort of kept pace with
inflation. That's what we're doing
here.
When when you discuss
that kind of funding with your
Republican counterparts.
What is their persuasion?
Well, I think...
That...
You know, a lot of Republicans are
very skeptical of.
The idea of public education.
And especially...
You know at the at the higher ed
level they just say.
Why should?
Why should the state support this
endeavor? And my answer is because
we can't afford.
For anybody who has the talent
and the drive and wants to pursue
higher education to not be able to
do that. We shouldn't be rationing.
Opportunity in life.
Based on who you are, who your
parents are, where you're from.
And when you don't have a public
education system, that's what
happens.
We know that budget riders
and the state of Wisconsin is
working with about a four
billion dollar surplus
which we also know can for a
variety of reasons be whittled
down. But
Do Democrats have any kind
of one-time priorities for
such a budget?
I mean for such a surplus.
Yeah, I think it's really important
when we talk about the surplus to
recognize that It is in
large part born of.
Chronic underfunding of these core
public services.
K-12.
Being right at the top of the list
and public higher ed.
Being closely behind.
Let's make sure that the money that
the taxpayers paid is actually going
to the things that taxpayers expect
to be funded.
We also want to make sure.
But things like building projects.
And when we borrow money that we're
doing it in a fiscally responsible
manner, so There are things that
we can do with one-time money that
will help create future revenue
sources.
And will help.
The state's bottom line moving into
the future. Funding for child care
is a great example of that.
Uh... Because The return on
investment... When 90% of brain
development happens, that birth to
five period is enormous, right?
I mean, we could stop building
prisons if we were investing in
early childhood education.
Think about the workforce impact
too.
You know, every child that can't get
into child care.
That means a parent is out of the
workforce.
And our tax collections are going
down.
Entire economy is slowing down.
We should be prioritizing things.
Help the state's bottom line, not
just now, but into the future.
Is it?
Your sense that the Republican
majority is kind of emboldened by
what's happening in Washington with
Doge cuts and others from
the administration?
You know, I.
I think that...
They're, they have a lot of
different perspectives. I think
there's a lot of infighting right
now amongst the Republican caucus
here in Wisconsin.
Certainly, I think many of them are
really enthusiastic.
About the devastating cuts that are.
Being contemplated and the illegal
funding freezes that we've already
seen.
And then there are others that are
kind of laying low and waiting to
see what's gonna happen.
But I can tell you that...
Not one of them has focused on.
How can we help mitigate the harm
that is happening to Wisconsin
workers, to families, to kids,
right? We have seen them offer.
NO PROPOSALS!
And spend very little time.
You know on any floor
session or in any committees
thinking about how are we gonna
lower costs for families for
groceries, for utility bills.
They just are pretending that it's
not happening.
Or they they don't care about the
impacts you know meanwhile Democrats
are trying every day with
legislation that we're offering.
Our focus.
To say this is not okay and it's
our job to step up and make sure.
That were responding to the needs
of Wisconsinites who were being
harmed.
Is there anything you'd like to add?
No, I really appreciate the time.
All right, Senator.
Nice.