in that bad age weeks.
Totally.
Yeah.
You've looked that way in a long, long time.
Well, if we do joke about it on occasion, people's
the photos they use for their legislators.
I'm like, someone hasn't gotten a photo
to get an interview decade.
Yes.
That actually, when I first heard of covering the Capitol
because I would, back then, I had to study the blue book.
So I get a blue book and look through all the numbers
and look at their photos and try and put it
and then I'd come up and be like.
You show up in the office, nearly?
That is not you.
That's just, they were good.
Yeah, there were definitely some moments where it's like,
OK, ma'am, you look a little different.
And most of the guys who just got gray or maybe grew a beer
and maybe got a little wider.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we are good?
All righty, like this.
Well, Greta Newbar, thanks for joining us.
Absolutely happy to be here.
So what would you say is the biggest success
for assembly Democrats in the last year?
We continue to fight for the people of Wisconsin
at every turn.
We know that Wisconsinites are struggling
with the cost of living.
That's groceries, housing, health care, child care.
And we are going to continue to push on those issues
at every possible opportunity.
It's been tough in this legislature.
It seems like our Republican colleagues
are not very interested in addressing those issues.
But we are continuing to push and to build on legislation
that we've passed and work towards the future in which we
can really get those things done.
What's the number one thing that came out of the budget for you?
So wasn't the budget that I would have written?
Of course, we are looking towards a different kind of budget
when we're in the majority.
But it was good to have Senate Democrats at the table
and Governor Evers and have them be
able to push, particularly for education funding,
for some additional funds for special education
and the UW system for child care.
We know that the people of Wisconsin
want to send their kids to great schools,
that people are really struggling to find a place
for their kids while they go to work,
when those kids are young.
So it's really important that that funding
was put into the state budget.
Looking at the special education increases,
we've already heard that the percentages that were estimated
are not going to hit that mark.
Is that just speaks to the need that's out there
in these communities?
Absolutely.
So the legislature set forward a goal, but didn't fund it.
And so that is unfortunate because school districts,
of course, were hoping and planning
to get a certain level of reimbursement
for special education, which, again,
is much lower than what they actually deserve
and what kids need.
So we are going to continue to work on that issue
to push the state to keep its commitment to our local districts.
People need to see more support from the state
for their local schools, or they are
going to continue to have to go to referendum
and raise their property taxes.
And that's just wrong.
One of the big headlines that's come out of the assembly
recently is the failure to expand postpartum coverage
for new mothers.
Walk me through the process of what happened there
and why it came to be, especially
since it did so well in the Senate.
Sure.
So for many years, we have known that it is essential for us
to pass postpartum health care expansion
for those new moms.
Right now in Wisconsin, you can have a baby
and be off of your health care in 60 days.
That's not good for the mom, and that's not good for the baby.
And there are people each year whose health is really
put at risk because they don't have access
to that essential care after they give birth.
So we have been pushing on this issue for a long time.
There are enough co-sponsors by far in the state assembly
to get this bill done.
But it does not get brought to the floor.
And that, of course, is Speaker Voss's decision.
We attempted to pull a petition that
would have forced to vote on this issue,
and the speaker did move the bill in procedural maneuver
into another committee so that we have to restart that process.
But really the question that I have
is why the authors of this bill, Pat Snyder, Jesse Rodriguez,
people who say that this is an important issue for them,
are not able to get this bill to the floor.
And what they're going to say to those new moms
in their district who lose access to health care,
they're governing, they're authors of this bill,
they should be able to get it done.
Other than that legislation, what's
the most important thing you'd like to try and get done
next year where there's still a few months of session?
It's going to be unaffordability.
As I said, this is what we hear about from our constituents,
assembly Democrats are continuing to do listening sessions
and knock on doors.
We, of course, run into our constituents
at parades and holiday festivals.
And we hear over and over that people
are struggling with the cost of groceries,
again, prescription drugs and health care and housing.
There's been a little bit of progress on housing
in a bipartisan fashion in the last two sessions.
That's good to see, but we have not done enough.
And so we're really going to be continuing
to push on those issues and making sure
that the state keeps its commitment to our kids
and our public schools and get some funding
into the general aides so that we don't see property taxes go up
for people across the state to support their schools.
You've been in the assembly for a while.
Would you say that this was a quieter year
than past sessions in terms of the amount of legislation
coming forward that actually can get passed?
You know, it's been a bit quieter.
Yeah, I would say especially given what we see people going
through in our state, we see significant impacts
of the federal government's actions on Wisconsinites.
And we see the legislature really doing very little
to address those impacts.
We're about to see people's health care premiums skyrocket.
If you're on the marketplace in Wisconsin,
the average increase is going to be $664 a month.
And legislative Republicans really have no answer to that.
The Senate Republicans in particular
have met very few times this year.
So it does seem like they've kind of run out of ideas
and they're not really interested in addressing the problems
that the people of Wisconsin are facing.
Well, that obviously leads us into next year
and the elections.
How much will Democrats be able to convince the public,
hey, if the legislature hasn't done anything,
it's time for leadership.
No, Republicans have been in control in Wisconsin
for a while.
They have had this chamber for 15 years, the state assembly.
And we have seen them attempt to enact their vision
on the state of Wisconsin.
And we've got local schools across the state
that are at risk of closing.
We've got local governments really struggling
to fund essential services, including public safety and health.
We are in a tough place in this state.
And we know that people are frustrated with government
and with politics and they just wanna see
their elected officials care about what they're going through
and work hard across the aisle to get things done.
We just have not seen that from legislative Republicans.
And so I think we have a huge opportunity next year
to communicate directly with the people of Wisconsin
about what we're gonna do when we are in control
as Democrats in the state house
and how it's gonna make their lives better.
Obviously you gained a lot of seats in the 24 elections,
but you fell short of regain the majority.
There were some close elections.
I'm sure you know what seats you're gonna target.
What will be different in 26?
Yeah, so we worked to pick up 15 seats last year
and that of course was a big lift.
That's in addition to protecting our incumbents
and close seats, including some that Trump wins.
So we have five seats now left to go
to flip control of the state assembly.
That's a close number.
We're looking at a good environment next year
because people are pretty unhappy
with federal Republicans and state Republicans.
And so we're gonna have great candidates
who are gonna work hard throughout the next year
to connect directly with voters
and communicate their vision for the state.
These are parents and teachers, coaches,
local elected officials, small business owners,
farmers, DNR wardens, right?
Just fantastic folks who are gonna do the work
of communicating that things can be better in this state
and that they wanna go to Madison and really represent them.
So we're really excited about the elections next year.
We're thrilled with the candidates
who are stepping up to run.
And we are just gonna work every day
to talk directly to those folks
who will need to win over for next year.
There was some public discord
within the Democratic caucus this year.
Are you a unified group going forward?
Could you envision primaries within your own party
to try and make sure that everyone's on the same page?
Yeah, so we're feeling really good going into next year.
We've been working for a long time
to be in a position to win a majority in the state assembly.
And I think our caucus is unified
in looking towards that reality.
So we are hoping to be able to focus most
on protecting our incumbents and close seats
and then targeting those really close purple districts
that we hope to flip next year.
Do you plan on getting involved in the gubernatorial primary?
Not at this point.
I generally don't get involved in Democratic primaries.
But we have a really fantastic field.
I think many people who could be great governors.
And you've got former members of the assembly,
current members of the assembly.
What does that say about people coming out of this chamber
and running for higher office?
Yeah, a lot of the candidates on the Democratic side
have come out of the legislature.
And of course, that's exciting to us
because they understand what it's like
and they respect this branch of government
and the role that it plays.
I also think it's pretty clear
that the state assembly and state senate
are the grounds for people to become Democratic politicians
in this state at the federal level
and at the gubernatorial and attorney general level as well.
We've got Senator Tammy Baldwin
and Congresspeople Mark Bill Can and Gwen Moore.
We're really proud of the people
who come out of the state legislature
and go on to do great things.
All right, great new bar.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you for having me.
Great.
All right.