The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original
production. >> Reeling from political
violence, Democrats forge ahead with a new state party
leader, and Republicans move closer to finishing their
vision of the state's budget. Good evening. I'm Zach
Shultz, filling in for Frederica Freyberg tonight
on here and Now. The new chair of the Democratic
Remiker, is here at the Capitol. Speaker Vos speaks
to where his party is on the state budget. Plus, a
proposal looks to shine a light on assisted living
referrals. And how will the economy fare under the
weight of tariffs and international conflict? It's
"Here& Now" for June 20th. >> Funding for "Here& Now"
is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and
Friends of PBS Wisconsin. >> The Democratic Party of
Wisconsin has a new leader at last week's state
convention, members elected Devin Remiker as chair of
the party after he previously served as the
party's political director. And he joins us now. Thanks
for being here. >> Thanks for having me.
>> Appreciate it. So Ben Wikler is a name that a lot
of people recognize from Democratic politics. He was
the chair of the party the last six years, oversaw a
lot of very successful elections. What will change?
What will be different from in the transition from Ben
to you? think we have a fantastic
opportunity to be able to build on the success that
Ben Wikler has laid down and what he built on the
successes of Chair Martha a fantastic year round
organizing program. We have a robust donor strategy for
large, medium, small donors across this country, and we
also have an opportunity to do more in 2026. So I'm
really excited to get to work expanding our 72 county
strategy to make sure that we have robust
infrastructure in every corner of the state, above
and beyond, just organizing and knocking on doors,
improving our messaging and communications with
localized messaging in each and every community in the
state to make sure that we can authentically connect
with voters and keep our eye on the prize with the chance
for a trifecta next year. >> So we've seen party
chairs in the past keep a lower profile in the public
sphere, and obviously Ben became the face of a party
in a lot of ways. What's your Steil?
>> Well, I think that we have a really unique
opportunity to change the way that we communicate and
to reach voters in places that we haven't been able to
before. One thing I'm really excited about coming into
this role, obviously, as a 32 year old, I'm a little
bit younger than a lot of folks may otherwise be in
politics, and I think that that can give me an
opportunity to connect, particularly with younger
voters, that our party's had some difficulty with in the
last election, to be able to reach them in authentic,
engaging ways. In addition to all the traditional media
that Ben has done before, I'm also really excited to
partner with First Vice Chair, Secretary of State
Sarah Godlewski to also maintain a lot of the
communications work that we've done, and I think that
we're going to get out the gate pretty strong.
>> So national polling shows the image of Democrats is
not great right now in the Trump era. Do you expect
that to change due to now national events, or is that
something that you have to change yourself?
>> Well, I don't think we should take for granted
that, you know, someone's going to come over the hill
as cavalry and be able to change what we're doing here
in Wisconsin. I think we have to build the plan to
win and advance our ourselves. And we can if we
can get help with that. That is fantastic. But at the end
of the day, I think that we have had a very distinct
sort of set of outcomes in Wisconsin that is different
than national Democrats in 2024, not many people
would have put money on Wisconsin being the closest
out of all the battleground Michigan and Pennsylvania,
even when that just hasn't been the case in 2020 or
2022. So I think that the way that we've done that is
by making sure that we are supporting our candidates
special fall election, connecting with folks
authentically on the issues that they care most about.
And really what I'm trying to do is just take that work
to the next level and build the plan that we need here.
>> Now, you've mentioned Wisconsin being to the left
of Michigan and some of those other traditional blue
wall states. Over the last 15 years, we've seen a
political realignment with rural working class voters
shifting more towards Donald Trump and the Republican
Party and Democrats doing better in suburban areas
with college educated voters. There are people
that think Wisconsin is actually more ripe for
Republicans to do well, because there are more
traditional Democratic voters that have not swung
to the Republican Party. And that is why Wisconsin is
still to the left, to a slight degree. What do you
do to keep those voters? You talked about your your
youth. How do you connect with some of those people
that are coming up that may be disengaged from that
party? that my background also
helps a lot. I'm was born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and I
think that the story of Two Rivers and neighboring
Manitowoc mirrors a lot of communities around this
state. There was a there was a factory in Two Rivers
named Hamilton's. They closed up in the mid to late
2000. These were good paying union jobs with great
benefits. It was hollowed out and all that was left
was basically an empty lot of land contaminated with
chemicals that are basically stuck in the ground, and
they're trying to mitigate right now. And it kind of
ripped the heart out of this community. Right. And this
was this was a community that took pride in being
working class, in making something. And once that was
gone, it really lost a little sense of soul. And I
think that you see that all over the state. And I think
that that is something that Democrats haven't been as
effective in speaking to. Is, is that sort of lost
sense of self and identity to working class voters? And
I think that is where Republicans have had some
success filling that void. So something I want to do is
just be more attentive and attuned, because it's my
lived experience of how to connect with people and talk
about a positive, optimistic vision of the future that
they can actually connect with and speaks to sort of
that identity as as working class people that want to
work hard and earn a fair wage and don't necessarily
just want to be given something.
times about the possibility of a trifecta. Democrats
legislature in 26. How closely are you watching
those GOP potential targets, especially as they're
struggling to pass a budget right now.
>> Incredibly closely? And I think that they are making a
grave mistake by not coming to the table and finishing
out the budget process with Governor Evers. I mean,
candidly, they're also fighting with themselves at
this moment in time, which I don't think is good for
their party in the long term. But, I mean, you have
folks like Howard Marklein who didn't even bother to
consider the fact that Medicaid cuts could be
coming from the federal government when they
originally were thinking it's ridiculous. It's hard
to take that seriously. And I think that we're going to
be very aggressive in making sure that voters this summer
know about what their representatives and senators
are doing, or rather, not doing. I mean, they need to
get back to work, negotiate with the governor, and get a
deal done to move the state forward.
>> Obviously, there is a political and national
tragedy in Minnesota with the shooting of legislators.
There. Does that impact your ability to recruit
candidates, especially since there were Wisconsin
Democratic names on the list of the shooter?
>> Yeah, well, we haven't seen any impact as to this
point in time, but I think that, you know, for myself
personally and many people, it was it was a terrifying
moment, you know, and I'm glad that we could sort of
put politics aside. And as human beings, see, Democrats
and Republicans put out a strong statement condemning
that, obviously, it happened during our convention
weekend. And, you know, one of the first conversations I
had with my wife after being elected chair was about, do
we need to adjust our own sort of security measures or
precautions? Is this something we need to worry
about? And I don't think anybody in politics should
have to worry about their livelihood being taken away
from them. I do think we need to find ways to take
down the temperature and the rhetoric a little bit, which
is also why I'm so disappointed to see
Orden right after sort of making a his performative
statement, just lean right back into vitriol, that sort
of behavior is exactly what we need less of in politics.
And from my experience working for Congressman Ron
Kind for four years, something that voters in
western Wisconsin really don't respond well to.
>> All right, Devin Remiker, thanks for your time.
>> Thank you. Really appreciate it.
>> Republicans in control of the legislature announced
this week they have continued budget
negotiations with Governor Tony Evers. But just as
quickly, two Senate Republicans announced they
had major concerns, leaving them short of a majority to
pass the bill, possibly shutting down the whole
process. We sat down with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos
to talk about the sticking points in the budget talks.
Mr. Speaker, thanks for your time.
having me on. budget negotiations are very
fluid. Bring us up to date on where we stand between
the Senate, the Assembly and the governor.
>> Yep. So weeks ago, we began talking with Governor
Evers because our goal is to get a budget signed into law
that has guaranteed tax relief for Wisconsin
citizens. We negotiated in earnest at some point. It
felt like the governor really wasn't being flexible
enough for us. So we said, let's just start the finance
process and see where it goes. So we began to go
through the process like we always do, with a goal of
being done by July 1st. And then several weeks ago, we
also decided, look, if there's a way we can stay
engaged with the governor. I'm not opposed to
negotiating. I'd like to get something that we can all
live with. So we began talking again with the
Assembly and the Senate. I feel like we have a very
broad, vague, general get to. So I'm optimistic
that we could actually conclude by the end of July.
Now it's just up to all three parts to we to
continue negotiating. And it sounds like as of today, my
Senate colleagues don't want to do that, which I think is
a real shame, because if Governor Evers vetoes the
relief, no funding for schools, and no one wins. So
that is not our goal. It's to find something that we
could all live with. And I guess I'm still an optimist
that we can do that, but only time will tell.
>> Obviously, the math in the Senate is they can only
lose one vote as a Republican majority before
they need to rely on Democrats. Is there any
point at which you would ask the governor to put pressure
on the Democrats in the Senate, or try and include
some of those Democrats to see if you can secure a vote
that way? learned a long time ago is I
love the assembly, right? That is where I get to work.
If I predicted what was going to happen in the state
Senate, I would have even less hair than I do right
now, right? So I have no idea what they're going to
do over there. Here, I feel very confident that we have
almost all, if not all, Assembly Republicans in
framework. Again, the budget's got to work its way
through. There are still but the idea that we're
going to make investments in special education, that's
something that we support, the idea that we're going to
invest in childcare, we agree with that, too, that
we're going to have significant tax relief,
hopefully focusing on class. That's a winner. So I
think you check a lot of boxes that get Republicans
to want to be a yes. Now we just have to get a bill to
the governor so we can actually be done with our
part of the process. >> In December, you said
that you would have liked to see the tax cuts passed
into negotiations or what we seeing passed out of joint
finance, similar to what the governor has agreed to do.
You kind of get his answer on where he was willing to
go. And that's what's before.
speak for the governor, but I do feel like we're trying
not to do things that would draw veto. That is not our
goal. We want to do things that I think he hopefully
could sign. Look, there are I'm going to not love, but
the whole is better than the parts that I dislike. And
I'm sure he would probably say the same thing. There
are parts that he wished were different, but I hope
in the end he'll be able to look at it and say, in total
it's a better deal than >> When it comes to public
governor's veto from the last budget created the
parameters where school to raise funds on a per
pupil basis that's not funded under the Republican
budget. Is this kind of a standoff of who will take
the blame in the public's eyes for rising property
taxes if the state doesn't fund it?
issued a veto for a 400 year property tax increase. He
did it. He he has to own it. I mean, literally was his
was ratified by his Liberal allies in the state Supreme
to rubberstamp whatever he does. So, I mean, that's not
a surprise. What actually occurred, but where we're
that's decided we're not going to change Governor
Evers mind. He's not going to all of a sudden say, we
shouldn't raise property taxes. He already accepted
that we will forever. So we're focused on where we
can actually find that agreement. I don't want
property taxes to go up. If have been a different
result. I didn't vote for have to accept the reality
of where we are. >> In negotiations. As
Governor Evers asked you to increase, or is he rather
see some of the whatever money is available to go
into other pots that are? >> Again, I don't want to
speak for Governor Evers, but our negotiations have
been mostly focused around the cost of special
education. One of the things that Assembly Republicans
brought to the table is a proposal which would say,
for kids who cost over $30,000 for high cost,
special ed kids. State's going to pay 90% of that.
That's what really is bankrupting or hurting an
awful lot of school districts. You get 1 or 2
kids in a small district that have intense special
needs, and they don't have the ability to fund it, so
they have to cut other programs to put a package
child. So we want to we think that's a great way to
do it. Governor Evers wanted more money in special ed. We
always agreed with that. It's just discussing how
much we're able to afford as a state we need to have. We
have a lot of priorities. Schools are an important
one. But look, I care about how much we spend on health
care. I care about how much we spend on raises for
public employees. I care about how much we're going
to spend on child care. There's a lot of things that
we have to balance out, all while keeping in mind that
we're overtaxing the citizens of Wisconsin. We
got to give some of that back.
>> The most recent news on the UW system funding is $87
million. Cut, potentially, if that stands, would you
expect to see tuition to increase? Would that lead to
closures at some of the two year schools?
>> Well, first of all, our goal is not just to slash
the university, just to slash the university that
does no one any good. We have tried to say for a long
time that there have to be reforms into how they
operate. I mean, here's one statistic that I hope
everybody thinks about that I just read a study this
week that shows from the year 2025, today through
2029, just four years from now, we're going to have 15%
fewer Wisconsin graduates going to college. Now,
that's not because the university is not
accessible. It's because and there are lower numbers
of high school graduates. So if you had one out of seven
fewer customers, the store couldn't operate the same
way. It would go bankrupt. Well, it's the same for the
university system. If we don't figure a different way
to operate. It's not just dumping more money in there.
It's saying, wow, we have a lot less kids going to
college. How are we going to make sure that system is
nimble, that we do it in a way that actually makes
it's not this woke mumbo jumbo that people hate. So
we've asked for some simple reforms. We need faculty
members to teach more. We need to make sure that if
you take a class at Whitewater, it transfers to
superior without a lot of bureaucracy in the middle.
not trying to do things that are radical, but we're
trying to do things that will make it easier for
families to get out of school quicker and hopefully
do it in a way that's more meaningful to them and their
family. profile issues we've
discussed. Give me one thing the budget that's under the
radar that you think deserves more attention.
>> Boy, I feel like we're focusing on so many areas
that people care about. I mean, one thing that I want
to focus on is this retiree tax cut. Look, we all have
moms and dads. We all have people who we love that made
a decision once they retire to go somewhere warmer,
right? I can't fault people for the weather. I mean,
even though I like the winter here, but a lot of
people don't. But they choose to live six months in
a day somewhere else, so they pay their taxes there.
Well, in Florida, Tennessee, Texas, a lot of times you
can live cheaper and have no taxes, so they choose to
domicile somewhere else. Well, that means their
charitable donations, their volunteer hours, seeing
away. So we have a proposal that would say that the
first $35,000 of retirement income tax exempt, that
means for the average couple, two teachers, two
firefighters, a teacher and a firefighter, they'd save
about 1500 bucks a year. I think that's something that
would seriously make a dent in family budgets, to be
able to help them as opposed to, you know, doing
something that only saves them a couple bucks, which
probably doesn't do very much. So I think that's not
gotten anywhere near as much coverage as I hope it would.
And hopefully that'll be something that can be signed
into law. >> Your time. Thanks. I
appreciate your time. >> As the baby boomer
generation continues to age, the need for assisted living
facilities in Wisconsin will continue to grow, with one
recent estimate saying we'll need more than 60,000
additional beds over the next 15 years. More and more
seniors and their families are using a referral agency
to help them choose a facility and a proposed bill
at the Capitol would add some transparency to explain
who's actually paying for those services. Joining us
now is Mike Pochowski, CEO of the Wisconsin Assisted
Living Association, the trade group that represents
those facilities. And thanks for your time today.
>> Thank you for having me. >> So let's start by
explaining what is a referral agency and how do
they interact between families and the facilities
themselves. >> Sure, there's essentially
two types of referral agencies. You have the local
ones that are specifically geared towards Wisconsin,
and you also have the national ones. And so they
really work with the families to try and find
placement for those individuals, but they
contract with assisted living facilities
specifically, so they don't give you a full picture of
who you could potentially move into, because they only
give you referrals for those facilities that they
contract with. >> So part of this bill
talks about making it obvious who pays, because
the referral agencies claim there was no fee for the
families. They get paid on the back end. But there's
concerns that those fees are passed along.
>> Absolutely. So what happens is they advertise
themselves as being this free service to individuals
and to families. It's not a free service. The fees are
paid by the facilities that they contract with. And so
what happens, unfortunately, is that because those fees
are very high, they get passed down to the consumer
or to the residents that live in those facilities.
>> So the incentive for referral agencies to send
clients to more expensive facilities, at least that's
feel is happening for some of these agencies, correct.
>> For the most part, these these referral agencies
charge anywhere between 85% to 100% of the residents
first month rent and care. And so what happens is that
gives them the incentive to move individuals into higher
priced facilities, because they can get a higher fee
with that. The problem with that, too, is that what
happens is for these individuals, they spend down
their assets more quickly, making them Medicaid
eligible faster. And so we already have a medicaid
system that's already having lots of problems. So it just
enhances the problem with our Medicaid program.
>> So what would this bill do? What's the number one
takeaway that this would accomplish.
consumer transparency. It lets everyone know that
there's contracts between the facilities and the
referral agencies, that the facilities are paying a high
fee for these referrals. And it just lets the consumer
know that there's also other avenues they can go to try
and find placements versus working with just a referral
agency, who is only going to steer you towards a facility
that they contract with. >> So referral agencies
advertise their services as almost doing the homework
for the seniors or the families. But what kind of
homework should a family do before going through a
referral agency? >> Sure, absolutely. They
can contact their local adrc, which has a full list
of all the facilities that are in that geographical
area for that resident or family, or they can contact
the facility directly. Just kind of say, you know, what
services do you provide? What's what's the
environment? Can I come in tour, talk with the
residents, talk with the staff, just go that route
directly. >> Now, you said there were
national and local groups, and often we find those
disparities. Locals are more local. Do they do a better
job in your estimation? >> In our part, there's
probably pros and cons to both. I think the nationals,
you're right, is probably more just geared towards
from a national perspective. They can't focus just on one
state. For the ones that are more state based, they
probably have more information and more
resources from a state based or a local based resource.
>> So the industry overall is facing a shortage of
beds, shortage of workers, low pay. What are the steps
involved with handling this new influx of patients?
Because obviously this is this. This is just
transparency. If it passes, it's not fixing any of the
other bigger problems. >> Right. Exactly. You're
absolutely correct. So we right now we have a state
budget that's being worked on right now. And we're
asking for, you know, continuation of funds in the
family care or the Medicaid waiver program. So we need
to get more funds into into that program to help pay for
workers, pay for the increasing cost of goods and
services and everything else that's going on.
>> So for families that aren't connected directly in
the same state or the same town as their their loved
ones that need this care, what would you recommend
them to do? You said you can reach out, but that's time
consuming. That's why these first place.
>> Absolutely. I would still say, you know, contact your
local adrc. They're very helpful. They're a great
resource. And just look on the internet, find
facilities that are in the area that you want to move
into and look at those directly and contact them
directly. Obviously, there's national
implications for Medicaid funding. How does that play
into some of these concerns? >> We're very concerned if
there's going to be national cuts into the Medicaid
program, because that would trickle down to the states.
We already have a state budget that's looking to
potentially cut Medicaid funds as well. So we're
definitely doing our best to kind of push for at least
continuation of funds. But yeah, we're we're hearing of
cuts all across the board that's significant concerns
for the long term care industry.
>> All right. Mike Pawlowski, CEO of the
Wisconsin Assisted Living Association, thanks for your
time. >> Tariff threats and trade
wars continue. Israel launches an attack against
Iran and the Trump administration signals it
may bring the U.S. Into a war in the Middle East.
There are a lot of developments around the
world that are being felt back here in Wisconsin. And
for more on this, we turn to Mark Copelovitch, a
professor of political science and public affairs
at UW-Madison specializing in international relations
and political economy. Thanks for joining us.
>> Thanks for having me. >> So we've heard over and
over that business loves certainty, but these seem to
be very uncertain times. >> Yes, deeply uncertain
times. >> And what does that mean
for business, especially because we're we're
interconnected. Wisconsin is not as isolated as people.
Some people may think it. >> Is. Well, it's not just
business that hates uncertainty. It's
international relations professors who also hate
uncertainty. So in general, really bad things happen in
world politics when there's a lot of uncertainty. And
both on the security side and on the trade policy
side, that's what we're seeing right now. So, you
know, on the on the security side, obviously there's
what's going on with Israel and Iran and, you know, lack
of clarity about what role the US is going to play in
that. But in terms of tariffs and economic policy,
the last five months under President Trump has been
week after week of uncertainty because of the
way, the way the tariff policy is going is an
announcement of what's going to happen and then a
reversal and then a new announcement and a new
reversal. And, you know, so the way we've the way the US
and other countries of the world for decades now, going
back to World War Two, have tried to deal with this, is
by setting up the World Trade Organization and a
bunch of international what country's obligations
are both moving towards free trade, but also a lot of
tariffs and substitutes for tariffs are legal under
these trade agreements. But the trade agreements create
certainty for business and for governments. And Trump
is operating effectively as if none of that exists or
the US is not bound by it. >> So anyone who's had to
buy coffee lately, or thinking about a new vehicle
knows that prices are rising. Is there any sense
for whether a business or an individual to try and time
the market? Or is it just buy now before prices keep
going up? could imagine I think it's
the second one because you can imagine a world and this
happened more or less under the Biden administration
with we're going to put new tariffs up on China. And,
you know, we're going to keep some of Trump's
tariffs. But more or less, there's the announcement of
those policies. And then you can plan going forward,
right. And both consumers and businesses can kind of
make medium and long term purchasing and investment
decisions based on that. What's happening now is
we're going to have 10% tariffs on China, know
they're going to be 145%. No, we're going to suspend
those. And in 90 days we're going to negotiate something
different. And you know, there has been talk of we're
going to have 90 trade agreements and we don't
really have any yet. So it's hard to time. The market
right now because nobody knows what's going to happen
two weeks from now, let alone six months from now,
let alone a year from now. The one thing you can plan
for is the baseline now is different, right? So Trump
has invoked the international Emergency
Economic Powers Act to put up a baseline 10% tariff on
everybody in the world. Some higher tariffs on Mexico and
Canada and China. So the one thing we all know is some
things are now more expensive, right. But
there's a lot of uncertainty now about is that 15% or
150% going going forward. >> We've heard a lot about
trade with China being impacted by tariffs,
especially in agriculture. But your specialty is the
European Union. Can we find new markets there. Does
anyone want Wisconsin's soybeans?
>> Yeah. It's hard to shift things completely. I mean, a
lot of things, you know, as I talk to my students and
talk about the global economy, a lot of things are
just structural, right? That countries specialize in
producing different things in the US and China, Europe
or the three largest economies in the world. And
a lot of the trade flow patterns and why we have a
deficit in some things and a surplus in other things is
just kind of structurally where the US and the
European Union and China fit in the global economy. So
it's hard to reallocate what we would sell to China or
what we buy from China to the EU, because Europe
doesn't buy and sell exactly, exactly the same
things. And the Canadians are wrestling with this,
too. Now, if we're going to have a trade war with
Canada, and Canada is talking about, we're going
to reallocate our economic relationships away from the
US, which has historically been 70% of our trading
relationship. And now we're going to shift that to
Europe, or we're going to shift that to other
countries. It's hard to do that at all. And it's very
hard to do that quickly. Right. So you can imagine if
we're in this new world where these types of trade
policies become the new permanent over the next 5 or
10 years, then, yes, structurally, things will
shift. But in the short term, it's the uncertainty.
Nobody's going to want to invest in building
transatlantic trade that used to go to China. If it's
going to get reversed because of new tariff
policies in the next six months or the next three
years. Copelovitch from UW-Madison,
thanks for your time today. >> Thanks for having me.
>> For more on this and other issues facing
Wisconsin, visit our website at PBS Wisconsin. Org and
then click on the news tab. That is our program for
tonight. Frederica Freyberg will be back next week. I'm
Zac Schultz have a great weekend.
[MUSIC] >> Funding for "Here& Now"
is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and
Friends of PBS Wisconsin.