>> The dust is settling after passage of the federal
tax and Spending Reconciliation bill, which
is now law. What stands out for its impact in Wisconsin?
We turn to Democratic U.S. Representative Gwen Moore of
Milwaukee for her take on what it means for people in
her district. And thanks so much for being here.
>> Always good to be with you, Fredricka.
>> So what does stand out for its impact in your
district and across Wisconsin?
thing that is most outstanding in this bill is
the impact that will have on health care, on the Medicaid
cuts. Badger care, as we call it in Wisconsin. The
Affordable Care Act, Obamacare cuts. And when you
combine the work requirements to receive
Medicaid and when you the confluence of all those
forces means that they'll probably be something like
276,000 people in Wisconsin who will not receive any
kind of health care. And when you just just the work
requirements themselves will cost 68,000. Individuals
with no dependents to lose health care. And so the
theory of the case is that these are just lazy boys in
their mama's basements playing video games, and
there'd be no harm and no foul to cut them off.
Notwithstanding the fact we don't. We believe this. This
is not a real person. This is just a trope. We're
saying that in Wisconsin, a person who say has two
minimum wage jobs working at fast food restaurant, they
will at minimum wage, working full time. They will
make too much money to be eligible for Medicaid. So
they'll be whether they work or not. They won't receive
Medicaid. And then there are a number of people who are
truly eligible. They have children. They're already
working. Most people who receive Medicaid are already
working, but the numbers of the bureaucracy and the
paperwork that they have added into the bill is
really something that they have monetized. They have
monetized people's mistakes so that if you don't re-up
or come in every six months to reconfirm that you're
still disabled, or that you will find yourself off
Medicaid, and then those of you remember Frederica,
Wisconsin was one of those states. I believe it was
about 11 states that hadn't taken advantage of the
expansion of the Affordable Care Act. And those people
will see their premiums go eight, nine times the amount
that they're currently paying. So say, for example,
they were able to get a silver plan. And for the
purposes of keeping the math simple of $100 a month, they
might find themselves with six, seven, $800 a month. We
are thinking that the food share cuts snap cuts. Not
only will it cost thousands, hundreds of thousands of
people to be cut off food share, but it will also mean
that the state itself would have to pay 75% of the
administrative costs of the of the food stamp program.
The Snap program, as well as if there are an error rates
in excess of 6%, they'll find themselves having to
pay for portions of the food stamp program, which to date
that burden has never been an unfunded mandate that
will be placed on not only Wisconsin, but statewide. So
it is really a bad bill. >> People who fall off of
Medicaid because of the provisions of this bill and
potentially the burdensome kind of paperwork, what will
they do for health care then.
>> That will increase the amount of uncompensated care
that hospitals have to pick up. And it also means that
hospitals will have to make decisions about what kind of
health care they will or will not provide. We've seen
in the past, just recently, in our own community
maternity wards, closing, where hospitals will decide
we aren't going to do cardiac catheterizations
anymore. One of the things is, is that, you know, the
president predicts that people won't even pay any
attention. They won't even notice some of these
provisions don't come into effect until after the 2026
election. But that doesn't mean that hospitals won't
have to start planning and how to not deliver services.
Now. >> We know that the Trump
administration is apparently making good on its promise
to dismantle the US Department of Education. And
with it, as you suggested, funds that go to high
poverty K-12 schools and special education. How
pointedly will that be felt in Milwaukee?
>> Oh my God. I mean, you know, when you think about
their raison d'etre that there's waste, fraud and
abuse? I mean, that to cut education is like cutting
the lifeline of a community. When you think about
preparing the future workforce, I can see it
causing employers to flee the state. These Republicans
have demonstrated a real distaste for education. I
mean, and every everything from K through 12 to higher
education, where they're, you know, conditioning, Pell
Grants in a way that's never been done before. Cutting
off those, the ability for parents to borrow money to
send their kids to college. It is like a really big
mistake that's going to put not only Milwaukee, but the
nation behind. >> You've said that there is
truly no bottom to this bill's cruelty, but what can
you and other opponents do about it?
>> Well, you know, Frederica, I you know. I, I,
you know, I did I did not have a good 4th of July. I
was very, very upset. But you know what? It ain't over
until it's over. I think now, as we go through this
process, we are going to continue to talk about it.
We're going to continue to try to win the midterm
elections, win the hearts and souls and minds of
people. I know I've talked to several people who
confess to me that they voted for Donald Trump, but
they had no idea that that he was going to do the kinds
of things that he has done to them, because indeed, the
president's space needs Medicaid almost more than
anybody. The president's base needs snap. And they
certainly need educational opportunities. They're not,
you know, and I think that. Many people who sort of
thought that he was going to focus on throwing out
violent criminals who were immigrants and they were
going to get rid of the waste, fraud and abuse. And
of course, nobody wants waste, fraud and abuse. But
no one knew that, that all these cuts were just going
to result into a big bonanza. You know, $4.5
trillion for wealthy people who don't really need it.
While there are debates about whether or not we
should serve breakfast and lunch to school children,
nobody knew that that was a trade off.
>> Congresswoman Gwen Moore, thanks very much for joining
us. well, Rodriguez.
>> Thank you. Next week we >> Thank you. Next week we