MADISON — Constructing a state budget is tough business no matter what. It’s that much harder when the governor won’t tell you how he intends to spend $2.5 billion in federal funding.
That’s the position the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee finds itself in these days as Democrat Gov. Tony Evers refuses to work with the budget-writing committee, says JFC co-chair, state Rep. Mark Born.
“It’s just another example of press release politics from this administration,” the Beaver Dam Republican told Empower Wisconsin’s M.D. Kittle on the Jay Weber Show. “A press release is not a plan. We’d like to see a plan on this federal money and he’s just not doing it.”
Evers controls the federal COVID-19 relief funding marked for Wisconsin, but will only speak in generalities — mostly through press releases — on how he intends to spend the money.
“He keeps reissuing press releases and spending some of the same money over and over again with no details,” he added.
And Evers continues to hold discussions hostage by demanding that any meetings with Republicans include assurances that the budget will include expanded Medicaid in Wisconsin’s government-run health care program known as BadgerCare, Born said.
The lawmaker also broke down the left’s fallacy of “free money” to states that take up the expanded welfare program. And Born said Evers’ veto threat of legislation that would end the $300 weekly federal unemployment bonus shows just how out of touch the governor is with the economic realities hitting Wisconsin small businesses.
Rep. Mark Born is our guest on today’s edition of PowerUp, Empower Wisconsin’s podcast.
