Sen Jauch on Wisconsin Budget

Wisconsin State Senator Robert Jauch discusses the 2012-2013 Wisconsin State Budget passed on Thursday, June 16, 2011.

Mr. President and members,

The senator from the 20th is the perfect spokesperson for the extreme policies of the Republican majority that is, could be defined as "madness on steroids."¹ For 163 years, Mr. President and members, Wisconsin has been a beacon, it has been a model of good government. It has set the standard for the rest of the nation on how we educate our children, how we care for our neighbors, how we show respect for our elderly. The moral compass always pointed to Wisconsin. As a result of this budget, the senator from the 20th, their moral compass points to Mississippi. The fact of the matter is I'm glad the senator from the 20th spoke because his words speak the truth of this budget: the Republican majority has a disdain for the working class. The Republican majority has no respect for the people of Wisconsin who don't make much. Their whole commitment is to starve the programs that serve the public and reward the economic elite of the state, and this budget demonstrates that in spades. Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that the test is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have so little. The Republicans fail that test and the senator from the 20th is proud of that fact. This is a budget that does increase the financial burden on the people of this state who have the least. The citizens that the senator from the 20th was speaking about who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit love Wisconsin, they're Wisconsin workers, they care about their families and they will have $500—if you're a family of three children—you will have $500 less in your pocket to meet the needs of your families. That is neither fair, Mr. President, nor is it moral. It is indefensible. It is a tax increase. It is $534 less to be able to meet the needs of their families, and the fact is that the Republicans don't care. They can't look at the citizens of Wisconsin with a straight face because they are abandoning everything that is good about this great state. For 163 years, Mr. President, we have led the nation in education. This is a budget that doesn't move us forward, it goes backward. This budget does not enhance the quality of life for our citizens, it weakens it. For 163 years, Wisconsinites have practiced shared responsibility, in helping their neighbors, in helping each other try to lead better lives. In ensuring there is a strong state-local partnership to help communities—poor communities meet the essential needs of their citizenry. The Governor and the Republicans mouth the words but they don't understand the meaning. They spear those poor communities, poor schools, poor families, while they provide advantages for the economic elite.

There's a woman who testified, Mr. President, in Janesville. She said: "I've never done this before. I'm the mother of two children. We're very proud of the education our two boys received in the Janesville school district. I've never spoken at a public hearing; I don't consider myself political." In other words, she was the face of Wisconsin. She would, if listening today to the words of the senator from the 20th: she said "When I heard the words, when I read the proposals from Governor Walker"—and certainly she would add, and heard the words of the senator from the 20th—"In one word, I was heartbroken." I didn't know how much I loved Wisconsin until these proposals were introduced. Mr. President and members, I attended 19—4 finance hearings, should have been more. I attended 15 listening sessions, public hearings on the budget, throughout the state of Wisconsin. At least 900 testified at public hearings in finance, I presume there were 1500 or 1600 other people who spoke strongly about their disdain for this budget. Their frustration that the Republican majority is so out of touch with the real needs, and that they do not understand the adverse consequences, the pain that they're going to impose upon the people of Wisconsin.

I could not believe that the senator from the 8th had the gall to suggest that this budget does not cut public education. Not only does the governor's budget not provide the tools—unless it is a meat axe, to public education—not only doesn't he provide the tools, but then this budget gleefully directs local school districts to cut another $800 million even though these school districts have been cutting their budgets for the last 15 years. It's a budget that cuts $250 million from the University of Wisconsin, $500 million from Medicaid and BadgerCare, at the same time that it provides almost $200 million more in corporate tax breaks. Mr. President and members, the state is not broke, this government is broken. It is morally bankrupt, and it is shown in the policies in page after page after page. Because the only people being asked to share in the sacrifice, Mr. President and members, are those that have the least ability to afford it.

And so Mr. President and members, I'm not sure what happened to Wisconsin. I'm often asked that question as I travel around the state: "What in the world happened to the state we loved?" A state that recognized that low-income working families pay taxes, they coach little league teams, they support church fundraisers, they dig into their pockets, they donate food to food shelves, they're there when a neighbor needs their help, they serve on the volunteer fire department, and then they hear the senator from the 20th—defining the Republican voice of extremism—suggest that somehow they're getting too much. Mr. President, the second to the last amendment passed by this committee was a $146 million tax cut to corporations; 64% of the corporations in this state currently do not pay any income taxes to the state of Wisconsin. The burden is being felt by the working-class families, and they're going to have a greater burden to pay as a result.

Mr. President and members, Governor Walker campaigned on making government smaller. This is big government at its worst. There are more unfunded mandates and dictates to local units of government to tell them how they should spend their money, restrictions on decisions they can make. Mr. President, it isn't... it is bad government. It is bigger government. Because they are making the decisions from Madison about communities that they've never visited, they've never been in. Mr. President and members, this is a budget that makes Grover Norquist feel proud. Grover Norquist is the pied piper of extremism, extremist philosophy. Grover Norquist said that he wanted to squeeze government spending so much that you could drown it down a bathtub. That's exactly what this budget does, is it squeezes spending. Its intention is to squeeze spending so that there aren't the resources to support public education, to support higher education, to support vocational colleges, to support programs for our elderly and our disabled. And Mr. President and members, the Republicans are gleeful about the fact that they are starving government of the ability to meet the needs of their families. Because the Republicans' friends are doing well, and they are rewarded for doing so well in this budget. Mr. President, $500 million is going to be cut from Medicaid. There's a woman in Superior who has Stage 4 cancer, who takes care of her disabled husband, who asked the question: "whose going to take care of my disabled husband when I die because I can no longer get BadgerCare. Because if I don't get BadgerCare I will die." Where's the answer in this budget, Mr. President? It is that these Republicans are turning their back on her and the tens of thousands of other citizens in Wisconsin who have needs. Mr. President, the pain to our local communities and damage from these cuts are going to last a very long time. Schools are going to be closed. Wisconsin is "open for business" but our schools are closing. To the parent whose child is now in a class of 31 what do you tell her? We can't afford to provide support for any more of your public school, but if you'd like to move to Milwaukee or Racine, we'll make sure that there's a chance for you to be able to go to private school and we'll take care of that support. Mr. President and members, this budget abandons our moral and constitutional obligation to equal education. The tradition of stewardship to our natural resources wouldn't be recognized as a result of the items in this budget. It hands the keys to our resources over to developers and contractors, but proposes cuts to local transit systems.

Mr. President and members, people are frightened in Wisconsin by the economic situation that is adding so much stress to their lives. They're extremely frightened that their own government is abandoning them. This budget is an attack on these very same families. It is an assault on the middle class. It is an abandonment of our responsibilities as officials to make sure that every citizen has the same opportunity, for equal opportunity. These citizens understand sacrifice, they know what it means to give. They help their neighbors, they strengthen their community. They're victims of the recession and now they're a victim of their own government. The Wisconsin way is the manner in which citizens collectively work to improve the common wealth. Mr. President and members, this is a budget that forsakes the traditions and forgets the people of the state of Wisconsin who will be so adversely impacted by the decisions in this budget. It's a shameful moment in Wisconsin history.

Video posted to youtube by @nicknicemadison

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¹Senator Jauch here refers to the preceding speaker, Senator Glenn Grothman, who spoke in favor of the elimination of the Earned Income Tax Credit calling it a government handout akin to welfare. That speech can be seen on youtube.