Republicans on the state’s budget writing committee removed hundreds of Gov. Ever’s proposals as the first day of a weeks-long budget writing process kicked off Thursday.
Voting on party lines, the sixteen-member committee ousted proposals like marijuana legalization, Medicaid expansion, and raising minimum wage.
“These ideas should be debated as part of the legislative process,” Joint Finance Committee co-chair and Republican Senator Howard Marklein said in a press conference before the meeting.
Republicans said they were going back to the baseline, using the most recent biennial budget as their blueprint for the rewrite of the more than $90 billion legislation.
Medicaid Expansion
“The budget we’re adopting I believe is going to be reasonable, responsible, and realistic,” Republican co-chair Rep. Mark Born said. Democrats argued that one of the biggest removals, rejecting $1.6 billion in Medicaid expansion for the state’s Badgercare program, was something the majority of the state wanted.
“Republicans are about to make a generational mistake by saying no to expanding Medicaid,” Sen. John Erpenbach (D-West Point) said. It was voted down a couple hours later after extended debate in committee. If Wisconsin had voted for the expansion, the federal government would have covered more of the costs of Wisconsin’s health insurance–which Republicans argued wasn’t needed because of the Affordable Care Act and availability of private insurance.
“It’s our money, it should come back here,” Rep. Goyke said. “There are no strings attached to that $1 billion with the exception of expanding Medicaid.”
“There is no problem with access to health insurance,” Rep. Born said. “The problem is we won’t put people on government assistance because we see there’s a private sector plan available and we should be utilizing that.”
Immigrant Rights
Members from Voces De La Frontera, an advocacy group for immigrant rights, rallied at the capitol ahead of the budget’s meeting Thursday morning, packing dozens outside the doors in protest of Republicans removing a measure from the governor’s budget that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses. Before 2007, Wisconsin did not require proof of citizenship or authorized presence when applying for a license.
“They are heroes and we have a responsibility to support them,” Laurie Zimmerman said, a rabbi who participated in the rally. “We have such an obligation to stand with immigrants and their families at this time.”
The measure would also have allowed undocumented juveniles in Wisconsin to pay in-state tuition fees. Currently, they have to pay higher out-of-state rates instead.
Expansion of Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center
A major unifying measure reaching unanimous consensus in the budget committee on Thursday was approving $66 million for expanding the Madison-based Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center for 50 extra beds, 30 for boys and 20 for girls. Currently, the facility only includes 29 beds for male juvenile offenders.
The move marks another step forward in reducing the population at the state’s only youth prisons north of Wausau, which have long been plagued by missteps and lawsuits, and are set to miss their July deadline for closure.
“It’s really going to help with our endeavors with mental health with our youth,” Republican Senator Mary Felzkowski from Irma said. “It will give them a chance and an opportunity to come back and a have a happy, healthy life moving forward.”
Felzkowski said Mendota had signaled they are ready to move forward with the unit expansion once they receive the go-ahead.
“Expanding the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center to serve juvenile girls for the first time will allow equitable access to psychiatric treatment services and provide an expanded opportunity for the most troubled youth across our state to receive the rehabilitation supports needed to successfully reintegrate into their communities,” Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake of Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services said in a statement.
Watch the entire committee meeting below:
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