Wisconsin’s Legislative Republicans are bad with money

Wisconsin's Republican legislative majority has put two amendments to the state Constitution on the Aug. 13 ballot that would give them control of unallocated federal dollars coming into the state. 

These are major amendments. If voters approve them, they will shift more power from the executive branch to the legislative branch. Also, we’re also talking about potentially millions, even billions of dollars of leverage Republicans could use to push their unpopular legislative agenda. They’ve done it before (I’ll go into more detail below). 

Second, changing the state constitution is a really big deal. But since Republicans couldn’t get these amendments passed through the legislative process, they’ve decided to go the route of obtusely worded ballot questions. And I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that these questions are on the ballot during an election that largely consists of state and local primaries, which is likely to have low voter turnout—instead of, say, during the likely very high-turnout presidential election in November. 

If Question 2 passes, it would give the legislature control over any discretionary federal tax dollars that come into the state: 

“Question 2: Allocation of federal moneys. Shall section 35 (2) of article IV of the constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?”

Now, a lot of federal dollars are allocated for a specific purpose, and some state agencies are allowed to accept and use those funds without legislative approval. And another good chunk of the federal money coming into Wisconsin is already part of the state budgeting process, which already requires legislative approval. 

So what is this about? Republican proponents of the amendments claim their campaign stems from grievances over Gov. Tony Evers' distribution of $5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds. But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos boasted that the legislature passed a bill allowing Evers to use federal COVID-19 dollars, as a justification for the legislature's failure to pass any legislation for 10 months in 2020 and 2021. Question 1 would forbid Wisconsin's legislature in the future to do exactly what the legislature did in 2020—hand off that responsibility to the governor: 

“Question 1: Delegation of appropriation power. Shall section 35 (1) of article IV of the constitution be created to provide that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?”

So, it was fine for legislative Republicans to hand over control of federal COVID-19 funds to Evers and take a vacation during a pandemic (while still earning their full-time salaries), but no future legislature should be able to do the same?

I’m sure it has nothing to do with the millions, potentially billions, of dollars Wisconsin is due to receive from the federal government via the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. If there’s one thing Wisconsin Republicans love to do, it is derail any infrastructure project not tied to roads. Including trains, paid for by the federal government (yes, I am still mad about the lack of high-speed rail service between Milwaukee to Madison) and which are, surprise, sometimes even profitable. The pettiest thing I saw legislative Republicans do when I was closely covering the legislature was stipulate in 2022 that funds for reducing emission had to be used on highway right-of-way or signaling improvements—not bike or walking trails, or public transit.

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Even if you’re into spending money on vehicle infrastructure and vehicle infrastructure only, passing these amendments is a bad idea. 

Conservatives try to argue that state-level leaders who turn down federal funds are doing something to curb “runaway spending.”  All they’re doing is sending Wisconsinites' federal tax money to other states. 

The truth is, Wisconsin Republicans are bad with money.

Here’s a short list of all the ways legislative Republicans screwed up Wisconsin’s finances in the early years of the COVID pandemic*:

• Refused to expand BadgerCare in 2021, when the federal government was offering—in addition to $600 million to expand BadgerCare—$1 billion with no strings attached. Instead, legislative Republicans decided to maintain the system implemented by former Governor Scott Walker, which covers fewer people and costs the state more money. No other state has adopted Walker’s system, for obvious reasons.

• Vos claims Wisconsin was one of the earliest states to pass COVID-19 legislation. In fact, several states acted before we did. As a result, Wisconsin was too late to pass a repeal of the one-week waiting period for claiming unemployment. As a result, Wisconsin did not receive an additional $25 million available to help cover unemployment insurance.

• It should be shouted from the rooftops that our state has literal billions of dollars of budget surplus. Instead of investing that in the myriad ways that could improve people’s lives, legislative Republicans insist on tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

• Legislative Republicans and the then-conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court did not allow Evers to declare an emergency order in April, 2021, endangering $50 million in FoodShare benefits. Vos said that Republicans would consider allowing an emergency order if Evers signed a COVID-19 bill riddled with poison pills—for instance, it would not have allowed any vaccine requirements (like say, for someone working in a medical office) or allowed school districts to switch to virtual learning. Remember that this was in April, 2021, when children were not vaccinated. Instead, Evers worked out a deal with the USDA to receive the funds.

• Wisconsin legislative Republicans wanted to underfund public K-12 education to such an extent that the state could have lost out on $2.3 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds. They used that leverage to force Evers to sign a budget that gave tax cuts to Wisconsin’s wealthiest.

*I have not been following the ins and outs of the legislature as closely since mid-2022, for my own sanity. 

I want to focus in on the last two bullet points. Wisconsin Republicans’ agenda is not popular in Wisconsin. There’s been polling over the years showing that people want marijuana legalization, BadgerCare expansion, more funding for schools, and so many other things that Republicans have refused to do. Instead, Wisconsin's legislative majority pushes culture-war legislation, including proposals to ban transgender children from sports, or, in the case of COVID, conspiracy theories and junk science that actually put people in danger or restrict their access to voting. And tax cuts for rich people. Can’t forget that. If they take control of these funds coming in, they will leverage that to gain power and push their interests, not the interests of Wisconsinites. 

If Wisconsinites vote “yes” on Questions 1 and 2, expect nothing but more shenanigans. And in the meantime, we voters will look at all the problems in this state and wonder where our tax dollars are going.