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State Senate honors Limbaugh but doesn’t take up Black History Month resolution

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A proposal in the Wisconsin Senate to honor the late conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh drew stiff opposition from Democrats on Tuesday.

Senator La Tonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) read selected quotes from Limbaugh during floor debate.

“In 1988 he called Amy Carter the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country and in the early 1990s he called Chelsea Clinton the White House dog.”

“Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a s*** and a prostitute after she publicly advocated for universal contraception coverage. He also said the NAACP should have a riot rehearsal, they should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

“Another one of his quotes: ‘I think it’s time to get rid of this whole National Basketball Association call it the TBA: the Thug Basketball Association and stop calling them teams, call them gangs.'”

Johnson and other Democrats painted Limbaugh as a racist bully, and said that conservatives need to own that side of him, if they want to honor his work in radio.

Republicans voted in favor of the resolution 18 to 12, after earlier rejecting a resolution recognizing Black History Month. Johnson did succeed in getting that resolution read aloud by the Senate clerk.

The State Assembly shelved its own version of the Limbaugh resolution, but was scheduled to be on the floor again on Wednesday.

 

Senate approves bill that would require schools to teach about Holocaust and other genocides

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The Wisconsin Senate has passed legislation that would require schools to teach about the Holocaust and other genocides.

Milwaukee Democrat Lena Taylor proposed an amendment that would have added the African slave trade to the bill.

“Two million Black people are estimated to have died. Ten to fourteen million were forcibly transported,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s effort failed, on a day Senate Republicans also refused to consider a Black History Month resolution, but did approve one honoring the late Rush Limbaugh. Under the bill, schools would have to instruct on the Holocaust and other genocides at least once in grades 5-8 and once in grades 9-12.

“It is funded by a foundation specifically to fund a model academic curriculum, for this particular issues and all other genocides,” said the bill’s author, River Hills Republican Alberta Darling. “So there is room to talk about, and it should spark the conversation about what’s happening in our world today. Because that’s the point of studying the Holocaust. What happened, and why it should never happen again.”

Dem lawmakers propose ending tipped minimum wage in Wisconsin

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Two Democratic state lawmakers propose ending what they term a “sub-minimum wage” that is paid employees in Wisconsin restaurants.

Senator Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said Monday that the tipped minimum wage can be as little as $2.33 an hour. “This is simply not enough,” Larson said. “The understanding is, when a person is paid that, the tips that they make will get them over $7.25 an hour.”

Larson introduced the bill with Representative Francesca Hong (D-Madison), who owns a restaurant. “We’re keeping some restaurants from being bad actors, and really working towards a greater vision of restaurants that have equitable pay structures, that contribute to their community, that empower their workers, so that their workers can go out and continue to spend that money at other restaurants and other local shops, and that our economies can really become stronger when we empower our restaurant workers.”

Seven states, including Minnesota, have all eliminated the tip credit. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 would also eliminate the lower tipped wage in restaurants nationwide.

The Capital Times reports that a statement from the Wisconsin Restaurant Association said the organization supported “a discussion” over the current federal minimum wage, but that now is not the time to change the tip credit.

Joint Finance co-chairs announce public hearings on budget

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The co-chairs of the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance have announced public hearings on the state budget will be held next month.

There will be three in-person hearings: Friday, April 9 at UW-Whitewater, Wednesday, the 21st in Rhinelander and Thursday, the 22nd at UW-Stout in Menomonie. A fourth, virtual hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28.

None of the hearings are in Milwaukee. “I guess this will be one of those things where people will define it how people wish to define it. I certainly feel that Whitewater is in southern and southeastern Wisconsin,” said Assembly co-chair, Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam).

“We certainly feel that we’ve chosen locations in different parts of the state, as well as the virtual option which is statewide,” Born said. WisPolitics reported that the last time JFC didn’t hold a public hearing in Milwaukee or its suburbs was 2005, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

In-person public hearings will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. The format will be similar to past hearings and attendees will be asked to fill out a form upon arrival to be added to the queue to testify.

Pre-registration will be required for the virtual hearing. The registration process and details are in development and will be released as soon as possible via the new JFC website, which is also a portal for constituents to provide input: www.legis.wisconsin.gov/topics/budgetcomments.

The JFC has also developed a dedicated email address for input only: [email protected].

State Dems say Republican efforts to control COVID-19 funding are partisan

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Legislative Democrats say attempts by the state GOP to take over control of COVID-19 relief funds are short-sighted partisanship. 

Democrat State Senator Melissa Agard says GOP requests to audit funding and debates over bills that would delay getting relief funds out to residents will harm Wisconsinites. 

“We do not have time for partisan bickering and partisan rhetoric. What we need right now is real true leadership that has a track record of doing the best thing for the people in the state of Wisconsin.”

Agard says Governor Tony Evers and his administration are perfectly capable of getting the funds to where they’re needed.

“Ensuring that they have access to affordable, quality healthcare, ensure that our schools are adequately funded, that our transportation budget isn’t being kicked down the road for future generations, and that we get our Main Street businesses back in order.”

Republican leaders say that they only want to ensure oversight and transparency in where those funds are going. Agard and other Democrats say that if Republicans wanted control over the funds, then Congressional Republicans should have voted in favor of the package. 

Grothman’s BLM remarks draw sharp criticism on House floor

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A Wisconsin congressman brought up Black Lives Matter during Wednesday’s House debate on the pandemic relief package – and a colleague called him out on it.

“(It)has a marriage penalty in it,” said 6th District Republican Glenn Grothman of the $1.6 trillion bill, dubbed the American Rescue Plan. “I bring it up because I know the strength that Black Lives Matter had in this last election. I know it’s a group that doesn’t like the old-fashioned family — disturbed that we have another program here in which we’re increasing the marriage penalty.”

The remark drew a sharp rebuke from Democrat, Delegate Stacy Plaskett of the Virgin Islands.

“We have been able to keep our families alive for over 400 years, and the assault on our families to not have Black lives or not even have Black families,” Plaskett said. “How dare you say that we are not interested in families in the Black community. That is outrageous that should be stricken down.”


In an interview with the Journal Sentinel after the vote, Grothman said Plaskett misrepresented his remarks, and that they were directed only at Black Lives Matter and not the Black community as a whole. He called Black Lives Matter a “Marxist” organization.

Johnson not revealing his plans for 2022: ‘I’m doing everybody a favor’

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U.S. Senator Ron Johnson

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson is keeping his future plans to himself for now. The Wisconsin Republican did pledge not to run for a third term during his 2016 campaign.

“That pledge is on my mind, it was my preference then, I would say it’s my preference now,” the Wisconsin Republican said last week. “I’m happy to go home. But, I think that pledge was based on the assumption that we wouldn’t have Democrats once again in total control of government.”

“This Democratic Party isn’t the Democratic Party of your parents and grandparents,” Johnson said Monday on FOX News. “This is a radical group, the most progressive group that we’ve seen.”

Johnson has repeatedly voiced his concerns about the long-term impacts of the $1.9 trillion American Recovery Act, and on Thursday he acted to force Senate clerks to read every word of the 628-page pandemic relief bill out loud.

Johnson said he wanted to create a delay so that proper consideration on the spending package could be given. “We close up shop, and the bill’s passed. I don’t think that’s the proper thing to do with the $1.9 trillion spending blowout that we don’t really need to pass.”

Johnson, along with every Republican in the Senate, went on to vote against the relief measure.

Wisconsin Democratic chair Ben Wikler said that “by doing everything in his power to block urgently needed relief for Wisconsin families, Senator Ron Johnson has earned the title of the number one opponent of middle-class and working-class relief.”

Three Democrats, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry and Marshfield radiologist Gillian Battino, have already announced their candidacies to challenge Johnson in 2022.

But Johnson said he doesn’t feel any pressure, to decide whether he’ll run. “I truly have not decided, and I think I have plenty of time to decide.”

He also said the only people who care about his plans for 2022 are political consultants. “This is getting to an absurd level, where you have U.S. Senate races costing a hundred million dollars. The vast majority of that money is completely wasted. So I think I’m doing everybody a favor just kind of holding of on deciding, which means holding off on campaigning.”

Democratic legislative leaders discuss prospects for marijuana legalization

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Democratic leaders in the Wisconsin legislature think the state may be edging closer to legalizing medical marijuana.

Sen. Janet Bewley

State Senate Minority Leader Janet Bewley (D-Mason) told WisPolitics on Thursday that she thinks a standalone bill to legalize medical cannabis could pass. “I believe it could pass as a standalone, but for now it’s in the budget.”

Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) credits Governor Tony Evers for elevating the issue.

“I’m glad that he’s put it out there, I think the proposal alone accelerates the discussion,” Hintz told WisPolitics. “And I think we will eventually get there. I just don’t know if it’s in the next six months or the next decade.”

Republicans on the legislature’s budget panel have already rejected legalization through the budget process.

Rep. Gordon Hintz

Hintz said he’s discussed the legalization issue with officials in Colorado, where cannabis was legalized in a 2012 referendum. He said the consensus there is that a greater public education effort would have been helpful prior to the start of legal marijuana sales.

“There’s still a lot of people in the state that have had no exposure, no understanding, to who the proposal just sounds so radical, based on their 11th grade health class in the early 70’s,” Hintz said.

Republicans on the legislature’s budget panel have already rejected Governor Tony Evers’ proposed legalization through the budget process.

“I certainly don’t think that kind of a topic should be in as part of the budget, this session anyway,” state Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) said last month.

Senator Baldwin backs efforts to expand ACA coverage, Navigator programs

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Senator Tammy Baldwin is backing President Biden’s push to return funding back to the Insurance Navigator Program.

Baldwin says those funds will make it easier for people to get the coverage they need on the Healthcare Marketplace. 

“During a deadly pandemic we should be working to make it easier not harder for Americans to get the health care they need and that’s exactly what President Biden is doing.”

Former President Trump cut funding to the Navigator program during his administration.

Baldwin says she’s cosponsoring legislation that will reduce premiums and deductibles for low income families. “To expand Health Care coverage two more than 4 million Americans who are currently uninsured and reduce healthcare costs for millions of additional individuals who are already have coverage.”

Enrollment for the A C A marketplace is currently open through May 15th. 

Evers tells WisPolitics he expects final budget will be compromise: ‘I don’t get bent out of shape over it.’

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Governor Tony Evers predicts the final state budget will be a compromise with Republican lawmakers.

The Democratic governor said Tuesday that he knows his policy-laden, $91 billion dollar spending plan is seen as “a wish list” by Republicans. “If it is, it’s a wish list for the people of Wisconsin,” he said during a WisPolitics virtual event.

The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee is expected to jettison many the policy proposals Evers included.

“I don’t get bent out of shape over it. We will get a budget. We’ll get it done, it’ll be somewhat of a compromise,” he said.

Proposals like legalized marijuana, Medicaid expansion and a minimum wage hike are all likely to get axed, but funding for rural broadband may survive.

“All those things didn’t come right outta my head. We spent time talking to people across the state. We had listening sessions,” Evers said. “And those things are all polling way over 50 percent, and some of them significantly higher.”