Frederica Freyberg:
As always there’s a lot going on in Wisconsin from politics to policy. Tonight we check in with our political panelists Republican Bill McCoshen and Democrat Scot Ross. Thanks for being here.
Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross:
Thanks for having us.
Frederica Freyberg:
First off, what is your broad take on the legislature’s state budget just passed and awaiting the governor’s action? Is it what you expected with a $7 billion surplus?
Scot Ross:
No, I think it’s a $7 billion wasted opportunity by Republicans to support things that are going to help the people of Wisconsin, men, women, children, thrive and excel. We missed the opportunity to end the criminal abortion ban. We’re gashing the UW system. We’re not fully funding public education. Let’s just talk about childcare. We’ve got childcare, there was an opportunity to provide real childcare but instead we’re giving a tax break to the top 1%. 25,000 people are getting the $300 million that could have otherwise prevented 2500 childcare facilities from closing over the next couple of years. It’s just shameful.
Frederica Freyberg:
Bill, your comment?
Bill McCoshen:
I think your viewers should be really excited about this budget. This is the first budget in divided government. This is Tony Evers’ third budget with Republicans in the majority where they have grand bargains on some key issues that voters care about. Let’s go through those. Shared revenue – historic increase in funding to local government, agreement. K-12 and charter and choice schools – historic investments in both of those so all kids benefit regardless of which choice their parents make for their education. Housing – $500 million to increase the housing stock not only in the urban but in the rural areas as well and that’s a workforce development issue. Literacy, transportation, pay raises for state employees. All of those things they agreed on, Fred. That’s the first time that’s happened in the last three budgets. I think there’s a lot to be really excited about in this budget.
Frederica Freyberg:
What do you think about what the governor might do?
Scot Ross:
I actually talked to somebody high up today from over in the east wing and they said the chances of vetoing the entire budget are 50-50. If not, it’s going to be historic number of line item vetoes. They’re going to line item as much as humanly possible as the governor’s already stated and I think with good reason because we missed so many opportunities. We’re handing out too much money to rich people and we’re not investing in people the way we could.
Frederica Freyberg:
What would he be vetoing it over?
Scot Ross:
I think the tax plan in particular. You just see how much money they are wasting. Again, that top 1% is taking away $300 plus billion. If you get rid of that top rate, it’s $700 million that’s being lost that could be invested in things like childcare.
Bill McCoshen:
Scot, three choices: sign it in total, he won’t do that. Veto it completely, I don’t think that’s realistic, or partial vetoes. I think that is realistic. His staff has indicated he will use it as much as humanly possible. The reason he won’t veto the whole bill is the agreements that I just walked, all the funding for them is still in this bill. The likelihood of the governor getting a better deal the second time around is zero.
Frederica Freyberg:
Tommy Thompson told us that the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action in college admissions basically bolsters the Republican legislature’s budget decision to eliminate UW DEI offices. But what’s next in the realm of abandoning diversity and inclusion initiatives in Wisconsin?
Bill McCoshen:
I don’t think we’re abandoning it but I think, maybe finally, we’re going to put the focus where it belongs which is on urban schools. I mean if you want to give African-American kids a better opportunity, you got to teach them how to read. When 20% of African-Americans can read at grade level and 80% can’t, that 80% is never going to make it to college. They’re more likely to end up in prison. That’s got to be the focus here is making sure our urban schools are delivering the kind of education those kids need and the truth is the ones who suffered the most under the affirmative action were Asian-Americans, not whites.
Scot Ross:
I think it’s just disgraceful what the Supreme Court and I think it’s disgraceful what Republican legislature is trying to do. Again, diversity is what makes Wisconsin, what makes the University of Wisconsin great, and stymying that because you think it plays your racist base is not the way we should go. And I’ll just say this. $34 million cut out of UW. So a student who graduated from the University of Minnesota gets to walk after four years across the aisle. A student at the University of Wisconsin is going to have to stay five years because they can’t get what they need to graduate in four years as a result of these cuts.
Bill McCoshen:
We have these programs today. DEI across the campuses. My son graduated from Madison in May. I was at the graduation ceremony. Fewer than 200 African-Americans crossed the stage out of 8,000. A record number.
Scot Ross:
Again, that’s why we have to double down on diversity and not take it back.
Bill McCoshen:
We’ve got to focus earlier.
Scot Ross:
What the Supreme Court did was disgraceful and this probably was the worst week for the Supreme Court other than in 1896 when they did separate but equal with Plessy versus Ferguson.
Frederica Freyberg:
Speaking of the Supreme Court, they obviously turned back Joe Biden’s action to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt. What are the implications of this for those who hold such debt? I know this is a big issue for you Scot.
Scot Ross:
I’ll just say this. I don’t understand how providing Robin Vos with a $300,000 forgiven PPP loan, he’s a multi-millionaire, we forgave his loan, the entirety of it, how that helps the economy? But forgiving $10,000 for nearly a million student loan borrowers who are going to put that money back in the economy helps our economy. It just doesn’t make any sense. And the people who financed the lawsuit actually got a $135,000 PPP loan. It’s hypocrisy across the board.
Frederica Freyberg:
What about that comparison?
Bill McCoshen:
I’m the seventh of eight kids that Pat and Ray McCoshen had. The notion that I would go to a Big Ten school and get a degree was unthinkable when I was a kid, yet it happened. Why? I invested in myself. I took out student loans. I paid those back. I viewed it as an investment in myself and I shouldn’t have to pay for someone else who made that same choice.
Frederica Freyberg:
That’s the argument.
Scot Ross:
Bill, we spent the money. We used to invest ten cents of every GPR dollar into higher education in the state of Wisconsin. It’s now down to two and a half cents. We’ve stopped financing higher education and put the burden on students. I paid student debt for 26 years. I support forgiving every penny of student loan debt and make public colleges and universities free.
Frederica Freyberg:
I only have about a minute left and I want to ask you about the Marquette Law School poll that showed 66% of people surveyed in Wisconsin think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. How will this issue continue to inform the upcoming elections?
Bill McCoshen:
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin is going to have a big say in that whether or not the 1849 law is the law of the land or something that was passed subsequent to that. So we will see. But if you look closely at those cross tabs, people don’t like abortion up til the time of birth and there are a lot of folks that don’t support any abortion at any time.
Scot Ross:
Nobody’s having abortions up to the point of birth but I do agree with Bill, it’s going to be a huge issue. I think it’s going to reign huge in the legislative races. It’s going to reign huge in congressional races and Democrats are on the right side of history. The lesson from the poll is Republicans if they acted a little bit more like Democrats and supported those issues, they might stop losing statewide elections.
Frederica Freyberg:
We need to leave it there. Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross, thanks very much.
For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBSwisconsin.org and then click on the news tab. That’s our program for tonight. I’m Frederica Freyberg. Have a good weekend.
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Funding for “Here & Now” is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
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