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Frederica Freyberg:
The minority party isn’t wowed by the governor’s plan of action. In the Democrat’s response to the speech assembly minority leader, Peter Barca, pointed to how the surplus was amassed.
Peter Barca:
The surplus partly came from historic cuts to public schools and job training at technical colleges. The surplus was, in part, created by raising taxes on the people who could least afford it. The surplus was taken from local communities that provide public safety and other basic services. And now Governor Walker proposes irresponsibly spending much of that surplus on what many have called election year gimmicks that bring his growing structural deficit above $800 million, $100 more than we're beginning. I would think the last thing most Wisconsinites would want is to once again return to the conditions Governor Walker used to justify dividing our state and causing massive disruptions in people’s lives. And here’s been the result. The laws passed in this capitol during three years under Governor Walker and the Republicans have not created the jobs we expected. Wisconsin has fallen from 11th in the nation to 37th in the nation in job creation in the past three years. Republicans cut 30% of state funding to technical colleges, one of the most valuable institutions in our state, especially in a time of high unemployment and workers seeking job training for a new career. Let’s never forget, tech colleges are a Wisconsin original. They were first opened here in Wisconsin in 1911 and copied throughout the nation. Republicans made historic cuts to public schools, while forcing taxpayers to pay the tuition for families that, in most cases, were already attending private schools. Irresponsibly Republicans chose to kick people off of healthcare even though it cost Wisconsin taxpayers millions more and would have created tens of thousands of healthcare jobs. Make no mistake, Democrats were upset when Republicans raised taxes on struggling families and seniors who want to stay in their homes. Then, in a time of surplus, Republicans raise property taxes. So we believe a substantial part of the surplus should be used to relieve property taxes, taxes Governor Walker raised in this current budget.
Frederica Freyberg:
Assembly minority leader, Peter Barca, of Kenosha.
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