Here & Now

Rep. Barca Responds To State Of State Address

Frederica Freyberg:

Governor Walker’s theme in this week’s address was we are working and winning for Wisconsin and that the state of our state is strong.

Scott Walker:

In addition to a growing economy, I'm happy to note that our finances are stable. We finished the fiscal year yet again with a surplus. Our rainy day fund is 165 times bigger now than it was when we took office. And Wisconsin had the fourth lowest overall long-term debt obligation of any state in the country.

[Cheers and applause]

Frederica Freyberg:

The governor’s is a positive picture of the state of things in Wisconsin. We go now to Kenosha and to Assembly Minority Leader Democratic Representative Peter Barca, who may not paint it that way. Thanks very much for being here.

Peter Barca:

Great to be back on the show. Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

We just heard the governor describe a growing economy, stable finances and low overall long-term debt obligation. Would you dispute that?

Peter Barca:

Well, clearly I would dispute that. In fact, the metrics for Wisconsin are just horrible in almost every major category. We’re eighth of ten in jobs in the Midwest over the last five years. We have the most diminished middle class in the entire country. Let me repeat that. The most diminished middle class in the entire country. And the outlook isn’t good when you’re dead last in entrepreneurialship, as we are. And when you have the fourth worst roads in the entire country. Things are not rosy right now. The people of Wisconsin know it. The majority of people feel Wisconsin is on the wrong track. In his poll numbers, he’s at about 42% approval rating, which is not strong. So I think he can paint that rosy picture, but after six long years, the metrics are not measuring up. Wisconsinite deserve better and they know it.

Frederica Freyberg:

As for the governor’s new online push for no new taxes to fund highways, what’s your prescription to fill the billion dollar gap?

Peter Barca:

Well, clearly after six years we now have either the third or fourth worst roads depending on how you measure it. And with his budget, where we stand currently is 20 cents of every dollar you pay in gas taxes goes to pay interest on the debt. So we’re not even fixing our roads. And at the end of his biennium with the budget he’s proposing, we’ll be close to 25 cents on the dollar. So we need a sustainable fund. In the last budget, Democrats in the Finance Committee tried to restore indexing but in an accountable manner. They would have to have a vote in the Joint Finance Committee. If we still had indexing in the state, we would have a billion dollars more in our transportation fund so. We need a sustainable program.

Frederica Freyberg:

Some of the Republican leadership agrees with you on these things, so do you expect Majority Republicans to work with Democrats on transportation?

Peter Barca:

Well, we certainly hope so. In the last budget they refused to work with us. Not one Republican on that budget committee was willing to vote for that motion. In fact, they all argued against it saying we don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem, meaning that I guess the road builders are spending too much money. We have an audit that will come out in the next two weeks. I think it’s going to show what we know which our road builders are very efficient. In fact on average about 43% more efficient than their counterparts in other parts of the country. So transportation workers are doing a good job. But we need resources in order to not continue to have the fourth worst roads in the entire nation.

Frederica Freyberg:

So here’s a question. Who doesn’t like a college tuition cut? What’s your reaction to that proposal from the governor?

Peter Barca:

Well, as I indicated, you know, personally, I would love to give students a tuition cut. But, you know, he hasn’t funded the freeze in tuition in the past. So the concern would be will he fund actually cutting tuition. Clearly that would be beneficial and certainly be a much better use of money than what he did in his last budgets, where 11 of the wealthiest taxpayers are getting a $21 million tax break. I’d much rather give it to students. But I think most students know we also have to fund the university. Otherwise you end up going to school for five years and that $100 less in tuition will be eaten up, you know, ten to 20 times over.

Frederica Freyberg:

So, in other words, backfilling it as part of the budget is not what you’d like to see?

Peter Barca:

I'm just saying that, look, let’s go ahead and cut tuition. I think it’s a brilliant idea, provided, though, that he does what he has never done so far which is to provide adequate resources for the university. He cut a quarter billion dollars in the last budget and we’re feeling the strain. I’m here at UW-Parkside. I served on their foundation board for between one and two decades. There’s no slush funds here. We are hurting. We’re losing top faculty. That’s not a good thing. And it’s taking students longer to graduate in many instances because course offerings are no longer able to be given. So that puts us backwards at a time when we have a huge skills gap and a shortage of workers. This should be a top priority, whether it be k-12, tech colleges or the university. It’s vital for our future. It’s been a value of Wisconsinites for 100 years to make sure that students had a quality education. So we’re not living up to that reputation.

Frederica Freyberg:

With less than a minute left, what do you expect out of the Trump administration in Washington that could take hold in Wisconsin?

Peter Barca:

Well, what I would hope for is that I would hope that Donald Trump would live up to his campaign promise and do a major infrastructure package. Clearly the governor is not going to do that. He’s not up to it. So I'm hoping that President-elect Trump will in fact put forward money for infrastructure. Vitally important. The president-elect also talked about rebuilding the economy, changing these trade deals. That would help the upper Midwest, specifically Wisconsin, if in fact, we didn’t have these terrible trade deals that are draining us of jobs in the state.

Frederica Freyberg:

We leave it there. Representative Peter Barca, we’ll speak again. Thanks very much.

Peter Barca:

Frederica, great to be with you.