Here & Now

Tug of War Over Control of Federal COVID Funds

Frederica Freyberg:

We turn now to the other side of the aisle and head to Oshkosh. That’s where we are joined by Assembly Minority Leader Democrat Gordon Hintz. Thanks very much for being here.

Gordon Hintz:

Happy to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

You said the Republican bills to take control of how to spend some $2.7 billion of the federal COVID stimulus money is designed to, “score political points.” How so?

Gordon Hintz:

Well, first off, I think Governor Evers has done a tremendous job, a nonpolitical job, trying to address the needs of our state, both during the height of the pandemic, coming out of the pandemic and by introducing a budget that really tries to turn the corner both on the public health side and the economy. And with the American Rescue Plan Act, we expect more of the same. It’s that kind of discretion that I think we need where we don’t need the micromanaging and politicizing each of these decisions. Legislative Republicans refused to act for the last nine months heading up until this session starting and a week ago introduced these bills that when you look at their track record since Governor Evers has been elected, time after time, their priority seems to be to try to thwart, sue, stop, make the governor look bad. I just don’t think the public has any appetite for this at a time when we should be managing the crisis and de-politicizing things.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about the argument that Republican budget writers need to know where this money can be plugged in as they try to recraft the budget?

Gordon Hintz:

Well, I mean, I think a lot of us have those questions as well, but remember some of the Republican attempts that were introduced may not actually be compliant with what the federal government is asking for in terms of what they’re going to allow. This is one-time money. I think the governor is slowly releasing very deliberate considerations on what can best help address COVID and help build back our economy. The recent announcement of $100 million for the economy is something. I think there will be discussions about infrastructure, broadband, some of those things. I think we will know a lot that prior to the deliberations of the Finance Committee. But I don’t think that’s what was going on with the proposal by the Republicans. I think this was just sort of more of the same, trying to combat Governor Evers politically and he’s not interested and I don’t think the public is either.

Frederica Freyberg:

That said, wouldn’t this call for some working across the aisle to best help Wisconsin as it tries to recover? The entire onus not necessarily on Republicans?

Gordon Hintz:

Absolutely. And look, I think one of the best moments we’ve had in a pretty toxic political environment was last April where we did work across the aisle and had a near unanimous COVID package that we worked hard on together, signed into law by Governor Evers. I think there was hope over the last year that that would somewhat continue. And I think it’s possible now. And that’s what I mean. If there are ideas or there are questions or suggestions, I would reach out to the administration or the agencies. But I think it’s important to understand just like the CARES Act resources last year, you know, you want to have some flexibility as we hope we know where we’re going to be in a few months. We don’t necessarily know. So tying up those resources isn’t necessarily the best idea. It’s not prudent. But we’ll have to see how it impacts the budget overall.

Frederica Freyberg:

There are some shared interests between the GOP and Governor Evers, namely, spending money on broadband, small businesses and tourism. But when Governor Evers vetoes the Republican bills, as he has as much as promised, how does that set him up for criticism for rejecting that spending?

Gordon Hintz:

Well, on the bills that have been introduced, they haven’t exactly been introduced with the governor’s input and there’s always been a clear poison pill. That’s a part of all of these things. If you’re going to repeal the mask mandate, if you’re going to introduce oversight where you can micromanagement the governor’s spending decisions, those are probably things that are pretty clear the governor is not going to sign, which I think makes it clear that this is more political. I think you mentioned a lot of things that there are areas of agreement. I mentioned broadband, transportation, infrastructure. Given that a lot of the federal money that we’re talking about is one-time, I think we really need to look at what are the things that we can really catch up on. The governor has made a priority of lead pipe replacement, groundwater, a lot of things that impact communities throughout the state that we could make some significant headway on. And a budget that I think has the resources to make a difference as proposed by Governor Evers. So I think we’re open. But, you know, they’ve got to let go of the fact that Governor Evers is governor. If any one of them wants to be governor, they can run.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right. We leave it there. Representative Gordon Hintz, thanks very much.

Gordon Hintz:

Thank you.