Howard Marklein Voted to Gut Gov. Evers' Pro-Kid Budget, Reject Property Tax Relief

MADISON, WI - After Howard Marklein voted today to strip over 600 items from Governor Evers’ budget, raising property taxes and threatening access to child care around the state, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Deputy Communications Director Haley McCoy released the following statement:

“Governor Evers’ budget provided real, meaningful tax relief to address the rising cost of living for working families while at the same time delivering historic investments for our kids and the future of our state. By voting to gut Governor Evers’ budget, Howard Marklein is insulting the will of the people and offering Wisconsin more of the same old tired playbook that voters have rejected time and again. After 15 years of partisan games, Wisconsin deserves better than what Howard Marklein and the Wisconsin GOP have to offer.”

Here’s a few of the priorities Howard Marklein stripped from the Governor Evers’ Budget:

• Making Child Care More Affordable and Accessible by Making Child Care Counts a Permanent State Program. Governor Evers proposed a nearly $500 million investment to make Child Care Counts a permanent state program. Child Care Counts helps working families get access to quality, affordable child care by providing funding to child care providers to keep their doors open and retain quality staff. Without additional funding, a quarter of all Wisconsin child care providers could be forced to close their doors, with other providers raising tuition, shortening hours, or reducing staff to stay open. 
• Providing More than $2 Billion in Tax Relief for the Middle Class. With rising costs weighing on working families around the state, Governor Evers’ budget provided meaningful tax relief by holding the line on property taxes, eliminating the sales tax on many household items and expenses, and cutting taxes for the middle class. 
• Investing in K-12 Education to Do What’s Best for Our Kids. For too long, municipalities have been forced to go to referendums to ask voters to voluntarily raise their own taxes to continue funding local public schools. That’s why Gov. Evers is proposing historic state investments in K-12 education and special education to ensure our kids, educators, and schools have the support and resources they need to prepare our kids for the future. 
• Creating a Paid Family & Medical Leave Program. More than 70 percent of Wisconsinites support providing family leave for new parents. Governor Evers’ budget would have provided 8 weeks of leave for new parents to bond with their babies, as well as medical leave for those dealing with unexpected illnesses or family emergencies. 
• Fully Expanding Medicaid. The decades-long Republican refusal to fully expand Medicaid has made Wisconsin a national outlier. Expanding Medicaid would extend coverage to nearly 90,000 Wisconsinites while generating $1.9 billion in savings thanks to enhanced federal investments.  
• Addressing Challenges Wisconsinites Face When Accessing Health Care. Gov. Evers proposed making Wisconsin the first state in America to audit health insurance companies over denying Wisconsinites’ health care claims to ensure health insurance companies aren’t shortchanging Wisconsinites to pad their own bottom line.