MADISON– Following a State of the State address long on rhetoric and short on specifics, Scott Walker today visited Green Bay as part of a five-city tour to promote his dismantling of Wisconsin’s modern economy.
While failing to provide details, Walker stated in his Tuesday speech that Wisconsinites could expect to see cuts in Medical Assistance programs, which include the successful SeniorCare program and BadgerCare, on which hundreds of thousands of working families rely.
Today in Green Bay he expanded the list of cuts to include education funding and municipal aid spending, both of which could force local governments to offset state spending cuts with increases in property tax rates.
Walker also took the time to applaud his “Anything But Jobs” legislative session, which was pledged as an opportunity to remedy Wisconsin’s dire fiscal straits and foster economic development, and instead comes with a $142 million price tag for corporate giveaways. The GOP legislature has failed to pass a piece of legislation that would create a single job, yet scored major legal and financial victories for developers, big business, negligent manufacturers and nursing home abusers.
And perhaps the biggest winner in Walker’s giveaway session is Walker himself. Yesterday’s session, undeterred by the snow emergency, brought an unprecedented power grab granting Scott Walker ultimate rule-making authority for all state agencies.
“Scott Walker went forward with his State of the State address Tuesday night, despite the epic blizzard raging through Wisconsin,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Thursday. “Presumably, he was eager to finally lay out the specifics of how he would remedy the state’s budget deficit and promote job creation. However, in both his hollow speech and the follow-up tour, Scott Walker squandered the opportunity to focus on jobs and instead made clear that he is willing to sacrifice education and healthcare for children and seniors to appease a greedy few special interests.”
