Wisconsin's $1.8B surplus deal just died in the Senate — here's what advocates say it would've actually don
Last night the $1.8 billion spending package negotiated between Governor Evers and Republican Assembly leaders passed the Assembly and then failed in the State Senate — and on Daybreak this morning, Brian Noonan talked to two of the advocates who'd been pushing back on it: William Parke Sutherland of Kids Forward and Tami Jackson, co-chair of Survival Coalition of Wisconsin. Their core argument: the deal relied on one-time money to paper over long-term problems, would've spent down the surplus fast, and risked a structural deficit just as federal cuts to Medicaid and SNAP start landing on Wisconsin families; "no tax on tips" sounds helpful but could push employers to swap stable hourly and salaried jobs for unstable, tip-dependent work; and meanwhile the state already has 15,000 Wisconsinites with disabilities heading toward a Division of Vocational Rehabilitation waiting list because the legislature didn't put up enough state money to draw down the federal match. Their bottom line: real affordability — child care, housing, groceries, health care — means long-term investment funded by asking the wealthiest few to pay their fair share, not burning a one-time surplus on rebate checks that do the least for the people who need help most.