Key state Assembly Democrats announced their 2006 "On Wisconsin Agenda" Thursday, outlining a number of legislative reform goals aimed toward helping the middle class.
"We have 20 days left, and I think we need to focus on those issues that are kitchen-table issues that deal with everybody across this state and not get caught up in the issues that divide us," Assembly Democratic Leader Rep. Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, said.
With approaching scheduling constraints, state lawmakers are scrambling to push forward important last-minute legislation before time runs out.
According to Assembly Democrats, the issues that matter the most to Wisconsin citizens include health care, energy costs, job growth and education funding.
Republicans met the Democratic agenda with staunch skepticism, stopping short of complete disapproval but calling the plan unaffordable.
"We want to see how they're doing it and how they're paying for it," said Bob Delaporte, communications director for Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo. "It's something that the taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill for."
Many of the Democratic initiatives, Delaporte said, are noble but without merit if they entail "hand[ing] them money in one pocket and tak[ing] it out of another."
The "On Wisconsin Agenda" includes many of the initiatives set forth by Gov. Jim Doyle in his "Affordability Agenda," namely measures to make comprehensive health care more accessible.
"[Our proposed] 'Action Plan' holds the legislation accountable for coming up with a bill to make health care more affordable and more accessible by 2008," Assistant Assembly Minority Leader Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, said. "What's so scary about forcing ourselves to work on [the] middle class's top issue?"
Specifically, Assembly Democrats hope to implement BadgerCare Plus, a statewide taxpayer-funded health-care plan guaranteeing coverage to children, as well as Healthy Wisconsin, an initiative aimed at making catastrophic health care available to small businesses and families.
Democrats also pushed for passage of initiatives to create a homeowner's tax credit, as well as to close the "Las Vegas Loophole," a tax technicality that allows Wisconsin companies to avoid corporate income taxes by opening mailboxes in Nevada.
"Working families are stretched to the breaking point," Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink, D-Milladore, said. "We need to take care of them before we take care of the big corporations."
Additionally, Democrats supported the governor's proposal for an additional $6 million in heating assistance for low-income families, calling energy costs a middle-class priority.
"Today, Assembly Democrats, ask Speaker Gard — let's stop fooling around with some other agendas and let's focus on helping folks with their home-heating costs," Rep. John Lehman, D-Racine, said.
According to Democratic legislators, Republicans have pushed aside important middle-class issues in order to promote their own partisan agenda.
However, Republicans contend that such allegations are merely a political ploy to distract and mislead the public.
While Democrat and Republican lawmakers continue to disagree about each other's intentions, both parties seem to agree on the importance of promoting job growth — though each doubts the sincerity of the other's claims.
"The priority for [Republicans] is still making Wisconsin the best state in the world to create jobs," Delaporte said. "It doesn't get much more 'kitchen table' than that."
