Last Thursday, the Wisconsin Assembly approved Governor Walker’s package of dangerous changes to safety net programs, moving these harmful bills onto to the Wisconsin Senate and one step closer to becoming state law. These proposals will only make it harder for people who are already struggling to find work and support their families, despite claims from the Governor and Assembly Republicans that these bills will expand the Wisconsin workforce by removing barriers to work.

While the Governor has proclaimed these bills as “welfare reform,” the truth is that these bills do very little to improve the welfare of children, families, and communities. Instead, these bills will increase the number of children and families that are hungry, homeless, and uninsured by creating barriers to participating in safety net programs.

Instead of picking on our state’s most vulnerable and shaming those who experience poverty, Wisconsin lawmakers should be investing in polices that will expand the workforce in ways that support families. We recommend a number of specific policies that the legislature should do to accomplish the shared goal of expanding Wisconsin’s workforce:

• Stop suspending driver’s licenses for low-income people who are unable to pay fines, if those fines are unrelated to driving.
• Making childless adults eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, so that their income goes further.
• Undoing the long erosion of funding for the state’s child care subsidy program by immediately increasing its funding and creating more flexibility in the program, so it serves parents with erratic work schedules.
• Increasing the minimum wage.

You can learn more about the bills by reading, “A Guide to Governor Walker’s Proposed Changes to Public Assistance,” a summary we put together. Please also consider contacting your State Senator and ask them to oppose these bills. You can do this quickly and easily by clicking here.

Ken Taylor