Politics & Government
Wisconsin: A Laboratory of Democracy
You might believe government does too much or too little, but I believe taxpayers, at minimum, deserve to know how their money is being spent.
Since its founding, Wisconsin has served as a launching pad for some of the most important ideas in American politics. The Republican Party, founded in Ripon, WI, in 1854, served as the political home to radical abolitionists who believed that “free labor, free land, and free men” could not exist in the same union that tolerated slavery.
Decades later Wisconsin progressives, led by Senator Robert LaFollette, earned national plaudits in their fight against special interests, and enacted countless reforms that returned political power to ordinary citizens across the state. Most recently, welfare reform pioneered by Governor Tommy Thompson, went national with the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. These reforms, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, were animated by the principle that a helping hand must always be accompanied by an expectation of work, and that federal programs of assistance are meant to serve as a safety net, and not a hammock.
As Assistant Majority Leader in the State Assembly, I’ve done my best to continue to move Wisconsin down the path of reform. As Governor Walker’s Taskforce on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse discovered, sloppy program administration costs Wisconsin taxpayers roughly $200 million annually. In response, I authored legislation that cracked down on fraud inside the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program by ensuring that state administrators have better tools to defend against criminals who would steal from taxpayers and the truly needy.
My W-2 legislation was signed into law in April of this year, and I’m looking forward to expanding our efforts here in the Assembly as Republicans continue to work to ensure that taxpayer dollars are reserved for cost-effective, temporary programs of assistance that help the truly needy develop lives of dignity, not dependency. As part of that effort, I plan on using this column to provide a snapshot of welfare assistance programs inside Wisconsin. Many, like FoodShare, are functionally federal programs that are merely managed by the State. Other programs, like Wisconsin’s earned income tax credit, fall solely under the purview of the state legislature.
No matter your political persuasion, it is important to understand how these programs work. You might believe government does too much or too little, but I believe taxpayers, at minimum, deserve to know how their money is being spent.
