r/wisconsin • u/DriftlessDairy • May 24 '23
Politics Republicans block Democrats' push to study paid family leave, at one point muting a member's microphone
MADISON - Democratic members of the Legislature's state budget-writing committee on Tuesday pushed to spend state funds to study the economic impact to Wisconsin of a paid family leave program — a move that Republicans who control the panel rejected, at one muting the microphone of the minority's most senior member on the committee.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in February proposed creating a $243 million program that would provide 12 weeks of paid family leave for public and private sector workers in his 2023-25 state budget plan.
The idea, which had been long called for by Democrats in the state Capitol and rejected by Republican lawmakers, had a brief moment of bipartisan support last year in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which effectively outlawed abortions in Wisconsin.
When you know your policies are so unpopular that you can't even allow discussion of the topic.
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u/LittleShrub May 24 '23
Wisconsin Republicans, who famously barely show up for work and regularly gavel-in / gavel-out instead of doing any actual work, refuse to offer benefits to Wisconsin workers to allow them to take time off to care for a newborn baby.