Ahead of Vice President Pence’s visit to Onalaska, Opportunity Wisconsin hosts a community roundtable to discuss how President Trump’s economic agenda has impacted working Wisconsinites
LA CROSSE, Wis. — Today, Opportunity Wisconsin held a community roundtable at Pearl Street Books with Coulee Region women small business owners to discuss how the Trump Administration’s economic policies aren’t working for them, their families, or their community. This roundtable is part of a series of events hosted by Opportunity Wisconsin, aimed at uplifting the stories of working-and middle-class Wisconsinites who are struggling under President Trump’s economic agenda.
View and download photos from today’s event.
“How do we keep going forward when we don't see the [Trump] administration helping Main Street?” asked Penny Fassler, owner of Vision of Light Stained Glass. “The big tax breaks go to those at the top — they don't go to small businesses like the one I own.”
This year, Wisconsin’s top 1 percent, those earning more than $542,700 - will get a nearly $40,000 tax cut, but in comparison, those earning less than $23,900 will get a measly $30 tax cut. By 2027, Wisconsinites with the lowest incomes are expected to pay more in taxes because of President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, while the wealthiest 1 percent of residents will receive nearly $8,000 in savings.
“It is about hanging in there, being tough, working really hard and really long hours,” said Chris Kahlow, owner of Jules Coffee House. “There is just no help from the President.”
Wages have been stagnant in Wisconsin for decades — adjusted for inflation, the median wage in Wisconsin has only risen 73 cents since 1979. Instead of giving hard-working Wisconsinites a boost, President Trump blocked a federal minimum wage increase, a move that denied more than 800,000 Badger State residents a pay increase and resulted in $3 billion in lost wages. As of 2018, roughly three in four minimum wage workers in Wisconsin were women.
Many of these same workers are now facing sky-high debts and are being forced to decide between daily necessities like food and medicine just to survive. In 2017, 22 percent of Wisconsin residents stopped taking the prescription drugs they need because the costs were too high.
“We can't rely on [President] Trump for help. We can't expect his promises to be kept,” said Olena Belka, owner of Bluffview Development Group.
Below are some of the additional ways President Trump’s policies have hurt women in Wisconsin:
President Trump has sabotaged protections and benefits for women workers, who now make up more than half of the workforce in the US. The Trump Administration rolled back a pay transparency rule aimed at closing the gender wage gap, which hits Wisconsin women especially hard. Wisconsin women with full-time, year-round jobs make 80 cents for every dollar paid to men – less than the national average of 82 cents.
President Trump has stood in the way of efforts to increase pay for women, by dramatically scaling back an Obama-era measure to broaden eligibility for overtime, leaving 4.2 million women out to dry.
President Trump has done nothing to stem the increasing cost of child care, which has become one of the biggest costs for middle-class families in Wisconsin. Child care costs increased nearly 7.5% in 2017 to an average of around $9,000-$9,600 annually. The average cost of infant child care in Wisconsin is even higher -- $12,597 annually, which is more than the cost of undergraduate tuition at UW-Madison.
Even as costs go up for parents, President Trump is trying to slash funding for programs that make child care more affordable and accessible for working parents. President Trump’s FY2019 budget proposed slashing 30% from the child care development fund, which subsidizes access to early care and after-school programs for working parents.
While President Trump works to eliminate the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, millions of women nationally, and over 1 million women in Wisconsin could be denied insurance without the ACA’s protections for pre-existing conditions.
President Trump has proposed cutting Social Security, which would disproportionately harm women, who have longer lifespans and are therefore more likely to outlive their savings. Average Social Security benefits are nearly $4,000 per year lower for women than they are for men, leaving them even more vulnerable in the event of cuts.
President Trump has tried repeatedly to slash Medicaid, the majority of whose beneficiaries are women. As of February 2018, women comprised two-thirds of all adults on Medicaid.
Women’s uninsurance rate is quickly climbing under President Trump, likely caused by efforts by the Trump Administration and Congress to undermine the ACA.
About Opportunity Wisconsin
Opportunity Wisconsin is a coalition of Wisconsin residents fighting for an economy that works for working people. Through our stories, we’re elevating the real consequences of the destructive economic policies championed by President Trump and his allies these past three years, and showing how they have made Wisconsin’s economy worse off. Join us in demanding our elected officials focus more on growing the economy for middle class folks and expanding opportunity for all Wisconsinites, not just the wealthy few. To learn more about Opportunity Wisconsin, visit OpportunityWisconsin.org or stay connected on Twitter at @OpportunityWI and on Facebook at Facebook.com/OpportunityWI.
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