Friday, December 1, 2023
MADISON, Wis. – With the next government funding deadline looming in January, and the House of Representatives only scheduled to be in session 8 days before the end of the year, Wisconsinites are speaking out about harmful cuts that have been backed by Congressmen Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden.
In recent days, Wisconsinites have highlighted the extreme Republican-backed proposals that would hurt Wisconsin families, seniors, and children. Steil and Van Orden both supported a spending package in September that would’ve forced disastrous cuts to nutrition programs, access to Social Security benefits, and even heating assistance for low-income families during the winter. Now, as Congress begins to pass funding bills, they’ve already voted in favor of cuts that will force Wisconsinites to pay more out-of-pocket for things they need.
Under a continuing resolution passed last month, two new funding deadlines will require Congress to pass additional funding packages by January 19th and February 2nd of next year. Upcoming appropriations bills contain additional cuts to education, access to Social Security, and other programs Wisconsinites depend upon—all so House Republicans can give unnecessary handouts and tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
See below for more of what Wisconsinites are saying about these harmful policies and why Congressmen Steil and Van Orden need to start fighting for their constituents:
Cap Times: Opinion | Shutdown threats have to end
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After weeks of gridlock in Congress, Republicans like Rep. Bryan Steil have started passing government funding bills that contain seriously harmful cuts. They’ve already voted for an energy and water development bill that would increase energy costs and strip funding that is helping save thousands of jobs across the country. Steil also joined Republicans in passing an interior and environment appropriations package that strips funding from water quality programs and threatens job creation even further.
But these cuts are nothing compared to what’s coming up in the funding bills Congress will soon consider.
Upcoming bills, which now have to be passed in early 2024 to avoid a shutdown, would make it harder for seniors to access Social Security. They would even target education by cutting slots for programs like Head Start and defunding teaching positions in low-income and underserved communities.
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Up North News: Opinion: Veterans have fought to protect the American dream, Congress should too
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When we were facing a government shutdown in September, Van Orden joined his Republican colleagues in supporting an absurd spending package that would’ve jeopardized the people we care about. Cutting nutrition services like Meals on Wheels for 1 million seniors, closing Social Security field offices, slashing heating assistance for low-income families, and taking away access to rural health care centers – that’s how far Van Orden and Republicans were willing to go.
And back in April of this year, with a looming default as we approached the nation’s debt limit, Van Orden once again voted to make the most vulnerable to suffer instead of asking those at the top to pay a bit more. He supported a plan that would’ve cut food assistance for millions, reduced access to care for veterans like me, and threatened a 22 percent cut to education and child care programs.
Now, Van Orden is at it again. As Republicans rush through appropriations bills, Van Orden has already voted to raise energy costs, cut good-paying jobs in the energy industry, and could soon vote to make it easier for wealthy tax cheats to avoid paying their fair share.
This doesn’t sound like a representative who has his priorities straight. Constantly voting to squeeze the most vulnerable, the people who are putting in an honest day’s work, and the people who have worked a lifetime isn’t what we deserve from Congress.
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Up North News: By punting the Farm Bill to 2024, Congress misses a chance to help farmers and consumers squeezed by middlemen
By extending the current package of farm, trade, nutrition, and conservation programs until September 2024, the Farm Bill stays out of the current morass, but farm and consumer advocates also say it’s a missed opportunity to address an out-of-balance market that drives farm prices down and consumer prices up while raising profits for corporations in the middle.
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With spending kept stable, farmers can have some certainty as they plan next spring’s crops. The subsidies keep farm families afloat when market prices would otherwise be too low to live on. Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden told UpNorthNews Radio more needs to be done to reduce the reliance on subsidies because it insulates consumers from seeing how much of their food dollar goes to non-farm activities like processing, transportation, storage, marketing, and market speculation.
“Looking at the subsidies programs, we’re continuing to take more and more dollars that are direct payments from the federal government versus getting those dollars from the consumer,” Von Ruden said. “We’d like to see something where the farmer and consumer have a little more direct contact. There’s more dollars that are going to the middleman. Meanwhile the farmers are getting less and the consumer continues to pay more.”
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