Childcare providers lead the way

We welcome Citizen Action member and child care provider Julia Bennker back to the show to discuss this week’s “strike” and actions at the Capitol by child care providers demanding the Legislature restore $480 million in funding. We hear first hand how the Legislature is failing parents and child care workers and how you can support the effort to fund child care in the state budget. Big news this week in Congress as House Republicans unveiled their budget which drastically cuts Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Robert gives us the details on how the GOP’s plan will take healthcare away coverage from nearly 14 million Americans, according to the Congressional Budget Office. As we reported last week, the House Republican budget will not cut direct state matching funds such as the increased match for ACA Medicaid Expansion, allowing Wisconsin to finally accept the federal money to Expand BadgerCare. Even more, we now know the House budget also sunsets an extra 5% state match for states that Expand Medicaid before January 1, 2026. This means Wisconsin only gets the bonus match (which lasts two years) if it expands Medicaid in this new budget, making it an imperative that Evers veto any Legislative budget that fails to Expand BadgerCare. Robert also updates us on the latest in the Judge Hannah Dugan case which raises serious issues critical to retaining a constitutional democracy.