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You might think this problem is limited to our poorest families – but the rising price of health care is costing more and more middle class families their health coverage.
And so tonight, as part of my Affordability Agenda, I propose a bold, comprehensive reform: in Wisconsin, every child will have access to health insurance by next year.
This new effort -- BadgerCare Plus -- will merge 500,000 individuals currently enrolled in Medicaid, BadgerCare and Healthy Start into one, streamlined and comprehensive program.
And while higher income families will be asked to pay a little more, unlike the current system, the reach of BadgerCare Plus would extend to middle class families too, giving every parent—regardless of their income—the opportunity to join a state plan with affordable, comprehensive coverage for their kids.
Without good health, little else matters. That's why my Affordability Agenda starts with health care. But anyone who knows me will tell you my first priority as Governor has been education.
It's why I said no when Republicans in the Legislature tried to cut schools last year by hundreds of millions of dollars. It's why I'm fighting to give more families access to four year old kindergarten and smaller classes. It's why I'm fighting for competitive teacher salaries … so we can recruit and retain the best educators for our kids for our kids. It's why I've doubled financial aid for U.W. students.
It's why I've asked the Legislature to increase the cap in the Milwaukee school choice program… protecting families already enrolled … while providing basic accountability. I support options for parents, but I can't allow our tax dollars to pay for a principal's Mercedes, or schools with two kids to take field trips to McDonald's.
It's also why I'm demanding high standards in our schools – and asking you to make a third year of math and science mandatory for high school graduation. Because if you ask me, when a student gets a diploma in Wisconsin … it should really mean something.
Tonight as part of my Affordability Agenda, I am very excited to announce the Wisconsin Covenant.
The idea is simple, but the impact is far reaching. All 8th graders in the state will be given the chance to join the Wisconsin Covenant. If they pledge to stay in school, take challenging courses, stay out of trouble, apply for state and federal financial aid and maintain at least a B average in high school, we'll do our part and guarantee their family a package of financial aid that lets them walk through the doors of one of our U.W. campuses.
It is an historic commitment to make college more affordable for hardworking Wisconsin families … while giving our high school students an incentive to succeed in the classroom.
It will be open to every family across the state who needs financial aid – whether a little or a lot. The neediest families will receive grants to pay the costs of education. Others at slightly higher incomes will get a mix of loan subsidies, grants, and work study. But as long as the student holds up his or her end of the bargain, every family that qualifies for financial aid will get a package that fully covers their tuition.
We will challenge the business community and private foundations to help fund this initiative … just as they have done with a similar initiative in North Carolina.
I'd like to introduce Shakiya Fitzgerald, a student at Audubon Middle School in Milwaukee, who is here along with her family and her language arts teacher. She's a good student, an athlete, and plans on going to college. Now, like I was at that age, she's hoping to be able to get a basketball scholarship. But Shakiya, with or without basketball, I want you to know that if you'll agree to do your part in school, we'll do our part and make sure that higher education is affordable for your family.
We also need to help those families who so often work the most and earn the least. Last year, we gave 150,000 people on the minimum wage their first raise in eight years.
We've embarked on a broad effort called KidsFirst, to make sure that our kids are safe, educated, healthy and happy. But I think we should also make sure that they don't have to grow up in poverty.
And so tonight, as part of my Affordability Agenda, I propose a Living Wage Tax Credit. This isn't a handout – it is a refundable tax credit which guarantees that every parent who works full time doesn't have to raise their child in poverty.
We can do this, we can do it inexpensively, and we can do it together. I ask you to join me in lifting 9,000 hardworking families and their 26,000 children out of poverty.
At the heart of my Affordability Agenda is a commitment to creating jobs and rewarding work. Because when you get right down to it, there's no social program better than a good-paying job.
And so, even though Washington obviously has no plan for manufacturing, we do have one in Wisconsin.
With technology, training, trade promotion, and new investment, we are working to revolutionize and modernize Wisconsin manufacturing … and expand opportunities for middle class families.
In Green Bay, our aggressive regulatory reform allowed Proctor and Gamble to invest $200 million in their first new paper-making machine in 35 years.
In Janesville, with the help of our investment in training and the hard work of people like Mike Sheridan, GM is keeping its plant, protecting 3,800 jobs, and investing $175 million in Wisconsin's future.
In Manitowoc, we worked with Mayor Kevin Crawford – who is here tonight -- to retrain workers after the Mirro company moved to Mexico. We created three new businesses out of the old Mirro plant, including Orion, which is represented here tonight by CEO Neal Veerfurth and Louie Mitcheltree, the plant manager. Together, we've helped the city back get on its feet, put hundreds of people back to work and cut unemployment virtually in half.
In Sturgeon Bay, we worked with Senator Alan Lasee and Representative Gary Bies to find $8 million to get our shipyards booming again … and put 600 more people to work at Bay Shipbuilding.
From GE HealthCare's expanded plant in Milwaukee to Bemis' new headquarters in Neenah to Johnson Sausages in Sheboygan … Wisconsin manufacturing is alive and well and we can make it even stronger.
First, we must continue to open new doors for Wisconsin around the globe. We've had three straight years of export growth far above the national average – an increase of almost 40 percent since I took office – with manufacturing leading the way.
Americans see a lot of products that say "Made in China." But from Beijing to Tokyo to Warsaw to Mexico City, I want to see the "Made in Wisconsin" label all over the world.
Second, we must help manufacturers address the rising cost of health care – and the Healthy Wisconsin initiative I announced tonight will do just that.
Third, I'm funding an effort to strengthen more than 100 small manufacturers in our state that supply big Wisconsin companies like Harley Davidson, John Deere, and Oshkosh Truck.
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Fourth, and finally, we need to rededicate ourselves to training and retraining our workers, and making sure that our technical colleges remain the finest in the nation.
I believe we should make Wisconsin a place where every person can go as far as their talent and hard work will take them.
That's why I've worked so hard with Republicans and Democrats to cut taxes and red tape, expand access to investment capital and help new businesses get started. We've supported regional business partnerships like the New North initiative, which is helping launch a venture capital fund in Northeast Wisconsin. It will be one of the first in that region, and they plan to invest $10 million to build the jobs and economy of the future.
Even as we invest in and modernize core industries like manufacturing, agriculture and tourism, we are also growing new ones … like biotechnology, information technology, and nanotechnology.
And Wisconsin – the birthplace of stem cell research – is giving millions of families hope that one day diseases like Parkinsons, Alzheimers and Juvenile Diabetes may be conquered. These breakthroughs in medical science can transform our economy and open doors to new industries we've only dreamed of.
In less than a decade, the market for stem cell products could reach $10 billion and create 100,000 jobs. Tonight, I offer an ambitious goal for our state – to capture 10 percent of this market by 2015.
To that end, I'm directing the Department of Commerce to dedicate at least $5 million to find, fund, and recruit companies turning stem cell technology into high paying jobs. I'm asking Forward Wisconsin to launch a new effort to brand our state as the stem cell leader. And I'm asking you to pass legislation supporting the Biomedical Technology Alliance in Southeast Wisconsin.
We're joined here tonight by Michelle Alswager from Madison, and her 9 year-old son Jesse. He's a great kid. He does well in school, plays little league, he's on the swim team at the Ridgewood pool, and according to his mother, every now and then, he even cleans his room. Jesse's mom has made it her mission to give him a normal life … even though Jesse has juvenile diabetes.
Not only is Michelle fighting for her own child, but she and her son have testified before Congress, and have become advocates for the stem cell research which could help millions of other families.
Michelle and Jesse, I want you to know… I want this Legislature to know… I want the researchers in our labs and across the nation to know… as long as I am Governor, Wisconsin will never allow politics to stand in the way of curing disease.
I know that families across Wisconsin are wondering how they are going to afford their heating bills this year.
I get angry just thinking about how, after Hurricane Katrina, as our fellow citizens clung to rooftops and searched the waters for lost relatives, the oil companies were running up their prices and reaping the largest corporate profits in history.
Some people have criticized me for taking on the oil companies – but I think we should be getting a refund from the $100 billion they racked up in profits last year.
And if Congress won't do the right thing and make them pay, we will at least work to make energy bills more affordable for you.
That's why we doubled our commitment to energy assistance to help people pay their bills…we encouraged the utilities to offer $12 million in relief to middle-class families…we ended automatic gas tax increases, and called for legislation sponsored by Senator Hansen and Representative Zepnick to outlaw price gouging at the pump…to reduce energy demand, we turned down the temperature in state buildings – including the Capitol.
But we must do more. Thousands of Wisconsin families are struggling to pay their December heating bill, but they aren't eligible for federal assistance because their income is a little too high.
So tonight … I propose an emergency heating assistance package to provide $6 million to families who make $40,000 a year or less. We're in the heart of the heating season, and these families need help. I'm asking you to pass this legislation immediately.
And that's not all. We must reduce our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels.
Senator Cowles and Representative Montgomery are working to pass the recommendations of my Task Force on Renewable Energy – including getting 10 percent of our energy from renewable sources by 2015.
It's an ambitious goal … but it's the right goal and we should settle for nothing less. I urge you to pass the bill without watering it down and without delay.
Finally, I'm calling for the ethanol bill authored by Senator Harsdorf and Representatives Freese and Gronemus. Ethanol is clean, it's renewable, it's less expensive, it helps Wisconsin farmers, and it reduces the demand for foreign oil. Let's pass this bill, because America ought to be more dependent on the Midwest, and not the Mideast.
Wisconsin is home to many renewable resources – but one of our most precious resources can never be replaced. I'm talking about the Great Lakes. That's why last year I signed an agreement that protects these waters from being diverted to Arizona or New Mexico. Now, it's time to pass the legislation I called for in my Conserve Wisconsin agenda – ending ballast water discharges from cargo ships and stopping the spread of invasive species.
From my days as a prosecutor to my time as Attorney General to my work as Governor, I've always demanded the highest standards of integrity.
Last April, I unveiled sweeping election reforms to modernize the system and correct the problems of 2004… including better training for poll workers, merging the elections and ethics boards, and stopping felons from voting illegally.
Two weeks ago, I offered up significant and bipartisan ethics reforms – including a ban on all fundraising during the budget process and putting the brakes on former officials who want to turn around and lobby the government they helped run. These reforms make common sense, they'll make a difference, and tonight, I ask you to make them law.
Two years ago, Senators Ellis and Erpenbach offered a blueprint for comprehensive campaign finance reform. It would end the phony issue ads, and includes strong public financing. It is bipartisan, it is major reform, and it is time the Legislature passed it.
In the past year, Jessica and I have seen the goodness of the people of Wisconsin firsthand. We've seen how our citizens responded with generosity and helped one another after the tornadoes hitDane, Richland, and Vernon counties. And we saw how they mobilized to help those whose lives were upended by Hurricane Katrina.
Not long ago, I got a letter from Patrick Owen, an officer at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution who spent four weeks volunteering to help the Red Cross in Louisiana. Patrick, could you stand please?
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He wrote to thank me for allowing him and other state employees to take time off and help in the relief effort. But Patrick, I want to thank you and all of your colleagues who gave their time and talents to help the victims of Katrina. You are a perfect example of the great contributions state employees make every day – and you make Wisconsin proud.
But even as we sit here tonight, let's not forget that there's another group of public servants overseas who are making incredible sacrifices for our country.
I've met these men and women at troop sendoffs, as they've said goodbye to their loved ones. I've seen how communities rally to welcome them home. And I've been with dozens of families as they've mourned the loss of a son or a daughter, a brother, a sister, a mother, or a father taken tragically and all too soon from their lives.
Nearly 2,000 members of our Wisconsin National Guard are serving America far from the comfort and safety of their homes. I've gotten to know many of them and their families, and I can tell you this: they represent Wisconsin's finest.
These men and women are truly Wisconsin's heroes. We owe them more than our thanks and respect tonight. We owe them our solemn commitment that while they are doing their jobs overseas, we'll do our job here at home.
Let their patriotism be our inspiration. Let their sense that we're all in this together be our example. And let their families' dreams be our cause.
Here in this chamber, let us rededicate ourselves to moving this state forward so that these brave men and women – and all the hardworking families in Wisconsin, can afford to get an education, buy a home, and enjoy all the great things that life in our state has to offer.
Let's keep Wisconsin moving forward.
On Wisconsin."
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Adjourned.
8:06 P.M.
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Senate substitute amendment 2 to Senate Bill 320 offered by Senator Kanavas.
Senate substitute amendment 1 to Senate Bill 395 offered by Senator A. Lasee.
Senate substitute amendment 1 to Senate Bill 441 offered by Senator A. Lasee.
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The Chief Clerk records:
Senate Bill 403
Report correctly enrolled on January 17, 2006.
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Motions Under Senate Rule
98 and Joint Rule
7
for the Month of December 2005
A certificate of commendation by the Wisconsin Legislature on the motion of Senator Taylor, for ALSCO, on the occasion of sponsoring the 16th Annual Christmas Family Feast.
A certificate of commendation by the Wisconsin Legislature on the motion of Senator Taylor, for American Family Insurance, on the occasion of sponsoring the 16th Annual Christmas Family Feast.
A certificate of congratulations by the Wisconsin Legislature on the motion of Senator Cowles, for Herb Behnke, on the occasion of his retirement from the Natural Resource Board.
A certificate of commendation by the Wisconsin Legislature on the motion of Senator Harsdorf, for Mr. Phil Betzel, on the occasion of his retirement and his many years of service to the First National Bank of River Falls.
A certificate of commendation by the Wisconsin Senate on the motion of Senator Erpenbach, for Thomas Bjoraker, on the occasion of earning and attaining the rank of the Eagle Scout Award.
