Too many people in this country today believe the American dream no longer exists ... that it no longer applies for them.
Well, if you want to believe again ... take a look at wisconsin.
We don't just talk about change. We don't just talk about success. We make it happen.
. When we say we are going to cut taxes ... we do it.
. When we say we are going to reform welfare ... we do it.
. When we say we are going to change education ... we do it.
. When we say we are going to cut $1 billion off the property taxes ... we do it.
. When we say we are creating a new government for a new century ... we do it.
We follow bold words with bold deeds ... and people have confidence in us as a result ... they have confidence in our future.
Eight years ago I stood here and told you that we were going to turn this state around.
And we did it:
. Eight years ago I told you that jobs for Wisconsin was going to be my number one concern ... and we have created 450,000 new jobs since then. This is the largest sustained 8-year period of job growth in state history.
. When I came into office, people in Wisconsin were looking for work. Unemployment was more than 7%.
Today, companies are looking for workers. We have virtually
Full employment in Wisconsin today. There are more people working than ever before in our history.
. We are number one in the nation in creating manufacturing jobs... we are number three in creating construction jobs ... good-paying jobs for hard-working people.
. Eight years ago, I told you we were going to turn Wisconsin into a good place to do business. Our business climate at the time was ranked 46 out of the 50 states. Today we are in the top 10.
. I said we were going to seek opportunity around the globe. Wisconsin businesses at that time were exporting less than $3 billion a year. This year we expect to export $8.5 billion. That's almost a 300% increase.
. Eight years ago, I said we were going to protect our environment and build a strong economy at the same time. And we have. Last year I negotiated and signed an agreement protecting more than a thousand acres of scenic rock formations along the Wisconsin river at the Dells. We have now preserved a total of 40,000 acres for posterity.
I also worked with Representative Johnsrud and Senator Rude to create the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, an idea that will succeed because it comes from real people ... determining their own future in a valley of broken federal promises.
Bold words, bold deeds.
Tonight, I am laying out my vision for the next four years. It is a bold vision ... one that will require bold actions.
But together we have shown the people of Wisconsin that when we talk about change in this chamber ... we make it happen. We deliver.
TAXES
Eight years ago I told you we were going to cut taxes in this state. And we did.
We cut the income tax ... we cut business taxes ... we eliminated the inheritance tax ... we eliminated the gift tax ... we kept the 60% exclusion of the capital gains tax ...
And thanks to cost controls, we have cut the growth of school property taxes from 11% ... to a record low of less than 1%
And in three weeks I will detail my plan to deliver the largest tax cut in state history ... the final step in tax relief for Wisconsin... $1 billion off the property tax bills.
And we are going to do it without raising other taxes.
When I say a tax cut ... I mean it.
Raising other taxes is not tax relief. it's exactly what it says it is ... it's raising taxes.
We face a lot of hard work and a lot of tough decisions in the weeks and months ahead.
Not raising taxes is greeted by applause tonight in this chamber. I hope all of you remember this in the weeks and the months to come.
Not raising taxes means that programs many of you like will be reduced. Some will be gone.
We are no longer measuring government in dollars and cents. We are measuring it by what we accomplish ... by the opportunities we create.
This tax cut gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to completely re-design and re-define and re-focus what government is ... what it does ... and what it can do without.
We are ratcheting down on personnel and programs...
And we are gearing up on technology and service...
We are creating a government that is smaller .... a government that works better and spends less.
No other state has done this.
Bold words. Bold deeds. That's what Wisconsin is all about.
WELFARE
Eight years ago we said we were going to change welfare in this state.
And we did it.
No one was even talking about welfare reform when we started. Today, everyone is talking about it ... and talking about wisconsin as a leader.
Our welfare rolls are at their lowest level in fifteen years ... down 25% in the last eight years.
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Wisconsin changed the dynamics of the welfare debate by laying down the very simple premise that if you accept a check from the state, you will accept certain basic responsibilities in return.
We made it clear that handing out money and expecting absolutely nothing in return is not public assistance. It is public apathy.
It is silent compliance with a system that discriminates against women and children ... that traps them in a life without hope ... and without a future.
Not anymore.
Tonight, we are completing the revolution ... we are completing the connection between welfare and work.
We are replacing the welfare check ... with a passport to a better future.
Tonight, I am announcing that we are moving the welfare division from our social services department to a new department of industry, labor and job development.
Welfare will no longer exist. It will no longer be part of the vocabulary.
Welfare is going to become a jobs program.
People on welfare want jobs ... they want the chance to prove themselves. And in so many areas of our state today, businesses are looking for workers.
I don't know about you ... it makes more sense to me to have private business paying people to work ... instead of the state paying them not to.
We are counting on the private sector to work with us ... to build a partnership for the future that will give people the chance to succeed.
And I am counting people like Dave Goettl and David Thornburg.
Dave Goettl is plant manager of Federal Foam Technologies in Ellsworth ... a company that is giving six welfare recipients the chance for an independent future.
David Thornburg is executive director of Brooke Industries in Fond du Lac ... a company that has already hired more than 50 AFDC recipients.
Gentlemen, thank you for your partnership.
Thank you for joining with me in seeing the same potential in a young mother who wants to build a better life ... in seeing the same hope in the eyes of someone excited about her future.
I am asking the wisconsin business community to follow our lead.
I am asking wisconsin to do what we do best ... show the way ... lead the way to a better tomorrow.
Bold words. Bold deeds.
EDUCATION
We said we were going to revolutionize education in this state ... and we have.
We created the first private school choice program in the country ... we have a school-to-work and youth apprenticeship program that is the model for the nation.
We have good schools in wisconsin. We have excellent students ... and have some of the best teachers in the world.
But we still have some work to do.
Tonight, I am asking teachers, principles, parents and entire communities to join me in creating a new system of public education for the 21st tonight century.
This will mean challenging the status quo ... it will mean fighting the gravity pull of those who are afraid to change.
But we are going to do it. we are going to put education back where it belongs ... back in the hands of our parents, our teachers, and our students.
... An education that is worthy of a $6 billion investment.
We are making changes. Our students, our parents, and our taxpayers will get what they want
If you saw the state spending millions of dollars to bus children to schools far from home when there are openings in good schools in their own backyards ... you'd start making some changes.
. If you saw that less than half of milwaukee high school freshmen actually graduate ... and graduate with a d+ average ... you'd start making some changes.
. If you saw that only 79% of our students actually go to school on a regular basis, you'd start making some radical changes.
Our first step in changing education is a complete redefinition of public education in Wisconsin.
From now on in Wisconsin, a public school will mean a school that is serving the public.
School choice is part of this new public education.
School choice is more than a program ... it is a philosophy.
It is the belief that parents know best when it comes to their own children ...
It is the belief that poor parents have the same right to choose that other parents do ...
It is the belief that parents will choose the best school for their child.
That's education serving the public.
We are expanding our milwaukee private school choice program to include more children and all private schools.
If a mother in milwaukee wants her child to walk to the private school across the street instead of being bused to a public school across town ... she's going to have that choice.
