Representative Spiros: Previously, the Speaker had asked, the gentleman from the 63rd, asked for unanimous consent to have the Clerk's office transcribe the entire debate into the journal. Without objection, so ordered. Next up, gentleman from the 43rd.
Representative Vruwink (43): Thank you for acknowledging me. I wasn’t going to speak but after listening to the gentleman from the 97th he made some points that I thought were very valid and I just wanted to make a couple things. I believe our federal government is broke. I believe this state government is broke. The federal government became broke when cable news came about. Fox News, MSNBC, spewing different things over and over that we know were lies and you listened to them if they favored your side. The state government here in Wisconsin, I believe, broke down with Act 10 and gerrymandering and it created distrust and hypocrisy. I'm not blaming either side for it. It’s our politics and to me it makes our democracy look tired. There's something wrong with it. And when I look at the rankings around the world they say American democracy who we used to be the city upon a hill for everybody to look down upon us and look at America as the beacon of democracy. I think we rank twenty fifth in the world today. Many smaller countries are ahead of us and it is concerning to me because as the representative from the 97th said, ‘I fear for our future’. I think back to the American Revolution and many you mentioned the Constitution today. You know there were only a third of Americans who fully supported the Revolution. A third were neutral and a third wanted to remain loyal and the reason that those third wanted the Revolution is they felt the British government had grown tired. They had, they had not carried out democracy the way they had wanted to. We had in the British government what was called rotten boroughs, gerrymandered districts of 500 people and some 100,000 people so that democracy was rigged and so what seems black and white to many of you today well you should vote for this or you should vote to take care of your legislative powers. It's because of the distrust at its helm with government today. It's like American capitalism was when the Great Depression hit. That also looked tired and Roosevelt tried to fix it with his New Deal and a lot of things he did saved capitalism but didn't work or were unconstitutional, but the war revived capitalism again. We need something to revive our democracy. We need to stop the hypocrisy. We need, we need to build trust back up with each other. When we can do that, our government will work for us again. So I'm hoping that's in our future. Thank you.
Representative Spiros: Representative from the 56th.
Representative Murphy (56): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and I'd like to give a big thank you to the gentleman from the 5th and the gentleman from the 98th for their very, very strong and passionate defense of our institution. The gentleman from the 45th said that there's a lot to learn from the early days of the pandemic and I would definitely agree with that. And I think a lot of what we learned was the CARES Act came out of Washington. We felt the need for that to get out there quickly and the governor was given control, total control, of that money and so out it went. What happened with a lot of that money? Was it all wisely spent? One of my big bugaboos was the fact that we spent $40 million to buy 1500 ventilators. Now the state had 1250 ventilators throughout the state and I think at the peak of the pandemic we used about 400 of them but now we have 1500 additional ventilators that I don't know what we're going to do with. I guess we'll probably put them in storage and I'm quite sure that they were never used. Now that's $40 million that I think you know a lot of districts in the state could have used. The gentleman from the 81st talked earlier. I'm sure his district could use $40 million. The gentleman from the 45th went through a long list of all the things that were, you know, that were given to his district but I think $40 million more would have been something they could have used. The lady from the 20th said, “How much time do we have?” I would ask, Mr. Speaker, I would ask the gentlelady from the 20th to yield to a question?
Representative Spiros: She’s not at her seat.
Representative Murphy (56): Ah! So she’s not at her seat. If she were in her seat to debate this issue, I would have asked her how much money is still left from the original CARES Act that we haven't spent? I don't know the exact number but I understand it's millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars and we have no time? We haven't spent the money we've been already given. Why is the time factor here so urgent? The gentleman from the 18th said that we have Evers fever. But just two years ago, in five months we were able to put together a budget that Governor Evers signed. When in the biennium before that with Scott Walker as governor, we had some problems and it took us a while and took us until late September to be able to get a budget put together. Did we have Evers fever when we were putting that budget together? I don't think so. I think we were doing the work that this body was entrusted to do. So, you know, I think there's been a lot of rhetoric today and it really doesn't meet with the facts that I see. I look at this process and I say how did this all come about? Why are we at this place at this point in time? Well we were told that a COVID pandemic was going to decimate our country and so it was important that we borrow money from China and get it out there as quickly as we could. Don't use any legislative oversight. Just get it out there as quickly as you can. So now we have $40 million worth of ventilators that we're never going to use. That's just one example. I'm sure that most of you could come up with other good examples of how money was wasted. But there are people out there that are hurting – some – but not most. And the question is how do we get money to the people that need it and not waste it on things that we don't need? This is exactly what this legislature is supposed to be about and it's appalling to me that members of this body will not defend it and will not stand up for the body's right to make these decisions. The Constitution says that the legislative body is here to decide what money is spent and that's exactly what we should be doing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Representative Spiros: Representative from the 74th.
Representative Meyers (74): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've been in this chamber for about six years and during my first term I was always surprised when the Democrats introduced an amendment and it never was accepted by the majority party. And then in my second term I was less surprised when that happened. And now I am shocked when an amendment by the Democrats is accepted. Mr. Speaker, do you know how many amendments have been introduced in the last six years by Democrats that have been accepted? I don't either, Mr. Speaker. But I did ask the Legislative Reference Bureau and, unfortunately, they couldn't get me the information this quickly; but staff said approximately twelve amendments have been introduced so far this session and one of them has been accepted. So when Speaker Vos came out to talk to us and plead with us to please caucus and bring back in an amendment and I promise you, and that may not be a quote, but I give you my word. I will honestly look at it.
Representative Spiros: Direct your comments to the chair, please.
Representative Meyers (74): I am.
Representative Spiros: You mentioned – you mentioned a name and we don’t mention names in this (unintelligible)
Representative Meyers (74): The gentleman from the 63rd, excuse me. So, I cannot speak for all my colleagues on this side of the aisle, but I do not believe you. I do not have trust and faith that you will take anything we bring to you with the full faith that our amendments deserve. So maybe, to prove that to me, please prove to me I'm wrong. Let's see what happens for the rest of this session when Democrats introduce amendments that are good. Let's see if they get passed.
Representative Spiros: Representative from the 62nd.
Representative Wittke (62): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've been patiently sitting here today and I wasn't going to speak on this issue because I think it's a no brainer that we pick up and have some oversight over these massive funds coming into our state. But, but I must say to the lady from the 31st I'm jealous – we had a half billion dollar tax relief bill that we got two minutes notice that the governor was just online signing but I did get two pens for it just to, just to let you know. But what I don't understand, and I appreciate those that are left on the other side of the aisle, taking me back into a childhood show, The Twilight Zone, because I must not have been here last session when we went through a few things. I've heard comments like: where were you last session when the first round of the CARES money came in for oversight? I believe the governor himself, and I could go back and dig up the press release, said that anything in Act 185 that would provide oversight wouldn't be passed and I couldn't see voting against any or having a bill vetoed at that point in time that would have put many of our residents in peril. So I'm just going to go with the track record for this vote. I would remind people on the other side why – why is this state of Wisconsin in a better position to handle the issues around this health emergency because of the 8-10 years that the Republicans put in managing the budget and putting us into the best financial health we've been in in quite some time. I think you should not forget that we've also worked to clean up our books so that we don't encumber future generations with – with just debt upon debt and spending upon spending. So I look at the track record that this governor has had handling unemployment dispersal – not so good. And many of the other items that I have waited for him to govern. The fact that we've asked him for a plan just to bring people back to work to serve the people of Wisconsin. I go into my private industry experience. Most of my colleagues in the private industry have had plans to come back into work since last March/April and have revised them based on things that have come through in the last eight months. You mention how this governor really got to the first CARES Act and brought the funds out to really save people. Maybe you should go back and check the details and take a look at the time the Treasury provided Wisconsin with the funds and then based upon the time that they were dispersed which led the congressman from my district to ask our governor was he going to spend the money we gave him or was he going to just continue to ask for more spending. We've got to remember that if you take a look at the facts that are out here a lot of these programs were not funded until September – quite, quite, uh, quite a short period before the December timeframe to get this money spent. So based on those track records, I will vote with my colleagues on this side of the aisle believing that we should have some oversight so that we can steward this money in a responsible manner and I guess I'm just tired of waiting for the governor to do his job, which is govern. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Representative Spiros: Representative from the 81st.
Representative Considine (81): Thank you. I just want to come back and answer the second question the representative from the 5th asked me. And that was, you know, how do you know where the money's been spent? And my answer that I tried to give him was I watch almost daily, now it’s probably bi-weekly, as the governor continually sends out press releases about this money is going here from the COVID relief package – and it was almost daily so that's how I track it. It seems pretty obvious that the governor's being open and transparent and telling us.
Representative Spiros: Representative from the 27th.
Representative Vorpagel (27): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Mr. Speaker, so I'm a little confused today and maybe some of the folks over here can help me answer a question because I feel like I'm having deja vu all over again. So, we were in this chamber, I can’t remember if it was a week, two weeks ago, taking up a bill off of a special session call from the governor asking the legislature to approve money for an upgrade of the unemployment system – money that was – had already gone through the legislative process. We had numerous documents from different legislative agencies saying he had the authority to do that. So my question is: what's changed in that time? Maybe – maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the governor now decided he had a change of heart and decided that he is on board with this and would like to seek the approval of the legislature before spending some of this money. So I guess we'll see. So the reason I ran – there is – there was a lot of talk today about why we ran. Why don't folks run for governor if they want this power? But the reason I ran to serve in the legislature as a co-equal branch of government is to be closest to the people and to serve the people in Sheboygan and Manitowoc County and part of that responsibility and obligation as many have alluded to before is having the power of the purse and be able to appropriate funds through different legislation. I know we've heard a lot of talk today about – about the process and how this is a passive review process. We've talked about ways that this bill could be improved as the gentleman from the 63rd had mentioned earlier. One thing I'll point out is in the April bill that the legislature passed reserved 75 – somewhere in the neighborhood of $75 million of funds for the governor to spend that went unspent. So that brings me to the oversight – the oversight of where the money's being spent. Of course, we have a passive review process through this so for those who think that – are sort of taking what was said earlier out of context in this situation about how this is – this is a slog and that's not entirely true. If the money is spent where we – we – both sides of the aisle feel that it should be spent – then it's a – it's a fairly quick process. So what's – what’s the next thing that the legislature can do to provide oversight? I don't know? Maybe open – send some open records requests over to the governor and try – and try and find out what's been going on. Well Sunshine Week, I understand, was a few weeks ago and I see a number of my friends from – who stand over behind the stanchions over there have – have left. But we've been having trouble with that haven't we? Gentleman from the 4th I think I saw a press release from you yesterday that you've been waiting – was it over a month – for an open records request from the governor to figure out what their plan was for vaccinating inmates and some other questions? A month! That – well, that's probably the first time, right? You know, he's a liberal for, you know, open government, transparency. How about the gentleman from the 37th? I seem to remember we heard in a committee that I'm on a great idea that you had about removing different adverse language from the state statute. Got bill jacked by the governor who actually made it a much longer process or tried to make it a much longer process to accomplish a similar goal. Gentleman from the 37th, I believe, sent an open records request to the governor’s office and basically got back things that were undecipherable. It was so redacted that it was basically meaningless. One final example, our former colleague, the co-chairman of Joint Finance from last session, I can't remember what the issue is – was on – I mean there's so many of them I just can't keep them all straight – but I remember him saying he had an issue that he submitted an open records request to the governor for. And it took weeks and weeks and weeks and calls and teeth pulling and teeth pulling and, actually, I lost track of it. I can't remember if he even got the information or not. So what we have before us as my colleague from the 63rd and many others have pointed out was done in the late 2000’s when the ARA – American Reinvestment Act – money came from the legislature and my friends on the other side of the aisle – some of them who are here – most of them who weren't – had not only were they in power in this chamber their colleagues in the south wing had a majority and they had a governor. And you know one thing that I just thought of as I was sitting here is there's a comedian podcaster I listen to quite often and he has this theory of stupid or liars so when politicians or celebrities or things like that say something that's preposterous. The point is neither one of them is a good – is a good answer. So when statements are made that, you know, that things used to work differently back then. You know people would work across the aisle. I prefer to turn that around and look at it a little different way. That, that I expect all of you to join us because you are as equally skeptical of a Democrat governor at that – at that time so I would think you would be as equally skeptical of a Democrat governor at this time. So to my colleagues I urge you for so many more reasons, so many that my colleagues have addressed and so many more to come, the vote is green.
Representative Spiros: Representative from the 24th.
Representative Knodl (24): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and I rise to make an admission and my admission is that I've got the fever! I've got the fever, representative from the 18th. I've got the fiscal fever – the fiscal Evers fever! Whatever you want to put it but I've got the fever and I admit it. And I have thought when I came here, a long time ago it seems now, that that was priority one was fiscal matters and our oversight on spending the taxpayers' dollars and prudently spending it as a bonus. So I've got that fever and it amazes me the willingness to run away and forfeit responsibility. So it appears we have another – another fever going throughout this room – the forfeit fever and here we have the other side of the aisle just willingly running away from responsibility and forfeiting our authority – constitutionally granted authority. So if, in fact, you have that fever and don't want to handle fiscal issues, I would suggest you also forfeit your paycheck. We don't want to do our jobs, oversee fiscal matters, then it's time to forfeit paychecks. Let's see this through. Let's have the oversight that we are charged with having and let's get on with solving the COVID crisis and get the economy back open and our state of Wisconsin will be just fine if we get back up and running. So join me in the fiscal fever.
Representative Spiros: We will go to the final speaker – the representative from the 32nd.
Representative August (32): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, we've certainly established something here in the last couple of hours and that is that Democrats don't care about legislative oversight. That's really – that’s really what it boils down to. We haven't heard any real policy reason of why we shouldn't get a look at this money. The closest description came from – from my friend from the 18th. I thought we were about to agree on something when he basically said that, and I'm paraphrasing, that he doesn't think that one member of Joint Finance should be able to object to something anonymously. So one person shouldn't be able to do something in the Finance Committee but if they're in the East Wing, well, spend, spend, spend baby! Who cares about the oversight at that point? If you're in the East Wing it doesn't matter. So we were close. I thought maybe we were going to be able to say, you know what? One person maybe shouldn't have all that power. We almost got there – almost. And that's really what it boils down to. You know I – I asked the Speaker this session to appoint me to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules and if you think I did that because it sounds super interesting – I get that it doesn't sound super interesting. But that's where a lot of these decisions are made, frankly. The non-fiscal ones the Finance Committee handles that. JCRAR handles the other. But you know what my colleagues from the other side of the aisle from both houses continually say when they vote against our motions in JCRAR? Well here we have a committee of just six Republicans making all these policy decisions. We need to have a bigger amount of people involved in this. This is a job for the legislature and the Governor not just six people. Well that's a – that’s a fair conversation if you're going to also apply that same standard to the East – to the East Wing where it's one person regardless of who they are that gets to spend all this money. One person just makin’ it rain – just spend, spend, spend and I just don't know where those arguments – how they can logically both be made. So maybe it really is that they don't like legislative oversight. Even the members that were here in 2009 and voted for something extremely similar to this as the gentleman from the 63rd pointed out earlier. So, OK, then why did they – why did they vote for it then if they don't – if they don't support it? I don't know. Maybe it was the massive tax hike that was in that bill that they just loved. It had to be. They’re not going to vote for this today. So, that – this oversight couldn’t be the reason that they voted for that bill. It must have been the tax increase. So at least we've sorted that out today. So, this is – this should be one of the easiest votes anyone in this chamber makes and if the – if the JFC process – if people don't want to go through that process for this I'm fine with – let's open it up – let’s vote here – let’s do it in this chamber. Let’s have everybody get a chance to weigh in on how this money is spent. That's fine. I think that – that we crafted this bill to go the way we did because there could be some incidents where we need a little bit of speed in the responses we end this pandemic. That's fair. But if we want to do it through having more people see it instead of fewer we can do that’s – fine. So this – this really is simple and we've spent a couple hours on this and Mr. Speaker I won't belabor this any longer except to say this: this is a super, super simple bill. This vote is about as easy as it can get. When I testified in both – on this bill in both houses unfortunately I didn't have a lot of my Democrat colleagues there in either house to actually, you know, talk about the bill probably because there isn't really a good argument to be made against it. But I said that this is as easy as it gets. Either you believe that one person in a state of almost six million people should be able to make these decisions by him or herself or you don't and if you don't believe that they should, then the vote’s going to be green today and I know that that's what we're going to do and, unfortunately, I just don't think that we're going to be joined in – in that and that's really too bad because I know – I know that a lot of my friends on the other side of the aisle think that that we should have this oversight but they're not going to take this vote because you know you can't tell the governor that you need to see what he's up to and that's really unfortunate. So let's vote yes and send this – send this on and we'll move on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Representative Spiros: All right, Senate Bill 183 having been read three times shall the bill be concurred in? The Clerk has a pair.
Chief Clerk: Representative Macco for the passage of Senate Bill 183 – Representative Shankland against the passage of Senate Bill 183.
Representative Spiros: All in favor all vote Aye all oppose will vote No. The clerk open the roll and call the roll.
(Chief Clerk read the names)
Representative Spiros: Has everyone recorded their vote? If so, the Clerk will close the roll. There are 59 Ayes and 36 Noes. Senate Bill 183 is concurred in.
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