Citizen Action Wisconsin event in support of BadgerCare expansion. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Citizen Action Wisconsin held a handful of regional events on Tuesday encouraging residents to send postcards to Governor Tony Evers in support of an expansion of BadgerCare, including one in Marathon Park in Wausau.
Marathon County District 6 Supervisor Jeff Johnson was one of around a dozen residents who took time to write a message to the Governor, who has indicated that he would sign a proposal to take the federal dollars should it land on his desk. Democrats have been working for nearly a decade now to figure out how to get that done with no progress to show for it.
Johnson says it’s been a frustrating process to watch from afar. “This should be non-partisan. Thirty-eight other states have accepted this money [including] Republican States and Democratic states- and it’s helped their citizens.”
Some at the event wrote that Evers should veto the state budget in its entirety if it doesn’t include an expansion of BadgerCare. Johnson expects he may do that anyway. “What I’m hearing is he’s likely to veto the whole budget because Republicans made such radical changes across the board. Not just with Healthcare but education.”
He adds some of those changes put the state at risk of losing federal education dollars as well.
Lawmakers are expected to spend as many as ten hours debating the budget on Tuesday before a vote in the Assembly. Senate action on the bill could come Wednesday.
Evers has previously noted that he wouldn’t rule out a veto of the entire budget. He has the power of the line-item veto pen at his disposal as well which he did use for some items in the last two-year budget.
Johnson and others who spoke at the event noted that Wisconsin taxpayers have already paid into the pot of federal money that the state would be getting to expand BadgerCare.
Marathon County Supervisor John Robinson also spoke at the event along with local CAW representative Joel Lewis.
Lewis said he expects around 150 cards from the Wausau area will land on the Governors desk.
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