State Assembly Democrats revealed their 'On Wisconsin Agenda' in a press conference held at the Capitol Thursday to promote issues they say did not receive enough legislative attention.
State Rep. Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, said Democrats 'will work hard to return the focus to the kitchen-table issues and not bedroom issues.'
Even though Legislative in-session days are limited, Kreuser said state Democrats still have time to expand the state funded BadgerCare health system to all children and families. He said this is a very important issue and deserves the Legislative floor's attention.
'What's so scary about making ourselves work on middle-class number-one issues'? he asked.
State Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, said Assembly Democrats want to push the governor's Action Plan for Affordable Health Care forward. He added the reform would reduce the cost of health insurance and increase the number of Wisconsin residents who have access to health insurance.
'Republicans refuse to do anything substantial to reduce the cost of health care and make sure everyone has access to it,' Richards said.
Mike Prentiss, spokesperson for state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he doubted the effectiveness of this agenda. He said the Assembly Democrats are simply coming up with plans rather than actual specific proposals about what they want done.
'It takes a certain amount of nerve to continually complain that your action plan isn't being given a hearing or isn't being voted on when your action plan is nothing more than a list of goals that you're telling someone else to come up with a plan to reach,' Prentiss said. 'There's no meat on the bones of these proposals.'
Health care is just one of the issues the 'On Wisconsin Agenda' wishes to bring to the table. Kreuser also said Democrat lawmakers want to pass a plan to reduce property taxes, extend more heating assistance to middle-class families, make the water cleaner and provide catastrophe insurance to small businesses. He said he hopes these ideas can be brought up and drafted quickly.
'This year, we need to focus on an agenda that matters, and we don't have a lot of time to do it,' Kreuser said in a statement. 'Wisconsin's middle class has real concerns. Concerns that last year were pushed aside for a divisive, gimmicky agenda.'
