You are all getting tax cuts, oh, you over there, I am taking your EBT card.
On Wednesday February 20th, Governor Walker gave his biennial budget address. The last time he gave this address the people of Wisconsin got Act 10. This time conservative wonderboy Walker offered up a huge income tax break for middle class Wisconsinites of a whopping $100 a year. He bragged about cutting property taxes (funny, everyone I know has seen theirs go up) and how great Wisconsin public school teachers are. Then, like Ted Nugent, he just whipped it out - yep, that's right he pulled out his voucher plans. Sorry public school teachers, he just isn’t that into you – he has his eyes on those private school teachers and their lack of union representation.
Of course he saved his most egregious proposal for last:
My budget changes the food stamp program so non-elderly, able-bodied adults will be required to be enrolled in employment training to receive food stamps. More than 75,000 people will benefit from getting extra help with job skills.
I’m all for providing a temporary hand up, but for those who are able-bodied, it should not be a permanent hand out. I care for the people of this state too much to force them to live a life of dependence on the government. I want those who are able to be prepared so they are ready to fill a job when one is found—so they can have the same type of success that Elizabeth and Alan have had with our program.
These reforms will help transition people from government dependence to true independence.
Walker is cutting taxes for everyone (If you call eight bucks a month a tax cut); including taxes for those corporations that are people too, and at the same time cutting a lifeline (food stamps aka
Foodshare in Wisconsin) for those that are less fortunate. This isn’t about a temporary or permanent hand up. This is about the Republican Party’s hatred of helping any individual. Working poor? Lose your job? Hungry? Well pull yourself up by your bootstraps! Oh, you don’t have any boots or straps, well that is just too bad. If you were an unborn child we could help, but you are out of the womb so you are just shit out of luck.
One thing that Walker and the rest of the GOP does not seem to get is that there are people who work and receive Foodshare benefits, there are others who have lost their jobs and are on Foodshare. But, the governor in one broad sweeping brush declares that anyone receiving these benefits needs job training. Really? Are you going to tell that to the woman with a masters degree who gave 20 years of her life to a company and was laid off that she needs job training? Or that the man or woman who mows lawns and shovels snow for a living that after he/she is done working he/she has to attend a job training class in order to get benefits so that his or her family can be fed?
Governor Walker, first you need to learn that there is no such thing as a food stamp program in Wisconsin. The program is called Foodshare and it uses a benefits card. Second, please keep my eight bucks a month and make sure that people have enough to eat in this state.