The leadership that refuses to even discuss helping its citizens
On May 25th representatives of the Wisconsin Legislature opened and immediately ended a session that had been set up to debate expansion of the Badger Care initiative. The debate had been called for by state Governor Tony Evers and would prospectively have brought health coverage to 90,000 additional low-income state residents and an additional $1.6 billion in federal funds over the next two years to aid in recovery from the pandemic.
Instead of debating the initiative, Republicans who control both chambers of the Legislature opened and promptly closed the session within ten seconds, refusing to debate it (as was feared would happen). You can watch the entire session here (if you've got a few seconds):
In whose best interests?
Regardless of your political persuasion it raises the question over who is serving who in politics? Are leaders there to try and find the best way of supporting their citizens, or should they be free to act in whatever way suits them without being held to account?
A Twitter thread from Governor Tony Evers suggested that citizens should hold their representatives to account, questioning their actions in this matter given that 38 other states are already accepting the aid:
A pattern of behavior?
Unfortunately this isn't the first time that the GOP have employed this juvenile tactic in Wisconsin. In September 2020 various news outlets reported that a session to debate gun control measures had also ended in less than a minute. Rolling Stone described the actions of the Legislature in scathing terms:
"It’s the latest case of malfeasance from lawmakers who’ve rigged the system to make themselves immune from the will of the voters"
Citizens of Wisconsin must feel let down that their nominated political representatives are using their position and employing game-playing and political tactics to exert their own will for disruption rather than doing what they were presumably elected to do - to serve the people?
The will of the people
Residents in districts across the state, whether Democrat or Republican seem unanimous in seeing access to Medicaid (known as Badger Care in Wisconsin) as an essential provision and a bipartisan issue. This makes it harder still to fathom the actions of the Legislature. Some may believe that continued acceptance of federal funds to assist in the recover from Covid-19 is not advisable and may even prevent businesses from opening up or discourage workers from going back to work. Most recognize though that all aid is welcome at this point, particularly when it provides healthcare to those most in need.
As one restaurant owner in Madison described in this article, while their chefs and servers want to get back to work and open up for business once more they are equally keen to ensure they have access to health care until such a time as balance is reached in the economy once again.
It's hard to know when that critical balance will be reached - where the risk of Covid-19 has gone away sufficiently to allow staff and customers to feel safe coming back into places of work, business and leisure. Similar challenges are being felt across the nation though, and around the world. In cities like LA which have historically had a surplus of workers willing to take jobs in the service industry for example, many are fearful of returning to the workplace and as such, restaurants are short staffed.
Back to normal
It will take time for normal to return and for people to feel comfortable returning to workplaces as normal. Refusing to debate further federal aid in the interim period is not fair or helpful and doesn't seem to reflect the behavior of politicians keen to serve those who've nominated them to office.