Briefs
Food stamp cuts harm low-income working families
Trump administration plans to cut nearly 10% of recipients from the federal food stamp program could hit school lunch programs and cut savings rates for the working poor, a University of Wisconsin expert on hunger and food assistance programs warned Wednesday. The administration announced plans on Tuesday to cut people with incomes from 130% to […]
Students, state officials wrestle with student-loan debt crisis
A 12-person panel, including state and local officials and community members, gathered at Milwaukee’s Washington Park Library to discuss tackling the student-loan debt crisis. The meeting drew a crowd of about 30, including current loan borrowers, social workers, teachers and the parents of indebted students. Panelists, including Alex Brower, a substitute teacher in the Milwaukee […]
Sen. Baldwin and Slinger teen ensure ‘Lasting Smiles’
Major birth defects affect around 3% of babies born in the United States and are a significant cause of infant mortality, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of those children is 14-year-old Aidan Abbott from Slinger, Wis., who was born with Ectodermal Dysplasia and has needed extensive oral care and reconstructive […]
Squeeze remains on childcare subsidies, and the families who need them
It’s getting much more difficult for low-income families in Wisconsin to obtain affordable childcare, a new report says, and while both the Democratic governor and the Republican-led legislature have offered remedies, so far those efforts have fallen short. The findings are in a brief published last week by the Wisconsin Policy Forum that examines the […]
ACA policy experts look Kind(ly) on congressman’s lonely vote to keep ‘Cadillac Health Tax’
Since its inception, one provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been especially unpopular across the board, including with unions who otherwise backed former President Barack Obama’s landmark law to expand health care coverage. To help pay for the ACA, the law included a 40 percent excise tax on the value of employer-sponsored health […]
Ron Johnson: ‘I don’t agree’ with Trump’s tweet
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Oshkosh, said he didn’t agree with President Donald Trump’s latest attack on four Democratic congresswomen of color, but fell short of calling the president racist. When host Dana Bash first asked if Johnson agreed with the president’s Sunday morning […]
At rally, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands her ground
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at President Trump on Thursday night, proclaiming in a speech in Silver Spring that she and other newly elected female lawmakers have no intention of stepping back from policy debates — or returning to the land of their ancestors. Speaking to a large, jubilant crowd of left-leaning activists in […]
Vos gives insight into state Assembly’s fall agenda
Democratic and Republican legislators do a Weekly Radio Address, addressing what they see as the “hot” issue each week. You won’t be surprised to learn from earlier coverage in the Wisconsin Examiner this week that the topic chosen by Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) is “Fair Maps for a Fair Wisconsin.” The key example of the […]
Racine joins trend to ban conversion therapy for LGBT minors
Racine became the fifth city in Wisconsin this week to ban conversion therapy — attempts by professional counselors to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people — from being used on children under the age of 18. The city council voted 11-3 Tuesday night to ban the practice […]
U.S. House quashes effort to consider impeachment
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday refused to consider impeachment articles against President Donald Trump, with most Democrats siding with Republicans to kill the effort. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) attempted to use a procedural mechanism on the House floor to prod his colleagues to vote on his impeachment resolution stating that Trump “is unfit […]
U.S. House holds top Trump officials in contempt over census citizenship question
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday voted to hold two of President Trump’s top officials in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over documents related to the administration’s plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The chamber voted 230-198, largely along partisan lines, to hold Attorney General William Barr and […]
Student debt earns Wisconsin a bad ranking
Student debt is a hot topic in politics and campaigns, in no small part because after mortgages, it is the largest type of debt in the United States. This month the financial literacy site Wallet Hub ranked the states on “most to least” in student loan debt. Wisconsin placed as the 18th worst on the […]