Governor-elect Scott Walker’s ill-advised campaign posture to cancel the high-speed rail project that is already under construction would cost Wisconsin up to 15,000 family supporting jobs and up to $100 million at a time when both jobs and revenue are desperately needed.
Walker got a lot of campaign mileage out of this issue as a supposed example of wasteful government spending, but now that he actually will have to govern, cancelling the project at this stage makes absolutely no sense, even if you believe his arguments against the project.
Walker’s campaign posturing now threatens thousands of construction and permanent jobs, and will cost Wisconsin much more money to cancel than continue. Given the desperate need for jobs in Wisconsin, and the severe fiscal crisis the state faces, cancelling the high speed rail line amounts to economic treason.
Not surprisingly, other governors are already beginning to line up to request the job-creating money for their own states. Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo in New York has already put out a statement asking for the money to create good high-speed rail jobs for New Yorkers.
First, let’s review the jobs that will not be created if Walker cancels the high-speed rail project. If it is cancelled, it will cost Wisconsin an estimated 4,732 construction jobs . In addition, research on the economic impact of high-speed rail concludes that when the full project is completed, including the link from Madison to Minneapolis, that 9,570 permanent jobs will be created.
Governor-elect Walker has defended cancellation of the high-speed rail project on fiscal grounds, but returning the $810 million in federal funding that is paying for construction of the project would actually cost the state a great deal of money. As the money can only be used for high-speed rail, and the project is already underway, Wisconsin would have to pay back the federal government and contractors for work already done.
Policymakers estimate it will cost Wisconsin between $57 million and $100 million to buy out of the project. The maintenance costs Walker railed against in the campaign are substantially lower than this! Walker projected $7.5 million per year during the campaign, but most analysts think it will be much less. If the federal government pays the same percentage of maintenance costs it now pays for the Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago, the cost to Wisconsin will only by $750,000 per year, which is a tiny fraction of the state transportation budget.
In addition, the City of Milwaukee spent $10 million to buy the blighted Milwaukee site where the high speed trains are being built by Spanish manufacturer Talgo, and has invested an additional $6 million to upgrade the facility. Talgo has made it clear that they are unlikely to stay in Milwaukee if the Wisconsin high speed train project is cancelled. As a result, Milwaukee would lose the anchor manufacturing facility needed to spur re-development of the blighted Tower Automotive/A.O. Smith site on the near north side.
Given the nearly 15,000 construction and permanent jobs that would be created by the federal investment in Wisconsin in high-speed rail, and the high fiscal cost of cancellation, it would be incredibly short-sighted for Governor elect-Walker to follow through on his campaign posture just to provide more red meat for right-wing talk radio audiences. It amounts to economic treason at a time when everyone, regardless of political and ideological perspective, should be working together to bring desperately needed family supporting jobs back to Wisconsin.
A broad based group of concerned Milwaukeans rallied yesterday at the Federal Building and US Courthouse on Wisconsin Ave expressing their outrage over the layoff of over 700 Milwaukee Public School educators. Hundreds of pairs of empty shoes covered the steps of Milwaukee's finest example of Richardsonian architecture as a symbol of the empty spaces in MPS in the coming years.
Speakers were encouraged to act on a national, state and local level to fight this short-sighted and not inevitable cut in funding for the children of Milwaukee.
How?
Nationally: call Senators Kohl and Feingold and demand they support the Keep Our Educators Working Act which addresses the loss of over 300,000 educators across the nation during the latest financial crisis.
Statewide: support the "A Penny for Kids" campaign, led by the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools.
Locally: call the Mayor, County Executive, School Board and any other local leader you can think of and tell them to fully fund education in Milwaukee.
In the health care field, experts have talked for years about the savings that electronic medical records could produce – if only there was the money to create a shared integrated system. Guy Boulton reported in Tuesday's MJS that 9.4 million dollars in stimulus money will help build such a system in Wisconsin. The increased efficiencies and savings will mean lower health care costs for everyone.
Many people don't believe they personally benefited from the stimulus, but everyone who pays taxes received at least a few hundred dollars reduction when filing their 2009 federal income tax. Wisconsin families received an average tax cut of $506 dollars, for a total of $2.3 billion in tax cuts state wide. That's money that working people put right back into the local economy.
Wisconsin received almost $1.25 billion for education, which saved thousands of jobs for teachers, teachers aids, service workers, and head start. Keeping teachers on the job means quality education for Wisconsin students, who would have seen their class sizes increase dramatically, hurting the ability of teacher to give every student the attention they deserve.
Despite what opponents have said, health care reform will bring relief for many Wisconsinites. Because health care reform has passed, 332,000 Wisconsinites will be able to afford quality coverage. Federal health reform will also lead to improvements in Wisconsin's BadgerCare Plus program and the state's Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP). For instance, Wisconsin officials say, they will likely switch some BadgerCare Plus recipients with higher incomes to one of two new plans that have yet to be created - a state plan that would be similar to BadgerCare or a system offering private plans and subsidies to make them affordable. The BadgerCare eligibility of 200% of the federal poverty level for adults is higher than 133% threshold established by the new legislation, which could mean more federal money for BadgerCare.
Another benefit is expanded options for people with health problems who are unable to buy insurance on their own because no insurance company will sell them a policy. The federal health reform law allocates $5 billion to ensure every state has access to a high-risk pool. The federal money would enable HIRSP, Wisconsin's existing high risk pool, to offer more affordable health care plans, cover pre-existing conditions immediately, and expand coverage. The subsidized coverage for the people now in the HIRSP would continue, while the new federal funds would be used to subsidize coverage for new applicants who are uninsured.
One of the more controversial topics of reform is enhanced shared responsibility to have insurance coverage. Shared responsibility is essential because, starting in 2014, insurance companies can no longer refuse to sell someone a policy and are required to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Requiring everyone to get insurance will ensure that people do not "game the system" by waiting until they get sick to buy insurance. Shared responsibility encourages healthy people to buy coverage, which spreads risk and reduces costs for insurers by helping to offset the cost of insuring people with existing health problems and those who become sick or injured. The majority of people who do not have health insurance are uninsured because they cannot afford it, not because they do not want coverage. The health reform legislation signed by President Obama makes federal subsidies available to help off-set premium costs, which will make insurance affordable for everybody in Wisconsin. Subsidies are available to individuals and families who make up to 400% of the federal poverty level, which is $43,320 for an individual, and $88,200 for a family of four. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a subsidy calculator you can use to see if you are eligible.
This past Tuesday, March 9th, five thousand plus health care reform supporters took a stand against Big Insurance CEO's at the insurance lobby's annual meeting at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington D.C. The health insurance industry executives are trying to protect their pockets by blocking necessary health care reform but the protesters had a mission: To make a citizens' arrest and stop the crimes of Big Insurance. The message was loud and clear: We need congress to listen to us and not the insurance companies. We need health care reform NOW!
Congress got the message, and the House is voting on the Senate bill this Saturday. We are at the finish line for passing comprehensive legislation. Health care reform should not be a political issue but rather a moral responsibility to our citizens. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that when she brings health care reform to the house floor, "we will have the votes." In the last days of the debate, the home stretch, we need to push congress to finish the job and provide quality, affordable health care for all.
After last Thursday’s health care summit it seems that Democrats are ready to push the health care bill through with or without Republicans support, through reconciliation if necessary. The summit proved that there are core elements of the comprehensive package that both parties can agree on but Republicans continue to insist on starting over.
President Obama has seized control of the debate and is adamant that Congress get the job done on health care reform before more Americans have to suffer. Throughout the summit, Obama kept pressing for areas of agreement to keep things moving forward and it is clear that he will not stop pressing for action until Congress takes final up or down vote on health care reform.
Obama promises that he will do what it takes to get Congress to pass comprehensive legislation within a couple weeks, telling legislators to schedule a vote by March 18. In the FINAL push for reform, Obama is going all out to extend insurance coverage to 31 million Americans who don't have it and provide real health security for all. The long road to a healthier America has been bumpy but a smooth ride could be around the next curve.
Although Obama released his health care proposal just days before the event, he is prepared to push a final bill through with or without Republicans support. At the summit, Democrats anticipate stopping the rumors that the legislation is partisan and secretive. Calling a bipartisan meeting demonstrates that Obama is willing to negotiate with the Republicans, but are they willing to finding the middle ground with Democrats? Either way, it would be in the best interest of both parties to work together and come up with solutions that will be a win-win for them and benefit all Americans. The reality remains, no matter how much partisan disagreement there is in Washington, Americans are physically and socially suffering because of the inability of Congress to unify for the greater good.
With the majority of Americans frustrated by delays, Congress needs a push to get the job done. The summit is President Obama's last ditch effort to welcome suggestions, counter-opinions and additional proposals that some Republicans and Democrats feel are necessary to get them board with comprehensive health-care reform. This is an opportunity for the two parties to collaborate and avoid further polarizing the country. America can't wait any longer for real health care reform.
As the health care fight stretches into 2010, the White House and leaders in both houses of Congress are working feverishly to finish the bill as soon as possible.
A draft of the final bill could be sent to the CBO for scoring this weekend, but the special election in Massachusetts could derail the entire process – if the Republican running to fill Ted Kennedy's seat wins, Democrats in Congress will lose their 60 seat filibuster-proof majority.
While a deal has been reached on the excise tax that would be imposed on administrators of high cost plans, much is still to be resolved, including language on abortion and immigrant access to health care.
Democrats are seething with anger at Joe Lieberman, who seems intent on killing health care reform out of spite for the party base that rejected his candidacy in 2006, but health care reform is still likely to pass the Senate before Christmas.
Key progressives like Sherrod Brown have signaled they'll vote for a bill that doesn't have a public option, while labor hesitates on a decision to endorse the concessions made to conservative and "centrist" lawmakers. Even Bernie Sanders was forced to withdraw his single payer amendment to save the Senate leadership the few hours it would have taken to read his bill and buy them a little more time.
The US Senate has been debating its final version of a health reform bill for 10 days, and the horse trading over final provisions has only just begun .
Senate Democrats appear poised to give up the public option in exchange for a number of provisions, including the ability of people aged 55-64 to buy into Medicare, and a requirement that an insurance company's medical loss ratio – the percent of premium dollars spent on health care – not go below 90%. The House bill establishes an 85% minimum for medical loss ratio, so it seems likely this important cost control mechanism will remain in the final bill. (The average medical loss ratio now stands at about 80%, meaning that many insurance companies are well below that figure .)
The apparent willingness of Democrats to trade the public option for other major cost saving provisions proves that the public option is not about ideology, but it's about providing consumers with more choice and better value for their health care dollar. Republicans are no doubt enraged at this breakthrough in negotiations, as the party with a mandate to pass health care reform moves ever closer to accomplishing the real work of governance and progressive change.
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