Bid made to add two reforms to budget
(The Center Square) – There is a new push from one of Wisconsin’s small-government-reformers to get Republicans at the Capitol to agree with a portion of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ budget.
The Institute for Reforming Government on Wednesday launched a bid to lobby the Republican budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance to add two reforms to the state’s foster care system back into the budget.
One would erase Wisconsin’s law that blocks parents from reuniting with their children if they owe back child support. The other reform would save Social Security payments for children in foster care, as opposed to spending that money on their day-to-day care.
“There have to be ways that we can offer solutions, and ways to help these kids that is not growing government, not building up bureaucracy,” the policy network’s Chris Reader said in a radio interview.
Reader said work on the reforms has been ongoing for at least a year. His group managed to convince the state’s Department of Children and Families to include both in Evers’ proposed budget.
Republicans with majority to write the budget removed them.
“When the Finance Committee, a few weeks ago … deleted a whole bunch of items, and most of them we would agree with, they also took these out,” Reader said. “They took these out, probably as new items without fully understanding what they were. So the lobbying, right now, has to be on the budget committee.”
Reader said there is a price tag for both reforms, but said it’s small compared to Wisconsin’s $55 billion state budget. And there is a model that Wisconsin can follow.
Reader said “Wisconsin is one of just 12 states” that block family reunification over past-due child support.
“Money should not stop you from having a loving home as a child,” Reader added. “It doesn’t excuse what’s owed. The parents will still have to pay what’s owed, but bring the kids back home.”
Wisconsin lawmakers are crafting the next two-year state budget this month. They hope to have a final draft by the end of the month.
