Wisconsin budget lawmakers looking for ways to transition people from unemployment to jobs

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee on Wednesday took up the budgets of the state’s agriculture, natural resources and workforce development departments as it works to put together the state’s next spending plan.

The Department of Workforce Development’s budget, said Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, shows the difference between Republican budget goals and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ budget goals.

“Gov. Evers [has] a vision of growing government programs and dependency,” Born said. “Our vision is getting people back to work.”

To that end, Born and other Republicans on the committee intend to direct the workforce agency to find ways to move people off of unemployment and get them back to work.

“We want to incentivize people to get a job and keep a job,” Born added.

Republican lawmakers and business groups in Wisconsin have said for months that pandemic-boosted unemployment benefits were keeping people in the state from returning to work. The state’s largest business group, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, has said enhanced federal unemployment benefits bring Wisconsin’s unemployment payout to more than $600 a week.

Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, said Wisconsin is in the middle of a “workforce crisis.”

“There’s a variety of things that we are going to vote on that are meant to improve that,” Zimmerman explained. “Because when our employees cannot find the labor and resources they need, they get resourceful. And we hope they don’t ultimately exit the state.”

Wednesday’s budget action was not limited to just finding people jobs.

Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said the committee would be adding money to both the Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural Resources.

“In the past year, one of the things that has become pretty obvious is the bottleneck that exists in our small meat processing plants. So we’re going to be adding four new meat inspectors,” Marklein said. “In the area of DNR, we’re going to be expanding the amount of money spent on improvements to ATV and UTV trails.

Marklein said that expansion will come to about $2 million.

Marklein and Born said the state’s budget is on track to be finished by the end of the month, which they’ll then send to Evers to decide if he wants to sign it.

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