Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed two-year budget is “devastating” for Wisconsin’s middle class families, a new television commercial says, urging citizens to call their state senators to stop Walker’s plans.
Walker wants to cut $900-million from schools, the deepest cut in state history; slash $500-million for health care, including BadgerCare and SeniorCare; and make drastic cuts that will endanger police and fire protection, the commercial says.
“Governor Walker’s budget is devastating, and so are state senators who blindly follow him,” the ad says. “Tell your state senator to stop selling out the middle class and stop Walker’s budget.”
The commercial, by the Greater Wisconsin Committee, an issue advocacy organization (Disclosure: I am a board member), began airing statewide on Saturday, the group’s executive director, Michelle McGrorty said.
“Much of the debate so far has been on Walker’s so-called budget repair bill and the fact that it strips workers of their collective bargaining rights,” McGrorty said. “But the biennial budget he unveiled this week is not only devastating, but will affect every middle-class family in the state negatively. It piles one damaging cut on top of another. The time to mobilize and stop it is now.”
The commercial, which includes images of a family, students, a medical patient, firefighters, police officers – all groups that would be deeply impacted by the cuts -- and directs people to a new website, www.stopwalkersbudget.com for more information on how to get involved. The ad can be viewed there.