Well, the federal government has a point. It’s hard to argue that we have an economic crisis when the unemployment rate is below 4%. This is also a reminder that the Democrats crafted this bill to send more money to the states that did the worst job managing through the pandemic. Wisconsin’s response wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as New York’s or California’s. The result is that Wisconsinites get to send more money to those states to reward them for their crappy governing.
While the Congressional Research Service had estimated earlier this year the state would receive $3.2 billion under the most recent stimulus package, the Treasury Department on Monday informed the state that the final allocation will instead be $2.5 billion, split into two payments.
The Treasury Department has the ability to withhold a portion of a state’s funding based on unemployment rates, which was the case in Wisconsin. The Department of Workforce Development reported last month that the state’s unemployment rate in March was 3.8%. In February 2020, before the pandemic caused Wisconsin’s jobless rate to skyrocket, the state unemployment rate was 3.5%.
$2.5 billion of executive spending is still a massive quasi re-election fund for Evers. He’s way, way out in front of his yet-to-be-named opponent. We’ll see if the legislature has the balls to drain any of that $2.5 billion through the budget process. I have my doubts.