EDITORIAL: Don’t trust Legislature with federal funds control

If the people of Wisconsin could count on having a Legislature that would rise above partisan rivalry to work cooperatively and swiftly to direct federal money received by the state to where it’s needed, the constitutional amendments on Tuesday’s ballot would not be so troublesome.

Judging from the record of the Wisconsin Legislature in recent years, however, that is a forlorn hope.

The amendments, if approved in referendums in the Aug. 13 election, would take the power of distributing federal aid away from the governor and give it to the Legislature.

The current Legislature and those that preceded it under the same leadership have shown by repeatedly delaying or blocking the distribution of federal aid that they cannot be trusted with that responsibility.

Referendum question No. 1 looks like a red herring meant to mislead voters by suggesting the amendments would limit the power of the Legislature. The question asks approval of a proposed amendment that would “provide that the Legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated.”

The true purpose of the amendments is made clear in the language of question No. 2: “to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the Legislature.”

The amendments would tie the governor’s hands in putting all manner of federal aid to use efficiently, including emergency disaster relief meant to reach those in need quickly. Timely response has not been a characteristic of recent legislatures. It is not forgotten that the 2020 Wisconsin Senate and Assembly, which rarely bothered to convene a session, embarrassed the state by being named one of the least active state legislatures in the nation.

During the pandemic, the state lost $25 million in federal funds to pay unemployment benefits because Republican leaders failed to schedule sessions to meet a federal deadline.

The Legislature’s ongoing refusal to accept Medicaid assistance has cost the state millions of federal dollars needed for health care.

More than just federal relief funds would be jeopardized by giving the Legislature sole control of federal assistance. Federal grants for conservation would be subject to the political priorities of the Legislature.

There is no mystery about the destain the GOP majority has for conservation funding. The people of Ozaukee County got a clear look at it when the Joint Finance Committee blocked an approved state DNR grant for the Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve in Port Washington (an action since ruled unconstitutional by the Wisconsin Supreme Court). The committee’s action also had the effect of depriving the project of the use of a federal grant.

It no doubt sticks in the craw of those legislators that Gov. Tony Evers saved the preserve by covering the state grant amount with federal pandemic relief money. Only the incurably naive would think this has nothing to do with the amendments seeking to take control of federal funds away from the governor.

The amendments are the latest in a series of political gaming exercises that have been going on between the powerful Republican dominated Legislature and the twice-elected Democratic governor. This one, however, is more consequential than most in that it seeks changes in the state Constitution that tend to be permanent.

For voters who can put aside the political score-keeping aspects of the referendums, a good way to decide how to vote is to ask this question: Will subjecting the state’s federal funding to the vicissitudes of the Legislature make life better for the people of Wisconsin?

The answer is no, and the answer to the referendum questions should also be no.