via Vicky Selkowe, Wisconsin Council on Children & Families
Help Ensure Wisconsin’s Budget Reflects Our Values!
Wisconsin Values Event
State Capitol Building , Senate Parlor
Thursday, July 26th @ 11:00 a.m.
Join us in Madison for this important & timely event!
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Budget Background:
The Wisconsin legislature is continuing its work on the state budget. The eight legislators who make up the conference committee (see bottom of this email for names & contact information) are expected to start their work on the state budget very soon. They face the daunting task of trying to reconcile the vastly different Senate and Assembly versions of the budget – budgets with very different priorities and competing visions for our state’s future. Whatever budget document the conference committee comes up with goes back to the Senate and the Assembly for up or down votes (no amendments, or changes, are allowed) and then to the Governor – making the work of the conference committee tremendously important.
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The Wisconsin Values Event:
A large and diverse set of organizations (including AARP, AFT, WEAC, the Survival Coalition, Make It Work Milwaukee! Coalition, Wisconsin Counties Association, WI Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association and the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families) are coming together this Thursday, July 26th for this Wisconsin Values event to ask the state legislature to ensure that the state budget is firmly rooted in the values that have made Wisconsin great. As the legislature’s conference committee begins its deliberations, we raise our united voices to ask legislators to craft a biennial budget that reflects the value Wisconsinites place in strong communities, good schools, care for vulnerable populations, quality health care and childcare, and affordable higher education.
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You’re invited (and needed!):
To ensure that the state legislature sees the strength represented in our collective voices, we need you to join us at the Capitol this Thursday morning for this important event! The event will last less than an hour, and participants will then stop by conference committee members’ offices to deliver a Wisconsin Values message about the budget. Your participation in this event is critically important and we hope you can take the time to join us.
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If you can’t make it:
If you’re unable to join us in person on Thursday, we need you to take just FIVE minutes THIS WEEK to call or email your own legislators and also write to the leaders of the conference committee, Sen. Judy Robson and Rep. Mike Huebsch. (If you have time to send a message to all members of the conference committee, that’d be great, but if you have limited time, please just write to Sen. Robson & Rep. Huebsch.) Make sure they know what YOU value and urge them to craft a biennial budget that reflects the value Wisconsinites place in strong communities, good schools, care for vulnerable populations, quality health care and childcare, and affordable higher education.
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Questions?
Contact Vicky Selkowe at WCCF at vselkowe@wccf.org or (608) 284-0580, ext. 326.
Hope to see you on Thursday, July 26th in the State Capitol to ensure that the legislature hears our united voices calling on them to preserve our Wisconsin values!
Thomas J. Mertz
AMPS 