Preview: No.17 Wisconsin Faces Tough Road Challenge at Maryland

Series Notes

Wisconsin Notes

Maryland Notes

MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin filed a lawsuit with 21 other states and Washington D.C. to fight the federal funding freeze, which a federal judge temporarily blocked on Tuesday. 

Freeze on hold

What they’re saying:

That funding freeze was supposed to go into effect Tuesday evening, Jan. 28. But a judge’s ruling puts a hold on that freeze – which means federal funds can go out. 

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“I think this is a very responsible measure. Again, the past four years, we’ve seen the Biden administration spend money like drunken sailors. It’s a big reason we’ve had inflation crisis in this country, and it’s incumbent upon this administration to make sure, again, that every penny is being accounted for honestly,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary.

Federal money touches all of our lives – from roads to the people on them. From nursing homes and research of diseases at universities to the Head Start program for kids to Meals on Wheels for seniors. 

On Tuesday, the White House press secretary said the pause would not apply to payments to people – like food stamps, Medicare and social security. 

“If you are receiving individual assistance from the federal government, you will still continue to receive that,” Leavitt said. “However, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That is something that President Trump campaigned on.”

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The Education Department said it would not apply to people – like the 40 million getting federal student loans and 7 million with Pell grants. 

The Trump administration said the planned temporary freeze was to give it time to review funding for “DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal.” It was set to go into effect at 4 p.m. central time. 

“It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs. It means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies,” said Leavitt.

Wisconsin Democrats

Local perspective:

Gov. Tony Evers wrote President Trump a letter opposing the federal aid pause. The state estimates it’s set to receive $28 billion in federal funds in a two-year budget, and the governor said the pause could have disastrous effects. 

“These are dollars that has been debated. They’ve been debated. They’ve passed both the House and the Senate. This is the this is the responsibility. The power of the purse starts in the House of Representatives, of which I’m a member, and this is law,” said U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee).

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said, for the city, it means tens of millions of dollars in the city’s budget is now on hold.

“I don’t know if Americans voted for not having the seniors not having access to Meals on Wheels,” he said. “I don’t know if Americans voted for not replacing lead service lines so that we have better public health and better public safety. I don’t know if Americans voted for potentially having a reduction in aid to community development block grant areas that helped to uplift neighborhoods that are hard hit.”

WISCONSIN — Gov. Tony Evers announced on Tuesday he’s lowering the lead poisoning threshold in the state.

The emergency rule would lower it from 5 micrograms per deciliter to 3.5 micrograms per deciliter, according to the release.

It puts the state more in line with recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which states intervention in lead poisoning cases should be taken at 3.5 micrograms per deciliter.

By adjusting the threshold, it will also help more kids and families get access to services for lead poisoning.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, there were at least 3,272 kids between Nov. 2021 and Feb. 2024 who were affected by lead poisoning that didn’t receive intervention services. That’s because their exposure — between 3.5 and 4.9 micrograms per 100 milliliters of blood — did not meet the definitions of lead poisoning or exposure in the previous threshold.

Another 1,400 kids are expected to have this same level of lead in 2025, DHS estimates. Now, under the new rule, they’ll be able to get assistance.

Evers said he will also direct $6.2 million in his 2025-27 Executive Budget to support lead poisoning efforts through grants to local health departments.

Lead poisoning exposure can have long-term consequences for children, including on their ability to pay attention as well as their learning capacity, according to the CDC. A 2019 study revealed that even low levels of lead exposure during early childhood can affect reading and math scores, with additional schooling “not sufficient” enough to offset this damage.

“There is no safe level of lead exposure for kids,” Evers said in his State of the State address last week.

Evers also announced more funding to combat PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. He said he’ll direct another $5 million in federal funds to the expanded Well Compensation and Well Abandonment Grant Program, created in 2022 to support “replacement, reconstruction, treatment, or abandonment of contaminated private wells.”

The Department of Natural Resources has so far awarded over $9 million to 684 grantees. It has allowed the 393 contaminated wells to be replaced, another 106 to be treated, 182 unused and abandoned wells to be sealed and more.

Grant funding for the next $5 million will open up on Feb. 3, 2025. To find out if you’re eligible, you can take a questionnaire online, here. You can apply, here.

A study by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health found that most Wisconsin residents have PFAS in their bodies. The substances can be found in fire-suppressing foam, nonstick pans and more.

“If we want our kids to bring their full and best selves to our classrooms, elected officials have to start acknowledging how policy decisions and investments—or lack thereof—here in this building affect kids, families, schools, and communities across Wisconsin every day. …” said Evers at his State of the State address.