GOP making big budget cuts and blaming Dems happens in Madison, not just DC

The closing of facilities to help homeless veterans happened after Republicans removed Gov. Tony Evers’ funding request.

There is an understandable focus on the current shutdown drama in Washington, DC, but the federal government isn’t the only place where Republicans have made devastating cuts to programs and are trying to blame Democrats. As of this month, there are state facilities for homeless veterans in Chippewa Falls and Green Bay that have now closed because Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature refused to fund them — and they say it is somehow Gov. Tony Evers’ fault.

The Veterans Housing and Recovery Program facilities in Green Bay and at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls recently closed after the GOP-controlled Legislature zeroed out Evers’ state budget request for $1.9 million earlier this year. Democrats tried to put the money back in as the budget was being debated in the Joint Finance Committee and again when the final budget bill was being debated on the floor of the state Senate. Neither motion passed.

Programs at the facilities provide shelter, recovery programs, and job training and are administered by Lutheran Social Services.

“We are here fighting for our veterans,” said Senate Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein during a press briefing. “We were ready to vote on this in Joint Finance. We were ready to vote on the amendment that came to the floor. And we are still standing strong in support of these standalone bills. We can get this done. We are willing to work together, we want to work together. But unfortunately it is the Republicans’ decision to vote these efforts down, to close these facilities, and to turn their backs on Wisconsin veterans.”

Republicans are claiming Evers could have funded the homeless veterans services by reallocating money from elsewhere, but governors cannot unilaterally move funds around without the Legislature’s approval. It would have been easier for Republicans to put back the money they zeroed out in that specific part of the budget.

“We don’t just write a blank check to the Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Sen. Jamie Wall. “What we do is say that there’s so much money in this budget line for this program and so much money in that budget line for this other program, and so the fact that the Department of Veterans Affairs had surplus money on other budget lines doesn’t mean that they could just willy-nilly take that and spend that any way they wanted to for the benefit of this program.”

Hesselbein noted that Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL who called on Evers to fund the facilities, also could have helped keep them open by requesting federal funds for the program. They were not part of the 15 community earmarks Van Orden requested for fiscal year 2026.

Federal funding covers the bulk of these homeless veterans programs, but the state must make up the difference in order for operations to continue.