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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Democratic legislative leaders said Monday that they want to hear bold plans from Gov. Scott Walker on strengthening the middle class and improving the state's infrastructure during his upcoming State of the State address.
Rep. Peter Barca and Sen. Jennifer Shilling, the top Democrats in their respective chambers, called on the Republican governor to work with them on a suite of proposals aimed at supporting working families, including restructuring student loan debt and expanding broadband access.
Shilling said Walker's higher education affordability plan doesn't go far enough and that she hopes he has a vision for improving the state's roads.
Walker's spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said in an email that the governor will use his sixth State of the State speech Tuesday to detail his plan to go about "building off our many successes and positive, common-sense reforms in order to ensure that everyone who wants a job can find a job and live their piece of the American dream."
Walker's higher education plan, unveiled last week, includes removing the cap on tax-deductible student loan interest, increasing need-based assistance programs at technical colleges and bringing on more internship coordinators.
Shilling called it "weak tea" Monday and said the proposals "nibble around the edges" of the problem.
Her plan would allow all student debt payments, not just the interest, to be tax deductible. She also wants to allow for the refinancing of student loans, saying it would help more than 800,000 people in the state who carry a total of about $19 billion in college debt.
Walker has said the refinancing plan hasn't gone well elsewhere, but Shilling said that explanation was misleading.
Neither minority-party leader said whether they would support or oppose Walker's education plans. Shilling said Democrats would discuss the ideas, and Barca said he would seek to amend proposals to "try to improve upon" them.
Barca and Shilling said they haven't met formally with Walker in months, despite requests.
Both also called for plans to improve the state's roads. Shilling, however, went a step further, framing broadband Internet access as an infrastructure issue. She said the governor has turned down tens of millions of federal dollars, leaving "Wisconsin struggling with a digital divide that limits economic opportunity" in rural areas.
Patrick, however, framed broadband expansion as a priority, noting that Walker created a broadband grant program funded through the state budget. She said the governor announced $1.5 million in broadband expansion grants last month.
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