Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he thinks there is a small chance Tony Evers could sign the GOP’s so-called “born alive” abortion bill – a bill the Dem governor has said he will veto.
“I know it’s a long shot. I’m not naïve,” Fitzgerald said Sunday on “UpFront,” produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com.
“But I think there’s going to be some pressure that’s going to build, because the ‘born alive’ bill is a much different type of take on a pro-life piece of legislation than what we’ve seen in the past in Wisconsin,” Fitzgerald said.
The bill would require doctors to care for babies who survive abortion attempts, or possibly face prison time. The bill passed the Assembly last week, and is expected to be taken up in the Senate in June. Fitzgerald said it will pass the Senate.
Evers has said the bill is redundant with state law and that he objects to its criminal penalties.
Fitzgerald said Republicans are moving several pieces of anti-abortion legislation to “demonstrate and underscore the commitment that Republicans have had to making sure that Wisconsin is as pro-life as possible.”
On other topics, Fitzgerald said flatly that he doesn’t support medical marijuana, and Wisconsin should sit back and watch what happens in other states that have approved various uses of marijuana.
He said his relationship with Evers is “pretty minimal.”
He said “it just doesn’t seem necessary that we have to expand Medicaid in Wisconsin.”
About work on the next two-year state budget, Fitzgerald said “we’re on a good pace right now.”
“It’s going to be a real fiscal document that I think many of the members can get behind and say, ‘Hey, this is a responsible investment, whether it’s K-12 education, transportation, health, this is a real investment; this is reality.’ And I think because of that we’re going to have the votes and we’re going to pass through both houses in June,” he said.
He also said some Republican senators still have hard feelings over PSC Commissioner Ellen Nowak being turned away from her job during court rulings in lawsuits over the extraordinary session. He said the Senate is holding up confirmation of Evers’ cabinet appointees.
Also on the program, DATCP Secretary-designee Brad Pfaff said many months of tariffs have taken a toll on Wisconsin’s agricultural community.
“These tariffs are hurting farmers, rural communities, rural residents, consumers. All of us are impacted by tariffs,” Pfaff said.
The interview was recorded before the Trump administration announced on Friday afternoon that it would end tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico. Tariffs on Chinese products, and the tariffs China has imposed on U.S. products, remain in place.
See more from the show:
https://www.wisn.com/upfront
