It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Time for some sh** you need to know.
You ever had something that's a good idea but done for the wrong reasons?
Well, you're gonna hear one now, I think.
The Senate, the U.S.
Senate, said Wednesday they unanimously voted to advance a resolution sponsored by Senator John Kennedy, the Republican from Louisiana, who sounds suspiciously like Foghorn Leghorn, to suspend senators paid during a government shutdown.
Something that could give lawmakers a powerful incentive not to shutter federal departments because of funding disputes in future years.
We have all said this.
Oh, they still get paid while everybody else doesn't.
I applaud this.
I think this is right, but Hold on for a second.
The resolution only applies to members of the Senate and does not need to be approved by the House or signed by President Trump.
So good on the Senate
We're looking at you, House of Representatives.
It would take effect after the midterms, so it would not apply to a possible government shutdown this fall, which Republicans think is likely to happen because of the deep animosity between Trump and Democratic senators.
The Senate voted 99 to nothing on the motion to end debate on proceeding with the resolution, signaling that it will easily have enough support to pass the upper chamber.
Kennedy said he wanted to make the resolution effective immediately because he's, quote, very concerned that my Senate colleagues on the Democratic side are going to try to shut down government yet again right before the elections to try to create chaos to affect the midterm elections.
With all due respect to the Republican senator from Louisiana, it was your Republican colleagues in the House and the Senate that refused
to bring a vote.
Now the Senate finally did bring a funding vote to try to end the shutdown, but the House, you got to go talk to Mike Johnson because he wouldn't even bring the bill that you guys in the Senate had voted on and passed on a bipartisan basis to fund DHS without ICE.
Remember all this?
This wasn't that long ago.
If I remember it, you should remember it.
You were part of it.
It's the house so to but it's a good thing I like the I like it that the senators have said listen if we're shut down We'll shut down too.
You'll still still get their money.
Don't cry for a senator senators still get paid just like just like TSA agents and everybody else during a shutdown they get their pay retroactively but please don't and I know you have to John Kennedy from Louisiana you have to put everything on the Democrats but
Just do the right thing and then don't try to qualify it with just misleading information.
All right, a conservative law firm has sued to block Wisconsin's ban on conversion therapy, arguing it amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty
or will, a very conservative law firm has announced a litigation yesterday saying it filed suit on behalf of licensed counselors who both provide Christian faith-based counseling services.
Now the governor, the Department of Safety and Professional Services Secretary, and members of the Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapy Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board are named as defendants in the suit.
A state administrative rule declares it
As unprofessional conduct for licensed therapists and counselors to promote interventions or methods meant to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, Will argues the rule essentially prohibits counselors from providing counseling in accordance with a Judeo-Christian worldview to clients seeking services that align with that viewpoint.
Deputy counsel for will in a statement said Wisconsin's rule is virtually identical to a Colorado law the US Supreme Court found may violate First Amendment in an 8-1 ruling in March sending the case back So we will go on I I applauded The governor and the state when they when this rule went through I applaud Colorado I think conversion therapy is a tool from the past that has proven to not be effective
because a person is who they are.
You can like it or you cannot like it.
I don't know why you wouldn't like it, but that's on you.
But we'll see what happens as this goes forward.
All right, we go from the law conservative law firm, we go from the U.S.
Senate, and we turn to our big story of the morning, which is, of course,
the wisconsin state senate rejects the bipartisan deal on school funding and tax rebates now usually we don't do do this during as you need to know but i got to open this up to you now what do you think of this are you are you happy that this thing is dead in the water are you upset are you frustrated because of the perceived politics of it all what are your thoughts on this eight five five seven five seven eight five five seven five two four eight four two so
We've been following this story all week as we should have a 1.8 billion dollar bipartisan deal to infuse millions in funding in K to 12 schools and alleviate property tax increases through rebates will not get to the governor's office to be signed because the state Senate failed to pass it late last night by a vote of 15 to 18 the bill
As you know, was described as a blockbuster bipartisan deal by the governor and assembly speaker Robin Voss from Rochester and Senate Majority Leader Devin Lamehu.
So in that bill, the schools would have given would have gotten $850.
No, sorry.
850 million would have gone back to taxpayers through income tax rebates.
That would have been 300 for an individual, 600 for a family, or a couple.
It would have raised the reimbursement rate for special education to 50%.
It's at 40-some percent now, an increased state aid to reduce pressure on property taxes.
Republicans told reporters prior to Wednesday's session they hoped the bill would lead to fewer referendums in coming years.
That was the big thing.
to schools, we're going to stop asking people.
And again, it was based on the surplus, the $2.5 billion surplus, and not touch the $2 billion rainy day fund.
That was how it was pitched.
That was how it was decided.
But as you know, there were a lot of people coming out against this, and we're actually going to talk to two groups later in the show at 830 who were very vocal.
about their opposition to this bill.
So we'll see what they think and where they think we go next.
All Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans, including Senators Steve Nass of Whitewater, Rob Hutton of Brookfield, Chris Campenga of Dellafield, they all voted no, citing a projected budget deficit in future years, the lack of refunds going to lower wage people, and the fact that the money lawmakers were trying to spend had not actually hit the state's bank account yet.
See, a lot of the people who talk about this surplus had never brought up that it's not there.
It was always painted as, oh yeah, we've got this extra money.
We don't have to worry about this.
Well, now actually, the projected surplus is...
Projected, the projected surplus, is projected to reach nearly 2.4 billion.
The state announced the tax collections through April are on track to be more than 300 million above those previous estimates.
So, okay, we won't quibble about the money right now.
We'll go back to what Senator Nass said.
He said, quote, the money we're talking about this evening, so the people back home and even possibly here understand that the 2.3 billion we speak of has not come in yet.
It is a projected balance for the future.
So we are sending out checks and money on what we think and hope may come in.
We're hoping it will come in.
I hope it does too.
I hope we get more.
We could get less because of the economy, which is already kind of tipsy."
End quote.
That from Senator Steve Nass of Whitewater.
It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Time for some shit you need to know.
You know the old saying, uh, oh that sucks for you.
It does when you have receipts and you can prove that what people are saying may not be the truth.
We've talked about U.S.
Representative Derrick Van Orden on this show before.
Well, now he is denying that he voted for cuts to health care when he backed President Trump's one big beautiful bill last year, legislation that will affect the access to Medicare and Medicaid for thousands of Wisconsinites.
Now, he was doing an interview with WXOW and La Crosse and Van Orden responded to protesters that were outside his town hall meeting in Sparta who said they were disappointed
by his vote for the bill last year, which includes cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.
In the interview, DVO said that while protesters had the right to be there, he just wished, quote, they knew what they were talking about, end quote.
He went on to say, there have been no cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
There's not going to be cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
What's going to end though is the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse present.
Here's where the, it sucks for you, comes in.
Because these are the facts of what happened with the big, beautiful bill.
Maybe he forgot.
Now, it's been a year.
My memory isn't what it used to be.
So perhaps Derrick Van Orden's memory is not what it used to be either.
So I will refresh his and your memories.
The facts.
All of Wisconsin's Republican delegation in Congress supported Trump's bill.
The bill included, listen to this part, tax cuts, increased spending on immigration enforcement and the military, and a nearly $1 trillion cut to Medicaid.
What?
A $1 trillion cut to Medicaid.
Oh, Brian, I thought he said they didn't cut Medicaid.
a $1 trillion cut to Medicaid.
That's according to USA Today.
Now the cuts are expected to go into effect by 2027.
So maybe that's what he meant.
Maybe he was saying, you didn't get it.
There's no cuts right now.
Maybe it's all a matter of timing for DVO.
We don't know.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that more than $900 billion in Medicaid spending cuts under the new bill over a decade.
How much, Brian?
$900 billion in Medicaid cuts.
Oh, Republicans argue measures such as work requirements for able-bodied recipients are in place to ensure Medicaid isn't cut for those who need it.
The CBO estimates more than $500 billion in Medicaid yearly automatic cuts over the decade.
Now, the bill requires able-bodied adults to work 80 hours per month to qualify for Medicaid benefits.
It freezes the provider tax in states like Wisconsin that have not expanded Medicaid and it gradually lowers the provider
tax rates in expansion states from six.
percent to 3.5 percent.
If you're not sure, Medicaid is the primary health program for low-income people.
It's jointly financed by states and the federal government and is known as BadgerCare here in Wisconsin.
So last year, shortly after the bill was signed into law, on July 4th, Wisconsin lawmakers rushed to sign a state budget into effect to avoid the freeze on the provider tax.
The budget included a provision that expanded the state's tax on hospitals from 1.8 to 6 percent.
But for Derek Van Orden to say that the protesters don't know what they're talking about, maybe you need to look in the mirror, sir.
They seem to know what they were talking about because the big, beautiful bill did indeed have cuts to Medicaid.
All right, let's go from Republicans in Wisconsin to Republicans in the U.S.
Senate.
Senate Republicans yesterday again blocked Democratic legislation that would halt President Donald Trump's war with Iran, but the number of GOP senators voting against the war did grow.
Listen to this.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, she of the flip-flop Moolirap.
She just she loves to flip and flop.
She voted against the war for the first time since it began at the end of February.
Two other Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky, also voted against the war as they have done in previous votes.
The war powers legislation ultimately failed to advance 49 to 50.
With Parker, let me give you, let me give you a guess on this.
Who was the one senator that the only Democrat who opposed it?
Who's a John Furman?
It was indeed John Fetterman ding ding ding ding ding again the prize closet woefully empty, but someday it'll be filled filled and you'll get something.
Yes, John Fetterman the Democrat in name only the the dymo is a you know, the Republicans like to call people rhinos.
I'll call him a dymo.
He is a he voted
to oppose it.
Yet the close tally reflected growing unease with Trump's war.
Several other Republican senators have signaled they want Congress to weigh in on the direction of the conflict.
There will be a day and it might be soon, according to Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, where this Senate will say to the president, stop this war.
Even if it passes the Senate, a war powers resolution would have a slim chance of passing in the house because we all know that Mike Johnson
uh, is a yes man for the administration.
Democrats say the votes are about building political pressure on the president, either to withdraw from the conflict or seek congressional authorization to wage the war.
He will never do it.
Now we are in Operation Sledgehammer.
If you are keeping track of the various operation names that changed before or at the 60 day mark where the president would be required, well, by the constitution and whatnot, which doesn't seem to mean much, but
he would be required to then get congressional approval for the war.
So the White House has asserted that it does not need congressional authorization for the war and has circumvented legal requirements.
It claims it has terminated hostilities with Iran because the U.S.
has entered a ceasefire.
We've heard all that from the president and from Pete Hegseth and it doesn't ring true to anybody because even during the ceasefires
It's hard to be in a ceasefire when you are actually launching missiles at another country and another country is launching missiles at you.
That posture has created tension between Republican-controlled Congress and the White House.
Because presidents under the war powers resolution are required to obtain authorization from Congress after 60 days, which we know.
And we also know that if you start a new action, that bypasses that.
And that is the loophole that I think we need to look at closing someday.
Republican leadership has continued to back the war, arguing that the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz that has blocked most commercial shipping ports puts more economic pressure on Iran than it does on the US.
But let's all remember, and boy, I don't think we've said this all week, Parker, but the Strait of Hormuz was open before this.
And there was a nuclear deal in place before this.
But the president did not like that deal because it was brokered by Barack Hussein Obama.
And yes, and I said Hussein because I know that's how this administration refers to him.
But...
So Barack Obama had this deal in place.
The straight was open.
Everything was going along.
There were international inspectors going into Iran.
Now, I don't trust Iran as far as I can throw them, but I also know that these international inspectors had no ties to anybody.
And they were keeping Iran's nuclear program in check.
For some reason, somebody whispered in Trump's ear that there was a bomb imminent threat and off to the races.
All right, moving on, more stuff you need to know.
Nina Foundry is going to have to pay $200,000 to settle DOJ air control violations.
Nina Foundry Company will pay $200,000 to settle claims that it violated air pollution control permits and state and federal regulations.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice on May 6 filed a complaint against the foundry in Winnebago County Circuit Court that alleged 18 violations of its air control permits.
The Wisconsin DNR regulations and the U.S.
environmental protection agency regulations, all of those alleged to have been violated.
So Nina Foundry's current owner, Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company, in a statement to the Post Crescent said that the investigations were related to record keeping practices, oops, and permit interpretations prior to its ownership.
Now Charlotte Pipe's statement noted that matters.
The state investigated did not involve actual admissions violations or allegations of pollution.
So the nearly $200,000 payment includes the fine, surcharges, and court costs.
So even they have to pay fees, just like if they were buying something from Ticketmaster.
The state alleged that 18 violations related to the foundry's failure to maintain and operate air pollution control devices and monitors, inadequate record keeping, and failures to report incidents to the DNR.
So the Charlotte Pipe & Factory went on to say in their statement,
that investigations from 2019 and 2021 prior to the company's acquisition of Nina Foundry in 2022.
So since Charlotte pipes acquisition, it said there have been no substantive findings in any of the federal or state investigations.
So we will follow this and see what what comes of that.
And if it is just if it is just record keeping and it was all before well and good on them for not polluting the air more than more than anybody else, I guess.
or at least staying within the guidelines if they do.
All right, you know Jerome Powell has been on the hot seat for a long, long time as the Fed chair.
Well, his term is coming to an end and the Senate has confirmed his replacement.
U.S.
Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve, one of the most powerful roles in the federal government that holds enormous sway over the economy.
Just hearing that sentence.
Do yourself a favor and wonder hmm Who will Kevin Warsh be answering to I wonder if he's a friend of the president and I wonder if he will do with the rates What Jerome Powell has refused to do well, let's find out with a little more information Shall we while you ponder that question the 5445 Senate vote on Wednesday was split along party lines week with the exception of Parker one Democratic senator who you think?
I'm gonna go for the two-time John Fetterman.
You would win two times!
Yes, do you know the dinosaur senator John Federman from Pennsylvania who joined the Republican Party in its vote?
It was the most divisive Confirmation vote in the for that position in the history of the Federal Reserve Warsh was confirmed to a four-year term as chair and a 14 year appointment on the feds rate-setting board now Warsh will officially step into the role today today is May 14th, and that is the term of
Powell's his term ends today so warships now the guy he's taking over leadership of the Fed at a time when the central bank faces immense pressure from the Trump administration to lower rates even as inflation climbs and war in the Middle East continues but hey that's all right
We know the Fed sets those interest rates.
We know that Warsh has echoed Donald Trump's calls to lower rates, but he has to convince other members of the Fed's board to do so.
Before Warsh, rather, the most divisive Fed chair confirmation was in 2010 when Ben Bernanke was confirmed by a 70-30 vote.
Warsh is an Ivy League economist, former Wall Street banker.
He previously served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, and during his time on the board,
he was known as an inflation hawk advocating for higher interest rates to combat high inflation and now he's a Trump hawk where he is going to push its seams for lowering the rates despite everything else that's going on.
He interviewed for the top position at the Fed in 2018.
Trump ultimately appointed Powell a decision he now calls quote a really big mistake.
