What This Government Shutdown Means To Wisconsin (Hour 1)

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From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

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Pursuing truth wherever it may lead.

Here's your host, Todd Alba.

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Good afternoon, everybody.

Todd Alba, along with Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Tuesday, September 30th.

2025 it is a great day to be Wisconsinite glad to have you along everybody from the world headquarters in downtown Madison intersection of state and Fairchild 30 days have September That's the that's the that's the rhyme you have to remember like how many days or 30 days have September April June and November all the rest have 31 except February which is 28 or 29 in the leap year

Welcome to the Americanization of a calendar.

Ladies and gentlemen, glad to have you along on a Tuesday.

Summer's hard.

Doing well, glad to be here.

Yes, metaphorically speaking.

Yes.

We were a big believer in transparency on this show and in all transparency, we recorded this yesterday on Monday because I am a rare day off as dad had of having a little bit of a minor oral procedure.

as they say.

So I'm in Shawno helping out my stepmom and stepbrother get my dad to and fro to the beautiful Green Bay Medical Center.

I think that's where he's having it done.

Or maybe we're just at Lambeau Field trying to get cheap tickets for the rest of the pack or season.

I'm not sure.

No, we're doing a little medical thing and everything.

Nothing major.

We'll be back with a live show tomorrow on Wednesday and Thursday live from Shawno, Wisconsin.

So look forward to that in nervous anticipation, but we have new content not a rerun not a rerun on today's show because you know, we're in the book It's the big sweeps it's the ratings sweeps and so you have your fresh new content as Lamar Alexander once said fresh new conservative ideas No, not so conservative, but fresh new ideas.

So coming up later on the show in hour number two or later on

I guess this hour, we have Sean Fetaplace, National Campaign Director for Main Street Action on the budget reconciliation.

And now we don't know at the time of this recording, the day prior, government could be shut down tighter than an Aldebaran shellmouth today, or maybe somehow they found a way to work around it.

You know, at the time of this recording, 24 hours before, we're not exactly sure.

My guess is, if I were a betting man, and I'm not.

that the government is shut down.

So Sean Fetaplace, great guy, by the way, Sean, here's the thing about Sean Fetaplace.

He understands real world Wisconsin.

He understands that Wisconsin is unique in that it has some very urban areas like Milwaukee and Madison and some very rural areas, like where I'm from, Richland Center or Butternut, Wisconsin or Amory, that, and we all try to live here together.

And so you can't always explain things in a way that makes sense to people on the Isthmus of Madison.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld once said, but the way that people see things through their lens on the Isthmus of Madison is not always the way that people see it in other parts of the state.

But here's the thing.

There are some things such as health care.

And as someone who, and we'll talk about this later today on the show, as someone who spent time on badger care when I had no insurance, I was a small business person, went through periods of my life where I've had no healthcare.

You roll the dice, hope you don't break a leg, have a heart attack, whatever.

But Sean's gonna be here from Main Street Action and lay out for us, not yelling, not screaming, but very factually, hey.

If the government, federal government, cannot, in particular Republicans, by the way, because they control both houses of Congress and the executive branch, and for all intent and purposes, the judicial branch as well, that the Republicans wanted to get something passed, they would.

That's just the reality.

But clearly they don't.

I mean, Donald Trump has said before, he came out publicly

while Joe Biden was the president and said, I am responsible for killing the bipartisan immigration deal.

He said, and he wasn't even president then, right?

So if Donald Trump has the ability to control what Congress passes and doesn't pass when he's out of office, think how powerful he must be in his own party, especially when he is president of the United States.

So if Trump really wanted

the government to continue to be open, he would demand from his fellow Republicans in Congress, look, this is what you're gonna do, and if you don't, I'm gonna primary you and take you out, like he did on immigration.

But so far, as of this recording yesterday, at 1144 a.m., he has not done that, maybe by today, and would that be something if all this is for naught?

But that's speaking of gambling and rolling the dice, when you do these things this way, that's just the way it goes.

Regardless, I think it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sean's going to be here with, again, regardless whether the government's open or closed, really good information, also an update on many of their...

Members of the Main Street Alliance he's here today in his more political role as National Campaigns Director of the Main Street action group and then also today in the show and by the way I'm not exactly sure what who's gonna be an hour one hour two we've got Alex from the conservation Congress folks on on the Nelson Nelson Noel stewardship fund So that'll be great because again Nelson Noel stewardship fund a bipartisan

a piece of legislation that has been on for two decades did not get included in the bipartisan state budget between the Republican legislature and Democratic Governor Tony Evers.

And so conservation Congress folks and others are working to try to get this passed as a separate piece of legislation.

So we'll talk about that on this show as well.

And have no fear, by the way, even though we are coming to you

Tape delayed as they say We'll have a word for you today for the green and gold Text-to-In contest that is an hour number two fabulous cash and prizes Coming your way if the price is right in the multi-state green and gold Text-to-In contest Did I do that right?

Yes.

Yeah, we're good

They've cracked down, by the way.

This time around, the lawyers have gotten serious.

Look, we're in multiple states,

so we gotta be careful.

Right, they did not, they didn't, there was a lack of appreciation for my enthusiasm and sense of humor.

So I've been told I have to play it straight, which is particularly hard for me.

But you know, we all do our best.

The green and gold text to win multi-state contest.

Coming up an hour number two No jokes just facts all right, uh Also this half out about number four weeks our interview a second brand new interviews by we don't go anywhere brand new content I Want to talk about the brewers a little bit because who's hotter than the brewer and I people are getting snarky What's up with the brewers fans beans?

I had I had somebody on follows me on on Twitter and

And I made a comment about the Packers, the Sorry Packers.

I shouldn't say that.

I was just, the tie on Sunday night got to me and I tweeted something out like, you know, a tie, really?

Thank God we have the Brewers.

And somebody said, well, you must have been watching the Brewers lately.

I was like, actually, yes, today, this is on Sunday.

I said, yes, today I have 97 wins, franchise record, number one seed.

in the playoffs, best record of baseball, best record in the national league.

A group of, as Pat Murphy has called them, average Joe's coming together around friendship and the love of the game when nobody thought they could even win the central division in the national league.

Somehow finished as the number one team.

Now look, I get it.

They're a little banged up health wise.

particularly particularly the pitching and after they sewed up the postseason sewed up the buy Look, I mean, I can't imagine 162 games You're physically beat up You're probably a little mentally beat up and then to try to and they were facing the red that by the way They won the last game the season the Brewers did but they were facing the Reds who were fighting for their playoff lives against the Brewers meds meds Reds

One the first two Brewers were the last one So I'm not so hot on people being tough on the Brewers right now They got a week they got a week to recover because they got the buy They'll face the winner of the Padres and the Cubs in the wild card this week Gonna be watching that that's a boy.

I don't know I Some people are saying better to face the Cubs because they're not as a talented team

But then one of my buddies Rob reminded me well Inevitably it's gonna be like wriggly north on some of these.

I mean cubs fans are gonna find a way to sneak in and She can have a lot of cup probably fewer Padres fans in terms of you know, just the atmosphere But the Padres are probably on paper The better team some people are picking the Padres to get to the world series not me But many people are saying some people are saying some people are saying so I don't know

Yeah, I don't know who's the better team to face.

But I don't think the brewers necessarily thinking about that.

So because we can't take calls today, we'll be back with a live show tomorrow.

I want to talk a little bit about great article by J.R.

Radcliffe and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel here yesterday.

Headline, when do the brewers need to submit their playoff roster?

Here's what you need to know.

Then we used to say that a lot around here.

Here's what you need to know.

Not so much anymore, but we used to.

Radcliffe says we have a guess for which players the Milwaukee Brewers will include other 2025 playoff roster with the National League Division Series gets going October 4th in Milwaukee.

But we don't know the opportunity or the opponent yet.

And the Brewers have time to hash out their 26 man list.

Here's what to know about the deadline and rules for the playoff roster.

Roster's are due the morning of their first playoff games.

They don't technically

need to make that final call until October 4th.

And I think this is great because it gives Murphy and the entire organization time to look at who's really healthy.

Maybe some of the pitching staff have them throw a little bit, take a look at them physically.

How are they doing?

Next one, who's eligible to be on the 26 man playoff roster?

Will any player on the 40 man roster or the 60 day injured list

as of noon today.

Well, no, I'm sorry, as of noon, September 1st.

Pardon me, I missed for that.

So I have to go back a month.

As of noon, September 1st is eligible for the postseason.

That would include players who finished this season with a big league club, as well as some players who finished in the minors like Brandon Lockridge, Anthony Siegler, Craig Yoho, Tyler Black, also Carlos Rodriguez,

and others.

So there you go.

There's lots of possibilities out there.

Also includes pitcher Logan Henderson, who's eligible return from the 60 day list, October 3rd, right before the start of the division series.

A player who doesn't meet the criteria can still be added to the roster if he was in the organization by August 31st as replacing someone on the injured list who has already served the full term of the injured designation.

But they don't have any obvious players really who who will fix that list The big question is the Miz right is the Miz gonna make the post season roster We'll discuss that give me some details.

Don't go anywhere.

It is the last day of September 2025 glad to have you long on a Tuesday on the Civic Media Brady Network

Then

I saw her face Now I'm a believer in her

trace

to the Taliban show on the civic media-ready network now 22 minutes past the hour.

Glad to have you along here on the last day of September, September 30th, a Tuesday, Aaron Zommer's on the board.

Beautiful day across Southwest Wisconsin, Central Wisconsin, basically all of Wisconsin.

Gonna be hot this week, summer is a little Indian summer as they say, and then finally it sounds like by Saturday, perhaps fall will return to highs in the 60s.

in some parts of the state.

So soak it up.

If you're a summer person, if you're a baseball person, you're out there, those hot games this year during the summer at Ampham Field, enjoy it.

I'm enjoying a little anticipation to this weekend when the Brewers kick off the National League divisional series against either the Padres or the Cubs.

We'll see who comes through the wild card.

Although I do know, Todd, that you and I are both looking forward to cooler weather in that you're a big flannel guy.

I do.

I enjoy good flannel.

Yeah.

You can't really wear it this time of year.

Not really.

Well, I should say, what is this?

Hot.

But we'll see.

We'll see it.

Looking forward to getting the flannel out.

So here's the deal.

We're talking here before the break.

And by the way, in full disclosure, we pre-recorded today's show yesterday.

just because I'm helping out family stuff, not the major, but some family stuff and shuttle will be live from shuttle on Wednesday and Thursday tomorrow and, uh, and Thursday.

And so we're, we're talking about the brewers here and, and the run.

And you can hear this on many of our fine stations on the civic media radio network, including W R C E and Richland center, W I S S in Oshkosh, amongst others here on the civic media radio network.

Jeff Levering.

Gonna take you the rest of the way love him on the radio by the way so I'm talking about the the the roster the postseason roster and Pat Murphy the Brewers manager does not have to have that in until The day it starts or that are coming up later on this week on October 4th So here's another story from the Milwaukee Journal predicting the Milwaukee Brewers 26 man roster for the National League divisional series by Todd Rosick and Kurt Hogg

Thanks to their top seeding in the playoff field, Brewers will have five plus days to mull their roster for the National League Division Series before needing to get it locked in on October 4th.

So how's it going to end up looking, they ask?

Well, aside from maybe the final few spots on the bench and in the bullpen, the 26-man group appears to be pretty cut and dried at this point, with maybe the biggest question being, as Jacob Mizorowski, better known as the Miz,

shown enough to be included in what will likely be a nine-man bullpen.

The Brewers went into last year's wild card series against the New York Mets with 14 position players and 12 pitchers.

And when asked what he thought the breakdown will be for this year's NLDS, manager Pat Murphy indicated it'll probably be the same.

Quote, I think that's it.

Unquote.

He said of the 14-12 alignment.

Quote whether pitching injuries right now you'd be hard pressed to go 11 You get an extra innings game and you don't have enough length.

You're on thin ice doesn't mean you can't skate good, but it's thin ice on quote.

I Love Murphy's analogies like that.

I think that's like that's great his stories So here's kind of part of the the way that they had the break that the reporters Todd Rosek and and Rosiak and Kurt Hogg

break this down in terms of how they think it will all look.

So starting pitchers, they say, uh, Freddie Peralta, obviously, a Quinn preaster and Jose Quintana.

Those are the three starters for the brewers.

The post predicted, predicted relief pitching.

They have Trevor McGill, Milwaukee's closer all season.

McGill might see his role change after missing.

A month at the end of the season with a right flexor strain.

Amber Uribe, Jared Caning, Nick Mears, the Meerkat they've got in, Aaron Ashby, the Gogold Wonder.

I just like to look what he has those Goggle glasses on.

I think it's a it's very intimidating, I think for the, I don't know, I just think so.

DJ Hall, left-hander, was it a groove or once again injury struck?

This time, the right oblique strain that sidelined him for six weeks, like Ashby Hall can provide length while also pitching on shorter bursts when right.

Chad Patrick, they have down, they believe will be in the, in the final rotation in the bullpen.

Rob Strasinski, the career journeyman gets the nod as the fourth leftie and the final person.

Actually they did.

They had him the third from last.

The Miz, Jacob Mizorowski, despite having just one shaky relief appearance under his belt, the Miners, the Miz gets the nod because his stuff is simply too good to pass by.

Now, can he dial in his command?

That's what they ask.

Do you agree with those pitching rosters, Zonis?

I think so.

I'm especially excited to see Miz on there because he just has...

I don't know.

A lot of passion.

And when he is dialed in, he really, he really gets it.

I know Pat Murphy has talked before about, you know, he might have struggled in early innings, but as he kept going, he hones it in and strikes people out.

I mean,

I love how Murphy just kind of talks to him vicariously through the media, because you know that Mrs. other people are listening to this stuff.

A reporter said, what do you think?

On Sunday asked, Mrs. went in for what, two, three innings.

And he went in with, Murph put him out there.

with the bases loaded on Sunday.

And he ended up clearing the bases, but not by striking people.

It was, yeah.

And, uh, and still the reporter said, what do you think of Ms.

And Murph just said it like it is.

He said, didn't hold his water.

Didn't hold his water.

That's what Murph said of Ms.

So I, I, I.

Look, these guys, these reporters, Todd Rosiak and Kurt Hogg, they follow this team a lot more every single day, more than I do.

I'm gonna trust, I think they're probably right.

But boy, I think they're all, uh, until you how you see, see how he reacts as my old broadcast partner, Kevin O'Connor, fond of saying great potential.

Great potential for disaster not a disaster a great interview after this don't go anywhere right now farm news with Pam Yankee It is Tuesday, September 30th, and you're listening to the civic media ready to work

show on the Civic Media Radio Network, now 35 minutes past the hour.

Glad to have you along on this Tuesday here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Been a while, we're into fall or autumn, as some people like to say.

Been a while since we checked in on Wisconsin's Main Streets, and no better person to help us do that.

Then our next guest joins us here in Studio Sean Fetaplace, who is the National Campaign Director of Main Street Action.

Sean, how the heck are you?

Good.

How you doing?

I'm doing great.

This is my favorite time of year.

I get out to the orchards.

I get out to places like Wonder State Coffee, which I know is a member.

And it makes you feel better in this Dan Schaeferwood's day, these discombobulating times, to know that there are great things happening on Wisconsin's main streets.

That's correct.

Although I wish it was a little cooler so I could pop out the flannel.

But definitely exciting, exciting time of year.

Football.

You know, family time, it's really the best time of year.

It really is.

And I hope people, in my opinion, it is one of, I guess, my personal favorite time to get out.

There's so many great festivals going on.

And it's when you get into, you know, I'm a two-time loser in a Republican primary, first-aid assembly, but the two best things about doing that.

One, it reconnected me with my family and close friends because they came out and gave so much time on the campaign.

But also it took me to places.

I grew up in Richland Center in Southwest Wisconsin, but I was running the old 96 assembly district the first time.

And I never been to or at least spent time in some of these small towns and villages in Crawford and Vernon County.

And you realize, I think there are small business people are American and Wisconsin heroes that get up every day and bake bread and brew beer and grind coffee, roast coffee, and do all the things that keep our communities going that at least I at points in my life have taken for granted.

For sure.

And, you know, I really love those small towns.

especially up in sort of the Vernon, Richland area, hanging over to Kaston.

I've been lost many times late at night

on

those roads.

But there's a lot of really great things happening.

And I think that Vroqua is a good example because you have things like the Food Enterprise Center where

you

have a lot of small business owners who all make different kinds of things and they'll help each other out.

And there's this level of solidarity that exists amongst those business owners, especially in those smaller towns.

And it's up to all of us to make sure that they're able to stick around.

Yeah, absolutely.

And we'll spend more time on those individual businesses, hopefully here soon at a later date.

But I wanted to bring you on in your role as National Campaigns Director for Main Street Action, which is looking a little bit more at the policy and political side of this.

In fairness, we're taping this on the Friday before this Tuesday.

Congress is scheduled to come back into session.

We'll see whether they could come to an agreement to keep the government open or not.

But regardless whether they stay open or whether there is a government shutdown, there are some real life implications going on in Wisconsin businesses as to what happens in Washington, DC.

The narrative by my former party, Maga, I know I was number Maga, but Republican Party, is that this is all about quote-unquote undocumented or their words not mine, illegals getting health care benefits, which you and I both know simply doesn't happen.

That is a false narrative.

It's a flat out lie.

And that's what they want to make this about.

But Sean, explain what this is really about.

And more importantly or as importantly, particularly when it comes to healthcare, what are the real life implications to Wisconsinites?

So there's two major deadlines.

The first is a lot of attention that's been spent on cuts to Medicaid.

However, most of that's going to be phased in over a couple of years because of ways that the state budget interacts with the federal government.

The Affordable Care Act marketplace, which currently ensures tens of millions of people all around the country, including many people here in Wisconsin,

It is a product of the Affordable Care Act.

The marketplace is a product of that.

People get subsidies to be able to afford their health insurance.

And there's been some progress made recently during the Biden administration with the Inflation Reduction Act and the Rescue Plan.

They did make it quite a bit more affordable.

There's still more work to do.

But what the congressional Republicans did during their big, ugly, no good law that they negotiated is that they essentially gutted.

those subsidies, that healthcare to pay for tax cuts.

And the numbers are horrifying.

So for a 60 year old couple making 80 grand a year combined, so that's 40 grand each, which is below the national average, below the average in Wisconsin, their premiums will go up at $18,000 a year.

It's 75% on average.

And so most folks listening to this think about how much you pay for your health care every month.

And imagine that almost doubling.

And so this is absolutely ridiculous.

The projections out of 4 million people in the first year will lose coverage completely.

Tens of millions of people will see their prices go up.

And here in Wisconsin, just the ECA cuts, there's as many as 150,000 people will lose coverage.

And so that's what we're trying to stop.

right now, and congressional Republicans and the president have both refused to negotiate.

But because it's a budget bill, they need 60 votes.

So they need to come to the table and negotiate over this.

We hear this term thrown out, of course, is CR continuing resolution versus actually passing the budget cut.

Is there a way that they could have fewer people get on board for continuing resolution, or they still need that 60 when it comes to in the Senate?

They still need that 60 unless they get rid of the filibuster completely.

The nuclear option, as it's called.

Yeah.

And that still seems unlikely at this point.

There's still some opposition, even within the GOP on that.

And so it really, in the end, you know, the government right now, so since this is being taped ahead of time, I'll actually be at the capital

as folks are airing.

There's both.

you know, leader Jeffries, leader Schumer, the congressional Democrats, they're trying to get the Republicans to come to the table to talk about this.

And as of midnight tonight, we're going to be an effective government shutdown as of Tuesday.

And so we hope to avoid that.

We hope to come to the table between now and then, but it's also going to be very obvious.

you know, who shut down the government if it comes to that.

We're talking to Sean Fetaplace, the National Campaigns Director for Main Street Action.

Glad to have you along here on this Tuesdays.

We record a couple of days ahead of time.

We'll be back with a live show tomorrow.

Sean, let's talk a little bit more about this healthcare side of it because, you know, I own a couple of different coffee shops here.

I've gone years without having healthcare.

And one of those times I was on a simple medication and I needed to go into the doctor to have it re-upped, the new prescription.

I went in, I was in the office for less than 10 minutes.

The doctor never laid hands on me, never checked anything, just had to basically talk to me for like six, seven minutes, signed the prescription, walked out.

And this was eight, 10 years ago, the bill was $475.

that I've had to pay out of pocket to meet with a doctor and the prescription cost me 35.

And so I think as I travel around Wisconsin, there's a lot of stories like that.

And you're calling it appropriately so, Affordable Care Act.

A lot of people know it as Obamacare.

And I think in some people's minds that politicizes it and the Republicans in MAGA and

President Trump have used that in a negative connotation to write a false narrative.

But I also know a lot of people in this state that voted for Donald Trump, who if not for Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, I don't think it's overstating that my saying they'd be dead.

Yeah, we actually had a member and I feel comfortable sharing this because she shared it publicly.

Kitty Rose, she's the co-owner of Goodtind in Bayview in Milwaukee.

She got a cancellation letter from common ground.

This was folks may have seen this in the news I believe it was 11 counties that they cancelled coverage in and they cancelled that coverage You know if you read through the lot between the lines of the cancellation letter it they talked about the national environment trends They didn't say the big beautiful bill, but right and it's because if younger healthier people

get priced out, they'll just drop coverage.

And then you're stuck with older sicker people in the system and it just becomes more expensive and not profitable at all for the insurance companies so they cancel coverage.

That's why typically they do it.

And Katie got this cancellation letter and then two days later found out that she had something that potentially could have been cancerous.

So she had to go in, get surgery done.

She actually came and spoke in an event with Senator Baldwin the very next day, which I did not.

push her to do.

I was just like, take care of yourself, recover all that.

But she felt compelled to speak out because if she hadn't been insured, when that happened, she may have not known.

And so that's, I think, really, really important for people to understand is that, wow, there's still a lot of work to do in terms of making healthcare more affordable.

And certainly there's a lot of middlemen in the system.

There's a lot of lack of transparency of pricing.

There's a lot of forms that could be done to make the healthcare system work better.

But, you know, stripping health care away from people doesn't achieve that.

No, I don't know.

Well, Sean was telling that great story.

Now I got to go down, Sean.

I was going through my wallet here.

My wallet.

It looks like a George Costanza wallet.

It's way too much.

But I still carry with me, even though I'm not on it anymore, as simply like a reminder, here's my forward health BadgerCare card.

That I was on that when I owned my own coffee shop.

And I think my premiums were, I don't know, $170, $180 a month for a very basic, but hey, if I would have had something catastrophic, it would have saved me financially.

But to your point, there's a lot of people that have this card, their wallet shown across Wisconsin.

And if not for this, they would go bankrupt if they had a major health care thing.

Talk about the, again, the increase in premiums, people paying

100 something, 200 something, maybe for a family, I don't know if it's three, I don't have a family, but talk about this.

Just the increase, if this doesn't get negotiated in Washington, if Republicans and Donald Trump continue this false narrative, how are people in Wisconsin gonna be able to afford this?

I just wanna note that the father of Badger Care was Tommy Thompson.

And so this is an issue that has been bipartisan before and should be.

Um, as far as the increases, so, uh, on average, if you look at, uh, more rural parts of the state,

uh,

they're getting hit worst in terms of the, the cuts and representative Derek Von Orden's district in Western Wisconsin, which is a beautiful part of the state.

I love that part of the state.

Um, the.

Average cut is the average increase in prices for people buying coverage will be $5,000 and you know, that's that's a huge expense and it also Is happening so open enrollment starts November 1st and the new rates go into effect January 1st This is in this is like impending now and so it's really important and you know you hear congressional Republicans say oh well We can negotiate this after the CR they're gonna run out of time and by then rates will be

baked in essentially the insurance companies already increase the rate and that's the thing to know too is not just the premiums going down but because of impacts of the big ugly bill the underlying cost of the insurance is also going up so it's going in both directions which will make it even worse and so you know I would just ask people to think about how would you afford another $5,000 expense

per year, you know, that's what 450 ish a month.

You know, I know I certainly couldn't afford that.

And I think a lot of folks couldn't either.

I

couldn't agree more.

I'll tell you, if this had happened while I was a small business owner, I would have just rolled the dice yet again and said, I can't pay that.

How do I keep my electricity on in my apartment?

How do I have even, you know, generic groceries with food costs going up right now?

I mean, people are gonna have, we hear this all the time, people call in, I'm making a choice between healthcare and food.

And if what happens, as you described happens, in my opinion, agree or disagree, there's gonna be people just saying, I'm gonna go without healthcare.

Right, and one thing I would say is that during the negotiations around the,

big, ugly law, otherwise known as the big, beautiful bill.

I refuse to call it that.

Representative Van Orden in a town hall, tell a town hall, said that he would oppose the measure if it cut rural health care.

He said that in black and white and, you know, he lied.

And so ultimately it's up to all of us to make sure people know this is happening, that we do have a chance to stop it, but it's going to require everyone telling their story.

over the course of the next week.

We're going to come back to talk more about Main Streets, about health care and the impacts on Wisconsinites with Sean Fett of Place, National Campaigns Director for Main Street Action.

Stay with us.

You're listening to the Todd Allball Show for a Tuesday across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

civicmedia.us.

On this Tuesday, glad to have you along with us as our guest this half hour here in studio.

Always love it when that happens.

Sean Fetaplace, the National Campaigns Director of Main Street Action.

At least that's you have a lot of hats you wear, Sean.

I do.

I have three and maybe maybe a couple more.

Dad, husband and packer van

packer van.

Absolutely.

And we're recording this on the Friday before so we don't know.

But let's hope.

that that Micah Parsons takes some revenge out on Jerry Whirl and Dallas.

Yeah, I mean, I nothing is DAC, but Jerry Jones would be nice to get the chickens to come home to Rooster for him a little bit.

100 percent.

Yeah.

Speaking of the chickens coming home to Rooster before the break there, talking a little bit about the implications of what's going on in Washington, D.C.

today on on Tuesday for the listeners who are listening today.

I know you're going to be out in D.C.

today on this Tuesday regarding the government potential government.

and shut down the implications.

And before the break, you talked about Derek Van Orton of the Third Congressional District, who had pledged and said that he would not vote for something, legislation that would hurt rural Wisconsinites when it came to healthcare, and his actions speak louder than his thousands of tweets, simply not true.

That's right.

And I think that ultimately,

He has talked a lot about, um, that it hasn't cut healthcare.

It's just nonsense.

And in fact, um, Speaker Johnson said that they're not coming into session, that they're essentially not doing their job.

So I don't know where he is at the moment, but he's probably back home, uh, continuing to sit on his phone instead of meeting with voters.

I have to say, if I would be very annoyed if I was his campaign manager or Speaker

Johnson, yeah,

I just like, I don't know what the.

other than tweeting all day.

I don't know what the guy does.

And, you know, we at Mature Action, we joined an organization called Battleground Alliance that's focused heavily on holding

representative in order accountable for his vote to gut health care.

And so we actually have a billboard up right now on the north side of La Crosse.

We have digital ads running as well with people's personal stories.

Some of you that your listeners might know, Karine Hendrickson, who we actually brought on as a contractor to do some work with us over in that district to get people's stories on health care and ultimately just make sure that he's hearing from the people of his district, you know, many, many people.

Both this week and in the weeks ahead are gonna be cancer getting cancellation notices They're gonna be getting rate increase letters and it sure would be nice to deliver those to him because he's the one who made that happen

I love this strategy because I think it's fair and I realized in politics not everything can always be fair I think this strategy is fair because it's taking real people stories and saying look this is a campaign hyperbole to use a Joe Biden word This is real.

These are real people stories and they're tragic

And we're seeing this in agriculture now with soybean farmers, other people in agriculture say, wait, time out.

I voted for this guy because he was going to make it better.

And now he's talking about approving subsidies for me because it's actually worse.

And we all know what happened in Trump 1.0 in the first term when that happened.

Now we're moving into, I hate to say this because we're just into October, but yes, it's the holidays are upon us.

If you look at the displays, people are going to be buying holiday gifts.

And now because of the Trump tariffs, prices are going up.

Kids costumes are going to be more expensive.

You look at...

the amount of things in the holiday season are going to be a lot more expensive.

A lot of the reason why tariffs haven't shown up in the economic data as much as maybe people expected, because a lot of people were selling existing inventory.

They were selling through that.

They were trying to absorb the price increase and that dam's starting to break, so to speak.

And so as we enter that season,

which is the really important time for a lot of these small businesses to be able to break even for the year.

You know, they're seeing their prices go up.

You're going to see your prices go up.

And ultimately, you know, when you talk about the soybean farmers, China's not buying those soybeans.

And there's a talk now of bailing out the farmers.

Well, just don't do the tariffs.

I mean, it's, I mean, it's honestly like if you talked with an economist with their salt that.

Doing tariffs and then giving a subsidy to that same person for the impact of those stairs is literally the worst possible economic policy you can have It because it creates all sorts of bad incentives and you know these farmers not only are not able to sell their product But their health insurance is being cut their pharmaceutical companies prices Trump just announced 100% tariff on that if you need to get

uh, now it's apparently, uh, like bathroom furniture and stuff and like armors that

there

was some announcement yesterday.

And, and the thing that's really, uh, terrible about the tariffs other than price increases, it's ripe for corruption.

Oh

yeah.

Um, you know, if you're, you've got folks who are donating, you got folks who are, or slick.

lobbyists in DC, you know, they can go to the White House and try to get an exemption.

And that's what happened with like Zuckerberg and Apple and a lot of those companies.

And so it's really bad.

And ultimately for the American people and for folks heading into the holiday season, I would encourage everyone to patronize your small businesses and understand that they're going through this just as much as you are.

That's a great point.

Only about a minute and a half left here.

But

It is secular, right?

Like when you buy from a local business, those are the same people who are sending their kids to the local public schools.

They're volunteering sometimes for fire departments or first responders in our communities.

And those dollars do keep the community going.

So if and where we can, I second staying away from the big box store, pay a couple of extra bucks at your local small business because it'll come back tenfold.

Exactly.

And I'll have a few holiday recommendations.

Please.

Middle left.

Go ahead.

I'm addicted to fortune favors.

Nuts.

They're very, very good.

They're

best year Madison.

Yes.

Because they

changed

the name.

Yeah, they did.

It was not crack.

And they

decided.

I love

that.

Yeah.

They're just like,

oh,

maybe this is a little bit

more of a better fit.

You know, coffee's a good

thing.

So, Wednesday

coffee is great.

definitely patronize your local restaurants.

Ahan is a personal favorite here is an absolutely amazing place.

And just like go to the places that you, if you're thinking about going out there and going to the mall or going to Best Buy or whatever, not to sound like a hater, but just don't like go to those local businesses that need your help and be willing to pitch in a few more books.

And I would just say

For your listeners, Raygun T-shirts just open the location on State Street.

They are an amazing company, and they're union printed, and definitely check them out.

Love it.

Sean Fetaplace, Main Street Action National

Campaigns Director.

Thank you, my friend.

We'll talk to you soon.

Thank you.

Always a pleasure.

Stay tuned.

Hour number two is straight ahead, including our green and gold text-to-win contest.

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