On Veterans Day and the ACA w/ Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez (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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Afternoon, everybody, Todd Alba, along with Mr. Aaron Zummers, our producer and engineer on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Tuesday, November 11th, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite.

Welcome in, everybody, on this Veterans Day.

Happy Veterans Day and thank you, our gratitude to all the men and women who have worn the uniform, not just in the state of Wisconsin, but all across the country and around the world, representing and protecting the United States of America.

Live here from the world headquarters in downtown Madison of Civic Media at the intersection of state and fair child, a beautiful day, Aaron Zamers.

Should we take a look at the quickly the old Sam Davison street cam?

Look at that.

Beautiful out there.

Sun is shining across golden leaves here on State Street as a bus just ran a red light.

No, not really.

I believe it is following the traffic thing also.

We're all fine there, Aaron, but we went over to Wonder State.

Got a little coffee before the show is over.

So it's a beautiful fall day.

Very much so.

And you know, it's not crazy windy.

You're not going to get knocked over walking across the street.

I think it's supposed to warm up into the upper 50s.

Pertner, as they say, hits 60 before tapering back off this weekend.

That's what I've seen.

It's that

time of year.

It's that time of year.

It's a fall time of year.

Great show lined up 40 today.

I invite you to stay with us the entire time.

I think you're going to be informed and hopefully a little entertained as well.

You learn something along the way.

It is Veterans Day.

We have, for those watching the stream, Facebook, YouTube, what used to be Twitter, X, Twix, whatever you want to call it.

We have an American flag on the set here behind us in remembrance and thanksgiving to all those who served.

And I'm going to be talking about Veterans Day here with our friend Terry Barr in just a moment.

And then at the bottom of the hour, after Pam Yankee's Midwest Farm Report,

a very special guest in person.

We love it when that happens here in the studio.

We have Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez is going to be in, and maybe the most interesting title that she has today is Registered Nurse.

That's right, our Lieutenant Governor is a Registered Nurse, and so she understands healthcare particularly well from a personal level.

She is gonna be here helping us talk through and understand the ramifications on Wisconsinites.

after what's happening with the government shutdown in Washington DC and the refusal by Republicans thus far to extend the tax credits for the Affordable Care Act better known as Obamacare and what that means to Wisconsinites how they can navigate that and oh yes by the way she's running for Wisconsin governor will catch up with her on the campaign trail as well that's coming up at the bottom of the hour but right now we are joined by our friend our colleague she

So gracious enough to be at the announcer for this show, but more importantly she's a multi Excuse me multi Emmy award-winning journalist our very own Terry Barr joins us of you a stream yard Terry.

How are you?

Hi there, Todd and Zomers.

It's great to be here with you guys.

Thank you for asking me to join you and I'm doing great.

How about both of you?

I'm doing well.

Thank you.

It's always great to have you along.

You're one of our favorite people and you've been with us since the beginning and I appreciate the support on this show and all you do for us.

And Shelly Pittman, our news director, she works so hard every day and sends us internally what's going on in the company.

And I didn't realize this until I read Charlie's memo today.

I came upon this, this reporting that you have done on Veterans Day and the link has to Wisconsin.

And I'm like, holy crap, I got to see if Terry would come on the show and you were kind enough to do it on short notice.

So thank you for doing this.

Oh, it is no problem.

And honestly, it is my honor to be able to share this story with you and all the things I found out about this Wisconsin connection that seems to have been lost to history a bit.

So I'm glad that we are able to share this with all the listeners and those watching on all the various streams and things.

This, this is a good story.

It's a little known story, a little known history, a man named Harvey Higley.

Tell us, Terry, how did you come to report this?

to write on it.

Did you know about this?

How do you come to find it?

Well, it's one of those where you're digging and digging because you want something different.

You want to be able to tell somebody else's Veterans Day story, but not, you know, the same way maybe you've done it in the past.

So as I was digging, I found out the Wisconsin Alumni Association had also been doing a little digging to try to find different stories about people in every single county of the state.

And some ended up having some interesting Veterans Day stories.

So here we go.

Here comes Harvey.

Higley from Marinette County.

He went to UW Madison and then Todd Prichard with the Wisconsin Alumni Association was kind enough to give me the first part of the history about Harvey.

Let's take a listen to that.

Honestly, the background here is incredible.

What can you tell us about Harvey Higley?

Yeah, Harvey is an amazing guy and has an impact on us.

every year and nobody knows about it.

So, a little background.

Harvey graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1915 and just two years later he found himself in the battlefields of France.

He went over for World War I and it left such an indelible impression on him.

The bravery, the sacrifice of those Americans that went over to fight in World War I, he never forgot that.

He never forgot the horrors that he saw there, the bravery, and it really became just embedded in the rest of his life.

So he survived the war, he came back, he worked for Ansel Chemical in Marinette for many, many years, and later became the president.

But he never forgot the men that he saw so bravely fight in World War I.

So he really dedicated the rest of his life to helping those men and women and making sure that they weren't forgotten.

He went on to become the, he was the commander of the American Legion in Wisconsin right at the beginning of World War II.

He was part of the Eisenhower administration.

He became the

the administrator of Veterans Affairs and he took on that role right as the World War II was ending, right?

I think he became part of that administration in 1953.

He took on that role right as World War II obviously had ended and the Korean War was still going on.

So that was the time in American history where we had the most veterans

to take care of.

And unfortunately, there were a lot of financial issues going on in the country.

We had just fought a major war.

We're still in another war, right?

And so he really fought hard to make sure that those veterans got the benefits that they were promised and that they deserved.

That's Todd Pritchard with Wisconsin Alumni Association on the life of Harvey Higley and being reported by our Emmy Award winning journalist Terry Barr.

Terry, and I want to remind people that this entire interview is over 10 minutes long.

They can find this entire story in the interview at civicmedia.us where this is the entire thing is.

What a remarkable background here on a guy that I didn't know existed until you're reporting.

I mean, I said incredible as I was talking to Todd about this story.

And it really is.

I was so glad that he and I could kind of dive into this together to see what we could both dig up.

And then when we found that tie into UW Madison, it just became a great story for Todd and I to share together.

You know, Harvey, while he was the administrator of Veterans Affairs, he's also the one that created and had the bill signed for the GI Bill so that people could go back

to school when they returned from service.

He also made sure the veterans' hospitals would allow African-American soldiers in for treatment.

So he did a lot of things, but then he also took aim, if you will, at November 11th.

And there's a little history behind this too, so I'll have Aaron play that for us.

This is Todd Pritchard, the Wisconsin Alumni Association, on how Harvey Higley picked November 11th.

Yeah, so Terry, he ended up, he thought, how can we really dedicate a day to veterans?

And there wasn't anything like that, right?

So November 11th for 50 plus years was always known as Armistice Day.

It was the day that World War I ended.

If you're a history buff like me, you probably remember learning in school.

It was the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

But it was always known as farmers to stay.

It was a day to remember the end of World War One.

But there was no day to honor veterans.

So he felt like, you know, this needs to be in our vernacular that we use these days.

It needs to be rebranded.

It needs to be changed.

We need to reframe this day to make sure that we're remembering the men and women who have sacrificed throughout American history.

So.

He got together with a Congressman from Kansas, Ed Reese.

Through Congressman Reese's influence, and then of course Harvey Higley's continued influence with the Eisenhower administration, they got together and created a bill to change Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

And that's what we celebrate now every year.

Todd Pritchard of the Wisconsin Alumni Association in conversation with our own Terry Barr, who joins us via StreamYard here.

Terry, the more I hear in this interview about this guy, Harvey Higley, I mean, this should be, maybe I failed, maybe I didn't pay attention in my Wisconsin history class, but to think about, here's a guy who helped start the GI Bill, who integrated people of color into Veterans Affairs and getting services.

And now being so integral in making Veterans Day the name, as he said, the brand, wow.

And it all comes from Wisconsinite.

Yes, absolutely.

And we talked about when Todd and I from Wisconsin Alumni Association were talking, he said too, and I agree, the more that we could find about Harvey Higley, the more

couldn't believe the things he did to help veterans and of course he was one himself but he just believes so much that these people that have gone and you know served our country and we are so grateful to them.

He just didn't think they had enough.

So I just love this story.

I'm so glad that we were able to dig out a Wisconsin piece and to be able to share this with everybody.

It's just so great.

And

I feel bad, Todd, because Todd Pritchard said,

Many people have known nothing about this.

He's not mentioned in the museum in Wisconsin.

And now I think Todd is hoping that maybe we can get attention to this.

And not only can he be remembered in his hometown of Marinette, but in Wisconsin as well.

And we're going to end through Terry's great work here reporting.

We're going to continue this story and find out why this has been overlooked.

Todd Pritchard will tell us that on the other side.

Going into break and out of break for this hour, we are going to be playing all of the

service academy songs as our bumper music as they say so the first one up here is to honor our veterans in the united state army as we go to break in honor of all those that served in the army stay tuned the title of all show continues here on the civic media ready network along with our own terry bars we think of and honor all of our veterans on this veterans day 2025

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Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

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on the 7th media radio network on this Veterans Day 2025.

We honor all of the service academies and the branches of the military on this Veterans Day.

As long as that was the Navy, is that correct?

Yes, anchors away performed by the US Navy band.

All right, very good.

Thank you, Thomas.

Appreciate him on top of it.

As always, we're also joined by our friend, our colleague, the Emmy, a multiple Emmy Award winning journalist, Ms.

Terry Barr joins us on the stream.

We're so thankful to have her as a part of this show and a part of this network.

She has done extraordinary reporting, bringing us, in her terms, a slice of Wisconsin on this Veterans Day.

You can please go to civicmedia.us to read this story.

It's called Rediscovering a Wisconsin Man's Story.

He gave us

Veterans Day is the story of Harvey Higley.

And Terry, I just wanted to start with a point or a question from a listener.

Scott in Madison on WMDX says, I'm a bit confused.

So this guy basically created Veterans Day as a Wisconsinite, but Wisconsin still doesn't recognize it as a federal holiday.

And we're the only ones.

You point this

out,

Terry.

That's correct.

Yeah.

49 states are celebrating their actual state

as a Veterans Day holiday today.

But Wisconsin, no.

There is a bill in front of lawmakers right now that includes a couple of other measures that would also be for veterans care, but it's sitting there, Todd.

I mean, I'm

all for the state mineral, the state microbe now and all this.

Let's have Veterans Day be an official holiday first.

That would be my take on that.

And we might know more about

Harvey Higley if we had Veterans Day in Wisconsin because he's not recognized anywhere except for making it a national holiday.

That's incredible.

Let's get to this.

We'll make sure we get to it.

More of your interview with the Todd Pritchard, the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

I have something too that's really fun that's in the story that I dug up.

President Eisenhower wrote Higley.

a note and basically said I want to let you know I signed the proclamation today and I'm calling upon all citizens to observe November 11th 1954 as Veterans Day and he said I wholeheartedly believe in observing this

and

what a good note to get from the president to know what you did is meaningful but again the question is how have we not known about this?

Absolutely.

Here's worth Todd Pritchard and Terry Barr.

You know, that's that's a great question, Terry.

I think that sometimes that happens with history.

Sometimes there are these people, these moments that that kind of fade into the background.

And we at the Alumni Association, we love telling stories about our alumni, discovering what our alumni have done.

And this was part of a project that we we were looking at.

Different alumni that we could highlight from around the state and we were looking for folks out of Marinette County that had the alumni that had an impact.

So when the story of Harvey came up, he left a pretty major footprint.

You know, like I said, he was a commander for the American Legion.

He was the Republican chair for Wisconsin, chair of the Republican Party here in Wisconsin for many, many years.

So it wasn't like he was unknown.

And of course his work in Marinette County.

in the private sector, people know about that.

He was a humble man.

He didn't step into the limelight very often.

These days, we're in a whole different world where people are always, you know, tuning their horn for better or worse.

You know, Harvey was, it wasn't about him.

It was about the honor and the sacrifice that he wanted to remember every year.

And so I just think it kind of got lost because, you know, Harvey just didn't make a very big deal about it.

But of course, it's become such an important day now.

And even as time went on, you know, it became even more important.

Obviously, we went through the Korean War.

We went through Vietnam.

We went through, we've gone through the Gulf War.

There are all these veterans who deserve to be honored.

their sacrifice remembered right and and so long after Harvey Harvey passed away in I believe in 1986 but long after he's gone this day will be ingrained in our culture a way to remember every veteran so yeah lost to history re-found

That is Todd Pritchard from Wisconsin Alumni Association in conversation with Terry Barr, who joins us right now on the story of Harvey Higley, a Wisconsinite that Terry, in my opinion, we should be putting a statue up for this guy.

Isn't it incredible?

It is.

It's incredible.

That's like my best word to describe this whole thing.

after digging into it with and he does.

He deserves to be remembered because he puts so much time in to make sure that all of our military members are always remembered and honored.

I love what you're saying, Todd.

Maybe we can all get together and mix.

Something

happened.

Well, we have our next guest Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez.

You might be able to do something about that.

So we've asked her about that Terry great reporting as always I thank you

for taking

the time to coming

on this

on the show on short notice I hope everybody goes to civic media dot US and reads rediscovering a Wisconsin man's story He gave us veterans stay this the day of the story of Harvey Higley by our own Terry Barr Awesome job Terry.

Thank you so very much.

Really appreciate it

And thank you, and Zomers, I just, I'm so appreciative to both of you for wanting to share this story.

Absolutely, our pleasure.

We go into break with another salute to one of our services, Air Force, the official song of the Air Force, the branch of the military on this Veterans Day.

Come on back after farm news, Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez right here talking about the Affordable Care Act and Veterans Day.

More after this across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Ready Network.

you

radio network 35 minutes now past the hour of 2 o'clock.

Glad to have you along on this Veterans Day 2025.

Of course, the 11th.

of November, 2025.

We are honoring all the branches of our military this hour on this Veterans Day.

That, of course, is the very recognizable theme of the US Marine Corps.

So probably my personal favorite one.

And one of our favorite people to have on this show, she's been on several times before.

We appreciate her making time for us in the state of Wisconsin on this Veterans Day.

Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor, Sara Rodriguez, joining us here in studio.

We love it when that happens.

Lieutenant Governor, thanks for coming on.

Happy Veteran's Day to everyone.

Yeah, thank you for having me.

It's our pleasure, and we were talking to Terry Barr, our colleague here just before on the story of this guy, and for those not watching on the stream.

I brought up to the Lieutenant Governor.

I said, have you heard of this guy, Harvey Higley?

And she said, oh, that's the guy that went from Armistice to Veterans Day.

This is why she's the Lieutenant Governor, you understand?

So you've heard about this

guy.

I did.

I usually, yeah, I have heard about him.

I can't remember where I learned it from.

Maybe it was school.

Maybe it's a good Wisconsin education.

A public education, right?

So the quick question is, and we talked about this Terry, Wisconsin's the only state

in the union that doesn't recognize Veterans Day as a state holiday, can we get that changed?

Yes.

Yes, we should get it changed.

Absolutely.

Yes, we should get it changed.

I'm also the state mucklin' and all that stuff,

but shouldn't we be doing this

first?

I know, I know.

There's many things that I think we can do to honor our veterans in the state of Wisconsin, and that is one of the things that we should be able to do.

You said you came from one of your favorite events earlier of the year.

One of the things you get to do as a lieutenant governor, tell us what that is.

So I went to a Veterans Day event, and the gentleman who put it on, Mr. Otto, is 93 years old, and he is

a veteran and he's been doing it at this school for over 25 years.

Every year he has been putting on this amazing Veterans Day event.

So the kids sing songs, he invites veterans from the community in and the kids make gifts for the veterans and then they have a different speakers come in and I've been able to do it the last three years in a row.

I would never ever want to disappoint Mr. Otto.

Absolutely not.

But isn't that one of the cool things?

Because I remember being in middle school and particularly high school in Richland Center, and we would have these school assemblies.

And you would have, at that time, back in the 80s, we still had World War I and two veterans up there.

And now, certainly not World War I, but even our World War II veterans are getting scarce.

the younger generations to appreciate the sacrifices made by the men and women.

I think that's still important.

I absolutely think it's still important.

And it is personal for me.

My dad served in the Navy during Vietnam, came home, you know, fixed telephones for Wisconsin Bell, but his service was so important to him.

He was post commander of his American Legion post.

I kind of joke, I knew more about flag protocol at eight years old than any child should possibly know.

But yeah, he was also on the honor guard for military funeral.

I mean, this was service and sacrifice was really, really important to him.

According to Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, there are approximately 331,340 veterans in the state of Wisconsin.

Makes up about 7.4% of the state's adult population.

That's from World War II until now.

Again, there's veterans of the state dealing with homelessness or housing problems.

Can the state, should the state be doing, if you were governor in a future Rodriguez administration, what would be your goals to helping Wisconsin veterans?

So right now, even the budget we have right now, there were about $500 million in investments into veterans, whether that's housing, healthcare, some of the veterans' homes that we were able to keep funded.

But we need to do more.

We also need to make sure that we have mental health funding for veterans.

We know that when they come back into, you know, coming back into civilian life, it can be a really difficult transition for them.

So trying to make sure they have the resources that they need to get jobs that we are able to have programs that acknowledge the skills that they've been able to get within the military.

And how does that transfer into civilian life?

We've been working with a couple of different philanthropies who are trying to make sure that

we can have military veterans become nurses.

We know that there's a huge need for nurses in the state of Wisconsin.

And you've got individuals who have a skill set from the military.

Why can't they apply some of that into a bachelor's degree in nursing?

100% as my aunt was a long time OB-GYN nurse here at St.

Mary's of Madison.

So I have a special place for registered nurses of which you are one.

I am.

To me today, no offense, but...

The most important title you bring to the show today is not Lieutenant Governor, but that of registered nurse.

Yeah.

And I know that there are, I've had texts from people already today saying, I want to listen into this because of the goofiness, my words, happening in Washington, D.C.

with the government shut down, largely Republicans not wanting to find a solution forward.

But now Democrats were holding out to try to get an extension of tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Now it seems like

There was eight Democrats that said we're moving forward without that.

U.S.

Senator Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin put a bill or a motion on the floor yesterday to extend it for one year.

That got shot down.

And there's a, as you well know, Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez, there's a lot of apprehension.

I heard from one person today who I know who is on the Affordable Care Act.

He said, Todd, I know it's sitting in my inbox.

I'm scared to look at what it's going to go up to.

Yeah, what would what would you say to people across the state?

What should they do at this point?

It was so Disappointing and frustrating for me.

I did put a statement out about it that I really think that they should have held the Republicans feet to the fire to make sure that these subsidies were gonna continue because you're looking at a hundred percent increase They're doubling their premiums on the marketplace and these are small business owners.

These are independent contractors These are folks who aren't getting their insurance through their employer and they're gonna have to pay so

much more money that many of them are going to choose to go without health insurance.

And if you think that does not affect you and me, who may be on a commercial plan through our employer, it absolutely does.

Because when we have less people insured, they're going to go to the emergency department when they're way sicker than they need to be.

And those costs are going to be borne by everybody across the state.

So it is going to be increasing health care costs for every single person in Wisconsin.

If they do not, make sure that those

of cities continue to exist.

And you and I would probably see mostly eye to eye on the politics of this.

But I think for most Wisconsinites, for what I'm hearing, as you travel around the state, and you've been traveling around the state running for governor next year,

I think the average gal and guy would be like, I don't care.

This is why I'm sick of politics.

Nothing gets done, but I got to figure out my health care for this year.

As a registered nurse who works with this every day, what's your, I know you're not giving people legal advice, but what's your best advice as a nurse, as a lieutenant governor of this state?

The reality is, it is what it is.

These premiums probably aren't going to change now.

What can people do to afford health care in this state?

It's going to be a huge problem for folks.

And I do think that they need to call their federal representatives to let them know how much this is going to hurt their families.

I would caution people not to go without health insurance because you never know if you're going to have that accident.

You never know what's going to be happening in the future.

And you want to make sure that you are being taken care of for your chronic condition so they don't become more serious later and cost a whole lot more.

There are clinics out there that

work with you on a sliding scale fee.

There's federally qualified health centers within most parts of the states of Wisconsin, so if people are struggling to be able to afford what they need, working with those health centers is something that they can do as well.

But the reality is, is that this is a failure of the Republican leadership.

in the federal government to not extend these subsidies.

It is an absolute failure.

And it not only is going to affect people's health care, but it's going to affect the economy in the state of Wisconsin.

So if you think about it, if you're not taking care of your diabetes, if you're not taking care of your high blood pressure, are you going to be able to work?

40 hours a week.

Are you going to be able to do what you need to do to support your family?

So these are they going to be all, I know it feels like it's just about healthcare, but these are pillars that are holding up our community and we knock one of those over.

The other pillars are going to fall.

We're talking to Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez.

She also happens to be running for governor next year.

We're going to get to the campaign here in a bit, but I want to talk a little bit more about this Affordable Care Act or Obamacare in the state

of

Wisconsin.

Last time I checked and.

Bob Lang is the head of the fiscal bureau of the state of Wisconsin, nonpartisan fiscal.

I haven't talked to Bob lately.

Last I knew, the state still had around a four billion-ish surplus.

I think some Wisconsinites are saying, okay, why doesn't Governor Evers do something?

I know this is a feeling out here, because they see Trump do this all the time or do things they assigned.

Why doesn't the governor assign an executive order to take part of that $4 billion and make up the difference for Obamacare, Wisconsin?

So unfortunately, he doesn't have that ability to be able to do that.

So we have a Republican-led Senate, a Republican-led Assembly, and they were even unwilling to go into that surplus when we were looking at people not having their food share benefits, where we were taking

literal food out of children's mouths this last month.

And they didn't even want to use the dollars for that.

So that that's upsetting to me that they wouldn't want to support their own constituents who may need SNAP benefits.

It's called Food Share here in Wisconsin.

You know, it's a huge challenge for the governor and to have a hostile legislature that's uninterested in helping everyday people afford the things they need to be able to thrive or even just survive.

I appreciate it because I

Thanks for explaining that.

I knew it, but I wanted to have people hear it from you because of all the misinformation out there, I think there are people in the state who really believe because they see Trump do it on the news that Governor Evers can do this.

He doesn't have the legal power

to

do these executive orders here in the state of Wisconsin.

He does not.

He does not have the power to pull from that surplus without the legislation from the legislature.

A couple of minutes left here before we step away, but I know you're with us to the top of the hour.

Explain to people, because this gets so confusing in Wisconsinites, badger care versus Obamacare, or badger care versus Affordable Care Act.

So badger care is Medicaid in the state of Wisconsin and the people who are on Medicaid have to meet some income limits to be able to qualify for it.

Fast majority of people on Medicaid are kids and older adults who perhaps are in a nursing home.

My father, I talked to you about him, Vietnam veteran worked every day of his life, worked the Friday before he got diagnosed with Alzheimer's on a Monday.

He was on Medicaid at the end of his life.

And it was such a blessing for our family not to have to worry about those costs.

So when you're talking about people who are on BadgerCare or Medicaid, these are folks who really need it.

They need to be able to access this healthcare again.

The vast majority are kids and older adults.

So that's Medicaid or BadgerCare.

And then you've got the Affordable Care Act where we have insurance that you can get on the exchange.

And so you're able to get on the exchange and get your insurance yourself if you're not getting it through your employer or you don't qualify for Medicaid.

But they will push you towards BadgerCare or Medicaid if you do qualify for it.

You're talking about independent booksellers.

You're talking about restaurant owners.

You're talking about people who have small businesses and need to cover themselves.

I mean, those are the folks who are using the Affordable Care Act and getting subsidies to be able to afford their premiums.

The one thing we have not done in the state of Wisconsin...

is expanded Medicaid.

And that's about 90,000 people, about 60,000 who are probably, 30,000 who are uninsured today.

Which most of the

other states in this country have done.

All of them except 10.

All

right.

We're going to talk more about the Lieutenant Governor had some of my ratty wallet.

Yeah.

I have a forward health card not too many years ago.

I used this.

Otherwise, I would not have health care in the state of Wisconsin.

Come

back and talk about that.

And also the lieutenant governor's bid to become the governor of the state of Wisconsin.

We'll be back after this.

But first, the theme from the United States Coast Guard on this veteran state 2025.

You're listening to the Todd Albao Show on the Civic Media.

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

Welcome back to the time of all show on the Civic Media we're gonna work on this Veterans Day November 11th 2025 now seven minutes before the hour of three o'clock if you're saying what's that song don't worry it's a newer a newer one that is the the song for the United States Space Force our newest branch of military bombers wait I can't remember the guy we had a guy

We're on one of the university campuses in Wisconsin.

He was going into the Space Force here in Wisconsin.

So

yeah, I believe so.

I don't remember the name either.

Yeah, newer.

We honor our veterans, all of our veterans, men and women who have worn and continue to wear the uniform.

And we are delighted and honored to be joined by Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez here in the studio on this Veterans Day.

And of course, she's running for Wisconsin Governor in the 2026 Democratic primary.

Lieutenant Governor, I want to just finish up on this Affordable Care Act.

talking about Affordable Care Act or Obamacare as it's known and Badger Care.

And I still keep this forward health card when not very many years ago when I had a small business, I would have been without healthcare if not for this safety net.

So I keep this reminder there by the grace of God go I.

And

we are all gonna go through times when we need assistance, talk to us from a woman's perspective.

a postpartum of the state?

Yeah, so we are one of 10 states that hasn't expanded Medicaid overall to single adults who have low income, but we are one of only two states that has not expanded Medicaid for 12 months postpartum, us and Arkansas.

And Arkansas is, I think they're working on it, so we could be the last one.

I said this earlier, but if you want to know why leadership matters in the Assembly and the Senate, the Senate passed legislation to expand 12 months postpartum with only one no vote.

In the bill for the Assembly, the number of Democrats and Republicans who signed on to that bill, if it would have been brought to the floor, it would have passed.

Robin Voss refused to bring the bill to the floor.

very frustrating.

And this is why we just need different

leadership.

I mean, even the Republicans, the Senate majority of them were

on board

with this.

They were.

And so

for

one person to hold this entire thing up, and there are women across the state who are suffering, because of one person that Robin Foss, I don't get it, but I'm not gonna

solve that today.

To be clear, about nationally 40% of babies are born on Medicaid.

So we want to make sure that those babies, those moms have a good start in life.

And that's what that 12 months postpartum can do.

I mean, Republicans are very concerned about life until it's here, until, until they're bored, it seems like.

And then it's kind of like, you know, you're, you're, you're on your own, but that's, that's a different kettle of fish, as they say.

Uh, talk to us very quickly about SNAP benefits.

All the back and forth, I thought the governor Evers had a brilliant move when there was that small window legal window when the court said, yes, the Trump administration had to release federal dollars for SNAP or food shares.

called here in Wisconsin.

The governor did it hours later.

They said no.

Now the president wants that back.

Governor Evers had a one reward response.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Great response.

No.

Absolutely.

I mean, they have money to give billionaires and trillionaires tax breaks to buy their fourth yacht, but they don't have enough money to be able to fund food for children.

I don't understand the logic in that.

I mean, these are hungry people.

These are people who need these dollars to put food on the table.

We have seen our food pantries across the state have seen exponential rise in people coming, being very, very nervous about being able to afford something to eat.

And that's what they're trying to do.

They actually went to the court system to say no.

No, I don't want to fund snap benefits.

I don't want to fund food share.

I don't want to have have kids have food on the table.

I mean that that is just cruel

100% agree.

A shout out to all of our Wisconsinites who are stepping up to help support those food pantries across the state of Wisconsin.

You're running for Wisconsin governor.

You are the governor.

You're running for Wisconsin governor.

I can't law school poll.

It's too early.

Nobody cares about numbers.

I

don't think.

What people do care about is the money you're leading the Democrats on fundraising.

How is it going on the campaign trail?

We've got a minute and a half left.

Yeah, it's been going really well.

I'm getting a lot of positive responses.

had endorsements in all 72 counties because I want to be a governor for the entire state.

And I'm doing a listening tour in every single county in the state of Wisconsin during this primary because I do think it's important that you can't lead unless you listen.

I do think I'm the best person to try to get across the finish line this August because I'm the best person to be able to beat Tom Tiffany in November.

You know, I'm a nurse by background, but I've also been an executive within a large healthcare system and a Fortune 100 company.

I do have that executive experience as well as Lieutenant Governor.

But I also live in Ruby Red Waukesha and was able to flip an assembly district from red to blue.

I'm the only one in the field who's been able to do that.

And those are the kind of things that I want to bring to the table.

And I'm going to be focusing on the economy, whether it's accessible, affordable healthcare.

Goodness, cost of housing is out of control, particularly in Madison.

It's really, really rough here.

Tell

me about it.

Cost of childcare, if you can even find it, if you can get yourself off the wait list, it's like the average amount is $13,000 per year for one child.

We need to fully fund our public schools so we can reduce property taxes for people, and we need to restore union bargaining rights because that will lift wages all across Wisconsin.

And she has ties to Richland County, as I pointed out before, which I love that about you and your candidacy as well.

Very, very quickly.

Number one issue you're hearing from real people across Wisconsin right now.

Really, honestly, in terms of right now, I don't care where I am in all 72 counties.

I hear about housing and childcare.

I don't care if it's urban, I don't care if it's rural, I don't care if it's tribal and suburban, housing and childcare are just critical needs for Wisconsinites right now.

And they want the government to be able to put solutions for us to solve it.

And so that's the kind of thing that I'm looking to do is to make real demonstrable change in Wisconsin and actually help everyday Wisconsinites be able, not just to survive day to day, but to thrive, to make sure they have food on the table, a roof over their heads.

And yes, they can.

and take their kids on vacation once a year.

That was the most interesting part about the Marquette Law School poll to me, not the head-to-heads or whatever of the candidates, all due respect.

The

issues, what you just said, housing, childcare, the affordability issues.

And I would think that would bode well for a Democratic candidate for governor.

All right, Lieutenant

Governor

Sarah Rodriguez, thanks for making time for us today and safe travels.

If you travel around Wisconsin, you're always welcome back on the show.

Appreciate you.

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