Search Results: tracking the trillions (20)

Tracking the Trillions An investigative journalism project aimed at identifying how federal taxpayer dollars are spent and accounted for in…

Wisconsin voters could make 2023 a watershed year for oversight of currently unchecked spending of billions of dollars of federal funding flowing into the state.

Wisconsin’s tourism resurgence has been built, at least in part, by more than $160 million in federal bailout money and a record doubling of the tourism department’s budget.

One month before Wisconsinites vote on whether to amend the state constitution, the Badger Institute today launched a campaign to ensure voters are equipped with the information they need about the proposed reform to state spending.

After Gov. Tony Evers announced last week he was diverting $36.6 million in federal emergency pandemic funds for, among other things, a soccer stadium, a sports center and a railroad museum, state Sen. Duey Stroebel tweeted, “I struggle to see how any of these projects relate to pandemic relief.”

Federalism Federalism, as we define it, is the primacy of the states over the federal government. A healthy federalist system…

Spending & Accountability Journalism and fiscal analysis to hold Wisconsin’s state government accountable Featured Research How “Free” Federal Money Costs…

Twenty months after Congress passed a bill that rained $2.53 billion down on Wisconsin, the governor’s office in sole charge of administering the funding, as well as  legislative audit and budget officials, have almost no idea of how all that money is being spent.

New additions will contribute to investigative reporting, Mandate for Madison

The Badger Institute today announced partnerships with several leading research organizations and subject matter experts who will contribute to its 2022 Mandate for Madison, a policy roadmap for the governor and Legislature beginning in 2023.

In both Washington and Madison, basic economic principles are routinely ignored, as if policymakers believe they can repeal the laws of supply and demand with campaign slogans.

Facing a $5 million bill to run the free streetcar known as The Hop next year, Alderman Scott Spiker wondered if a huge increase in handing out parking tickets is the funding answer.

Passing the amendments would give Wisconsin’s 33 state Senators and 99 state Assembly members, elected by you, a say in where huge sums of federal money go. It doesn’t get much more democratic than that.

Separate constitutional amendment on veto power also advances Wisconsin voters will decide on primary day, Aug. 13, whether the state…

When Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s business chamber, last month put out the results of its semiannual survey of CEOs’ sentiments, the outlook was grim: 22% rated the Wisconsin economy as “strong.” Only 10% said the same of the national economy, with 28% calling it “weak.” That’s a gloomier number than the WMC found in summer 2020, amid lockdowns.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the state government finished its fiscal year business with a surplus of $1.83 billion. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a Republican tax cut.

The public is unlikely to ever know how the state Department of Administration came to decide how to allocate and spend nearly $4 billion from three federal pandemic emergency spending bills.

Questioned by a sometimes frustrated Joint Legislative Audit Committee Tuesday at the Capitol, DOA leaders acknowledged that many of the decisions about how to allocate money to state agencies and local governments were made in phone conversations and emails with Gov. Tony Evers and his staff that were not documented.

The Legislative Audit Bureau criticized the state Department of Administration for its lack of openness in how it is deploying $5.7 billion in federal health emergency funds granted to Wisconsin.

The audit report, released Wednesday, comes months after the Badger Institute first called for a comprehensive audit of all state spending of funds provided through the CARES Act, American Rescue Plan Act and the Investment and Jobs Act.

Sometime during the 2023 session, the Wisconsin Legislature is expected to approve a resolution proposing that voters consider amending the state constitution to restore long-lost legislative oversight of major federal spending initiatives in the state.

Voters have amended the state constitution 146 times. Will they do it again?