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Wisconsin court ruling on mask mandate means loss of over $50 million in aid per month

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FILE - A lone masks hangs on a coat hook, while a bar is packed with maskless customers watching the Packers beat the Rams in the playoffs.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — One day will likely cost some Wisconsin residents one month’s worth of food aid.

Last week’s Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling striking down Gov. Tony Evers’ COVID-19 emergency order means that next month the state will begin losing more than $50 million per month in emergency supplemental FoodShare benefits, the state Department of Health Services confirmed Wednesday.

The court order came out on March 31. DHS spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt said if the Supreme Court would have allowed the governor’s emergency order and mask mandate to last for one more full day, into April, FoodShare members would have been covered by the federal government at least through the month of May, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Lawmakers were aware of the cuts but the timing was unclear until now.

Goodsitt said Evers’ public health emergency allowed the state to capture $57.5 million in increased benefits for about 255,000 households each month, amounting to an additional $500 million since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sherrie Tussler, executive director of Hunger Task Force, said there were 771,186 individuals across the state enrolled in FoodShare in February.

“Now we’re faced with another set of circumstances where we have to figure out how to do an emergency order that would be satisfactory to both the governor’s office and the Republican Party,” Tussler said. “That’s really the rub.”

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a statement that Evers shouldn’t have vetoed a Republican bill aimed at both ending the emergency order and preserving food aid. He said Republicans will discuss options when they reconvene in the coming weeks.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Jeff blakeley

    April 8, 2021 at 2:37 pm

    When one is more worried about preserving party power, it has no interest in worrying about the people they were elected to serve. One has to answer to one or the other it’s either the party or the people. Where does your loyalty lie? And what was the oath you took? Do they match up?

  2. Vince

    April 9, 2021 at 8:43 am

    Glad to see that the AP as usual is completely ignoring the fact the mask mandate was 100% unconstitutional. Democrats LOVE trying to bait people with free money, and not surprisingly, is exactly what picture is being painted here. Evers is NOT above the law or constitution. That idiot also claimed we would flatten the curve in 14 days with masks…over a year ago. Idiots run the farm now, and the media continues to paint the picture that Democrats are always the good guys. Not all of us are as brainwashed as you want.

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