Governor: “I urge Republicans in Congress to do more than offer vague concern for these reckless actions and cuts, stand up for Wisconsinites and Americans whose lives and livelihoods depend on these federal programs and investments every day, and advocate to do what is right for our constituents, our communities, our state, and our country.”

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers released an open letter to Congressional Republicans, including Republican members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation, urging them to take swift and urgent action to stand up for Wisconsin and fight against President Trump and the Trump Administration’s reckless, chaotic decisions and efforts to erode constitutional checks and balances and end attacks on federal programs and the federal workforce that are already hurting Wisconsinites and Americans across the country.  

The governor’s letter comes in the midst of ongoing Republican efforts to gut federal funding that kids, working families, seniors, and veterans in Wisconsin and across America rely and depend upon every day. This week, President Trump’s 25 percent tariff tax on goods from Mexico and Canada went into effect that is expected to cause costs to go up on everyday goods like gas and groceries, harm relationships with some of Wisconsin’s and the country's greatest trade partners, and spark a trade war that will negatively impact some of Wisconsin’s largest industries and economic engines like agriculture and manufacturing.

The governor’s letter is available below:

March 4, 2025

Dear Duly Elected Republican Members of Congress:

I write to you today to urge you to take swift and urgent action to stand up for Wisconsin and fight against the reckless, chaotic decisions and disastrous cuts to our federal programs and workforce that are already hurting Wisconsinites and Americans across our country. 

In recent weeks, Wisconsinites watched as the Republican majority in Congress—including Republican members of Wisconsin’s own congressional delegation—sat silent about threats to gut federal funding for popular programs that help support Wisconsin’s seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, working families, and kids in our classrooms every day. We have seen much of the same response from Congressional Republicans as President Trump works to give himself sole power and erode our constitutional checks and balances, even undermining Congress’ own power of the purse by obstructing funding Congress already approved with bipartisan support.

We heard the Trump Administration reduce Social Security—the promise we make as a country to our seniors to be able to retire and live with dignity after working all of their lives—to “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” We saw Republicans in Congress do little to stop the Trump Administration from giving unfettered access to Wisconsinites’ and Americans’ most sensitive personal information like our Social Security numbers and bank account information. We saw Republican members embrace guts to funding to help research cures for things like Alzheimer’s, cancer, and diabetes. We have felt firsthand the impacts of thousands of our loved ones, friends, and neighbors who have bills to pay and families to feed suddenly and arbitrarily fired for no fault of their own—that includes people working to help our producers combat the avian flu, researchers who help keep us safe from natural disasters, as well as our veterans, their spouses, and people who are dedicated to serving our veterans every day. On top of it all, we are now also experiencing the impacts of President Trump’s reckless trade war and harmful tariffs on Wisconsin’s and some of our country’s closest trade partners—decisions that are expected to cost the average American as much as $1,200 a year with some estimates even higher. All of this has happened in just about a month’s time.

Now, to make matters even worse, Congressional Republicans appear poised to make drastic cuts to critical programs in order to help pay for big tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires at the expense of kids, middle-class and working families, seniors, veterans, and Americans across our country by passing a Budget Resolution calling for cuts that include: 

• Raiding the Medicaid Program to cut $880 billion over the next decade will come at the expense of the more than 1 million Wisconsinites, including kids, seniors, pregnant women, and folks with disabilities, who depend on Medicaid statewide. Nearly one-third of kids in rural Wisconsin use Medicaid programs. These cuts would not only burden our healthcare systems and lead to increased costs for state and local governments, but they would have serious implications for the health and well-being of Wisconsinites across the state, including more than 757,000 Wisconsinites and a loss of more than $9 billion in funding in Republicans’ own districts. By the numbers, this includes: 
• District 1: 143,955 Wisconsinites represented by Congressman Bryan Steil (R) depend on Medicaid/CHIP programs. His district would see a funding loss of $1.8 billion. 
• District 3: 140,131 Wisconsinites represented by Congressman Derrick Van Orden (R) depend on Medicaid/CHIP programs. His district would see a funding loss of $1.7 billion. 
• District 5: 78,168 Wisconsinites represented by Congressman Scott Fitzgerald (R) depend on Medicaid/CHIP programs. His district would see a funding loss of $978.1 million.  
• District 6: 121,641 Wisconsinites represented by Congressman Glenn Grothman (R) depend on Medicaid/CHIP programs. His district would see a funding loss of $1.5 billion.  
• District 7: 138,091 Wisconsinites represented by Congressman Tom Tiffany (R) depend on Medicaid/CHIP programs. His district would see a funding loss of $1.7 billion.  District 8: 135,120 Wisconsinites represented by Congressman Tony Wied (R) who depend on Medicaid/CHIP programs. His district would see a funding loss of $1.6 billion. 
• Slashing $230 billion over the next decade from food assistance programs like SNAP, otherwise known as FoodShare in Wisconsin, would mean fewer meals on the table for more than 700,000 Wisconsinites, including over 60 percent of whom are families with kids and more than a third of whom are families with seniors or folks with disabilities. 
• Gutting $330 billion over the next decade from school funding and student aid, including programs like the Pell Grant, which would place higher education further out of reach for thousands of low-income students, hinder the state’s ability to retain a highly skilled workforce, and disproportionately affect rural and underserved school districts and communities. 

The consequences of reckless Republican actions in Washington are cascading. This chaos is already affecting everyday decisions made at the state and local levels across our country. In Wisconsin, for example, where over a quarter of our last two-year state budget came from the federal government, Republican cuts to federal programs and funding would almost certainly blow a devastating hole in our state budget. This could impact nearly every area of our state budget, from funding for kids and schools, access to affordable healthcare, fixing our roads and bridges, and keeping communities safe. I even retained a balance of $500 million in our state’s checking account in the state budget I just introduced to help respond to basic and emerging needs caused by President Trump’s and Republicans’ dangerous actions and cuts in Washington. Unfortunately, I am already concerned it may not be enough to brace for and respond to the consequences of your decisions.

Importantly, these impacts are more than numbers on a budget sheet—they have real consequences for Wisconsinites and Americans who expect and deserve elected representatives to fight for policies that improve their lives, not make their lives more difficult. I urge Republicans in Congress to do more than offer vague concern for these reckless actions and cuts, stand up for Wisconsinites and Americans whose lives and livelihoods depend on these federal programs and investments every day, and advocate to do what is right for our constituents, our communities, our state, and our country.

Sincerely yours in service,

Tony Evers
Governor