Discover video-sourced quotes by politicians

Jeff Smith: “A bill that actually describes what SNAP benefits can pay…”

Featuring: Jeff Smith, Democratic | Wisconsin State Senate, District 31

Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26

Published April 10, 2026 | Video Starts at 18:57

Okay. I did have somebody approach me and say how much. And some of this is they're happy and unhappy at the same time. For instance, A bill that actually describes what SNAP benefits can pay for. Oh, okay. And it's unfortunate in my case, we shouldn't be dictating what people buy or eat. But that's what's happening here. (18:57–19:06)

CLAIM

Asserts that there is a bill specifying what SNAP benefits can be used to purchase.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

Discover more from

Jeff Smith

“We were the last state basically, to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 01:28-01:41
“Every school district in our state now has had referendum over the last decade or so.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 09:43-09:49
“We promised to go to 45% state funding for special ed and we're going to be back at 32% or something where we have been at instead.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 12:57-13:07
“Ever since this voucher system got expanded all the way across the state, all private schools are eligible for vouchers.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 13:57-14:03
“For the year of 2025, we had introduced 408 bills and gotten nine public hearings.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 29:55-30:03
“None of them [the bills] got to the floor and had a vote on them.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 30:04-30:08
“It took years, unfortunately, to extend postpartum for Medicaid patients from six weeks to a year.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 01:28-01:41
“Gail's law, which was to mandate that insurance companies do have to cover for dense breast examinations for breast cancer.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 02:00-02:19
“The subsidies that are available to child care centers and to families who need it are ending in June.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 03:41-03:50
“We did nothing to supplement that or to extend that through to the next budget.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 03:50-03:58
“We expect some centers are going to close.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 04:10-04:12
“There are what we call childcare deserts already throughout Wisconsin, but particularly in rural Wisconsin.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 05:09-05:17
“We introduced, and I personally introduced legislation for a tax-free day for school supplies that didn't go anywhere.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 07:08-07:20
“I had a bill I introduced that did not make it. Republicans never brought it to vote to cap the rate increases that can occur.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 07:29-07:45
“We know we have projected over $2 billion surplus.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 08:32-08:38
“We also have a rainy day fund that's I can't remember, I think that's 1.6 billion or something like that.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 09:08-09:16
“There are going to be 70 some or 90 some referendums this year from school districts in our state.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 09:35-09:43
“Our majority in the legislature has chosen a different tact and that is to fund voucher schools with more and more and ignoring the needs of…”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 09:53-10:10
“We are funding two separate systems, a private system and the public system with tax dollars.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 14:08-14:16
“You elect school boards in your public system. You don't elect the officials in your private schools who make decisions and spend your…”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 14:24-14:33
“We had to pass a budget before July 4 last year when Trump was going to sign his big bill and that bill was going to cut us off…”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 16:20-16:52
“We had to raise that hospital assessment, which is a hospital bed tax.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 17:02-17:07
“We were the lowest in the country to raising it to want to be with pretty much along with everybody other state, but a higher, much higher…”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 17:07-17:16
“County hospitals aren't receiving federal money and there's very few left to come.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 17:51-17:56
“The Republicans decided, okay, we couldn't get this past the governor. He was never going to sign this thing. So they attached the funding…”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 19:48-20:03
“There was $125 million that was sitting, sitting there that had been approved the last session.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 23:10-23:16
“We went through this whole session and still couldn't get approval from a joint finance committee to move that money.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 23:16-23:24
“That money was supposedly grant money for counties and cities and municipalities to be able to address the PFAS issue.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 23:23-23:32
“The argument was from the Republicans were they really didn't want the DNR to be able to have to go after the chemical manufacturers.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 23:48-24:00
“There was a compromise made finally this year, in the last couple months. And the governor just signed that bill.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 24:26-24:33
“Decades of spreading waste from the paper mill, for instance, it turns out there was PFAS in there.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 25:05-25:14
“I know lacrosse has the same issues now.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 25:53-25:57
“PFAS is in a lot of things. It's in your clothes. It's in a lot of things.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 27:19-27:24
“The wells and Eau Claire are right below the airport. They're almost on the same 80 acres or something.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 27:30-27:38