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Jeff Smith: “There was $125 million that was sitting, sitting there that…”

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

Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26

Published April 10, 2026 | Video Starts at 23:10

Yeah. So the eau Claire, county of Eau Claire, you know, they made. They just went ahead and said, you know, this games that are being played in Madison on. There was $125 million that was sitting, sitting there that had been approved the last session. And we went through this whole session and still couldn't get approval from a joint finance committee to move that money. (23:10–23:16)

CLAIM

Asserts that $125 million was approved in the last session for PFAS issues.

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.

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Jeff Smith

“We were the last state basically, to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage.”
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“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
“A bill that actually describes what SNAP benefits can pay for.”
Jeff Smith Show: 4-3-26 | Uploaded April 10, 2026 | 18:57-19:06
“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
“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