What Ryan's Austerity Budget Would Mean To Wisconsin

The folks at the Institute for Wisconsin's Future took a look at Paul Ryan's austerity budget proposal and how it would impact Wisconsin. To be blunt, it's pretty butt ugly:

If Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan’s approach to budgeting became U.S. law, Wisconsin would lose about $3.3 billion in federal spending in the next two years, with a resulting loss of about 26,000 full‐time jobs. Ryan chairs the House Budget Committee and is frequently mentioned as a possible vice‐presidential candidate with Mitt Romney.

Medical assistance programs would suffer most under the Ryan budget, with $1.7 billion cut in 2013 and 2014 compared with current law. That’s enough to keep more than 400,000 adults off Wisconsin’s BadgerCare program.

Income security programs—including food stamps, child nutrition and housing assistance—would lose more than half‐a‐billion dollars in 2013‐14. Over 70,000 households would lose food benefits next year.

Student financial aid, highway construction, community development and farm income stabilization programs would also be hard hit. More than 40,000 college students wouldn’t be able to get Pell grants in 2014, and cuts in conservation and resource management would almost equal the entire budget of the state Department of Natural
Resources.

You can find their full report here.