GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Governor Scott Walker today said he would support whomever the eventual Republican presidential nominee is — and that includes Donald Trump.
During a stop in Green Bay highlighting state investments in the FoodShare Employment and Training Program, Walker says he’s been consistent on this issue.
“I said it on August 6 of last year when I stood on the debate stage in Cleveland that I would support the republican nominee against Hillary,” Walker stated Wednesday. “I’ve also said very clearly that I hope and I believe that it will not be him, that it will actually be Ted Cruz.”
Walker believes the Texas Senator will win the nomination on the 2nd or 3rd ballot at the convention in Cleveland.
The former Republican presidential candidate says he has not been asked to speak or take a prominent role. He doesn’t think the schedule for the program will be settled until June.
FSET CRITICISM
Governor Walker spoke to employees at Bay Central Job Center in downtown Green Bay about the importance of this job training program and met with local staff and participants.
“Prior to our investments in this job training program, we contracted with 54 different agencies to serve our 72 counties and 11 tribes,” Walker said. “This led to almost no consistency in the quality and type of services offered to program participants and made coordinating with local employers incredibly difficult. We’ve seen right here in Brown County the effect our $60 million investment has made. Services provided by this job training program are now consistent across the state, which makes coordination with local employers easier and results in more jobs, better work experience opportunities, and stronger communities.”
But not everyone is pleased with the initiative. In a letter from the Hunger Task Force, a number of groups statewide are asking Walker to help out those who’ve been kicked off the program, losing their food stamps.
“Only Governor Walker can help us resolve this crisis,” wrote Sherrie Tussler, Executive Director of the Hunger Task Force. “The job training program has not placed people in jobs, it’s only closed their FoodShare case. We are spending millions in taxpayer funds on a government boondoggle.”
The letter states that over 30,453 people have become ineligible for federal food aid under FSET.
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), along with fellow Democratic Rep.’s Ron Kind, Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan, have called on Walker to seek a federal waiver for 20 counties and 10 cities with high unemployment rates.
“The solution to these problems should not be to build barriers and make it harder for people to achieve economic independence. Rather, we must continue to support opportunities to lift people up and out of poverty and ensure that our jobs training programs are truly working,” the members of Congress wrote to Governor Walker.
Walker responded to these calls saying they just don’t understand what the program does or are intentionally trying to mislead the public.
“The bottom line is that nobody gets kicked off of food stamps if they are enrolled in job training or are working,” Walker explained. “In fact, if someone chooses not to be in a job training program and not to work, they still have 3 months to make up their minds. So nothing happens immediately.”
The governor added that he believes most Wisconsinites, no matter their political affiliation or background, would say there’s got to be a, “line in the sand” that says the state will help you out if they’re willing to help themselves.
