Author: Sam Buisman

After receiving federal funding, Governor Tony Evers purchased 10,000 ventilators and 1 million facemasks to combat the coronavirus.

According to Channel3000, the Evers Administration has been fruitlessly negotiating with the Republican-controlled legislature for a week over a $700 million purchase of medical equipment. However, the governor announced that Wisconsin will move forward with an equipment purchase anyway after President Trump signed the CARES Act, A $2 trillion coronavirus-relief package.

According to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the CARES Act is estimated to give almost $1.9 billion dollars directly to the Wisconsin State Government, which could be used to fund such a purchase. Additionally, the legislation directly appropriates $360.6 million to be shared between the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and Dane County.

In a joint letter signed by Assembly Speaker Scott Fitzgerald and Speaker Robin Vos, the pair said that State Republicans declined to fund Ever's prior requests to purchase medical equipment in order to wait on and then use federal funds to do so, stating “the state does not have this money to give you unlimited sums.”

State Democrats argued that such stinginess slowed Wisconsin's reaction to the virus and will cost lives.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, there are 1,112 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, 183 of which are in Dane County.