Audits Show the Need to Modernize and Improve UI System after Years of GOP Neglect
MADISON – Today, the Joint Audit Committee held a public hearing on a series of audits conducted on the Unemployment Insurance system run by the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Senator-elect Melissa Agard (D-Madison) released the following statement on this hearing and the Audit Bureau’s findings:
“For 8 years, Republicans in Wisconsin did nothing to address outdated technology and outdated systems at DWD. For 8 years, they put up barriers to people receiving UI payments like the cruel and unnecessary one-week waiting period. Today, we heard a lot of opinions from Republicans on the committee about DWD’s performance when many of these issues were created by their own party,” Sen-elect Agard stated. “Many Republicans even complained that adjudicators and other positions weren’t working enough overtime, despite the fact that Republican lawmakers have not come to work to address UI, or anything else related to the COVID-19 pandemic, since mid-April.”
“There is no doubt that people were not paid out quickly enough and that this pandemic has highlighted things in our UI system that need to change. But we should see this as an opportunity to modernize, improve, and repair this system in a bipartisan way that prepares us for a future crisis.”
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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Recent Press Releases by State Sen. Melissa Agard, Senate Democratic Leader
