(The Center Square) – There are questions about Wisconsin’s new effort to “refine the future of student success” in the state.
Wisconsin’s state superintendent announced the next step toward creating a new Portrait of a Graduate.
“The world our students are preparing to enter is changing quickly, and it is critical that we hear directly from the people who know our communities best. Academic rigor is always a top priority and will not change, but we also need to ensure students leave our schools prepared to think critically, adapt, communicate, solve problems and thrive,” Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement.
The plan includes a shift to competency-based education.
“We want to broaden Wisconsin’s vision for student success,” Underly added.
Critics, however, were quick to point out that Underly’s new definition of success doesn’t mention improving reading, writing or math scores.
“Wisconsin’s state superintendent and the Disarmament of Public Instruction just launched a statewide initiative called a Portrait of a Graduate to redefine what student success looks like. It includes listening sessions, surveys, and steering committees,” former superintendent candidate and head of Kids Win Wisconsin Brittany Kinser said. “What it doesn’t include: a serious plan to address reading and math proficiency gaps that are already failing Wisconsin kids.”
National report cards show two-thirds of Wisconsin kids cannot read or write at grade level. Reading and writing scores get worse when you look at some individual school districts and schools. And Wisconsin continues to have the worst-in-the-nation racial learning gap.
Report cards show that 90% of black fourth-graders in Madison schools cannot read, write, or do math at grade level. It is 95% of black fourth-graders in Milwaukee schools.
“We are all for big-picture vision,” Kinzer added. “But when the state’s own data shows large gaps in proficiency, ‘defining success’ without fixing the fundamentals isn’t a strategy. It’s a way to dodge accountability. Wisconsin kids don’t need a new portrait of success. They need to be able to read well so they can attend college, pursue a career, or master a trade – and build a bright future.”

Over the past several months, Legislative Republicans and Gov. Tony Evers engaged in serious conversations about how to return Wisconsin’s budget surplus to the taxpayers who sent it to Madison in the first place.
Those discussions were not always easy, but they reflected something many Wisconsinites are yearning for from government: compromise, practical problem-solving, and a willingness to set aside partisan differences without giving up core principles. This agreement managed to check all of those boxes.
The bill negotiated between Gov. Evers and Republican legislative leadership focused on issues that matter to families across our state: returning surplus funds via an income tax rebate of $300 per individual and $600 per couple, providing more than $300 million in property tax relief (which would have amounted to a 5% reduction on a statewide basis), supporting schools by investing over $300 million into special education, and helping hardworking Wisconsinites deal with rising costs by eliminating taxes on tips and overtime.
Sadly, we watched nearly every Democrat in the Legislature reject this deal simply because election-year politics and extreme ideologies don’t allow for bipartisan cooperation. This should concern anyone who wants their elected representatives to work together. What made the situation even more concerning was watching Democrats reject a compromise negotiated by their own governor, all while arguing voters should hand them complete control of state government this November.
If Democrats can’t work with their own Democratic governor, who exactly will they work with? And if lowering property taxes, adequately funding our schools, and helping out taxpayers with rising costs don’t rise to the top of their priority list, what will their priorities be? That should concern Wisconsin voters.
There are absolutely differences between Republicans and Democrats on major issues, and there always will be. But when common ground exists on policies that help taxpayers, provide relief to families, and responsibly invest in priorities like education, elected officials should not allow ideological politics to derail meaningful progress.
The failure of this legislation to advance does not change the reality that families across Wisconsin are still facing rising costs and growing pressure on household budgets. Those problems did not disappear because one vote failed.
The people of Wisconsin are less interested in partisan theater and political posturing than they are in seeing actual results from their elected officials. The people of this state deserve leaders willing to work through disagreements, govern responsibly, and put results ahead of politics.
Legislative Republicans remain committed to doing exactly that.

(The Center Square) – American taxpayers are against using tax money to fund public college athletic departments in the era of name, image and likeness payments to athletes, according to a new Overton Insights poll exclusively provided to The Center Square before the poll’s full release Thursday.
Just 19% of voters support using taxpayer funds for college athletics while 56% oppose it while 25% were not sure or didn’t have an opinion.
The poll asked 1,377 registered voters questions between May 16-20.
“There is a real debate in this country about NIL and what its adoption has done to college sports,” said Overton Insights Poll Director Mark Cunningham. “But on the question of whether tax dollars should flow to public university athletic departments, voters have reached a clear consensus against it. This is one of the few issues in our poll where Republicans, Democrats, and independents all land in the same place. A whopping 56% of voters oppose it, while just 19% support it, a level of agreement you rarely see on anything in American politics today.”
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill into law this spring that will send nearly $15 million each year to the University of Wisconsin-Madison athletic department from the state’s general tax fund.
North Carolina currently sends $300,000 worth of sports wagering taxes to the athletic departments of 13 public universities in the state but a legislative proposal would have increased that funding for The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State.
A Louisiana law signed in 2025 increased the states sports wagering tax rate and sends 25% of the state’s sports wagering tax money to college athletic programs.
The Overton Insights poll showed that just 13% or Republicans support sending taxpayer funds to public college athletic departments while 20% of Democrats support the idea along with 23% of independents.
Just 10% of those ages 30 to 44 support the idea and 10% of those with bachelor’s degrees support it.
The highest percentage age category supporting the idea is those ages 18 to 29 with 38% in support and 35% against it.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin public schools broke a record with the most staff ever employed in the state this year with 113,171 despite decreasing student enrollment, according to a new report from the Institute for Reforming Government.
The state educates 791,794 students in public schools, the fewest since 1991.
“Teacher pay is down and referenda are up, in part, because schools have added staff while losing students,” Quinton Klabon, senior research director at the Institute for Reforming Government, said in a statement. “School boards and parents must realize no one is served well by the status quo: not students, not teachers, and not taxpayers.”
Klaxon concluded that the increasing staff sizes while the student population which funding is based upon drops has led to many of the school referenda seen across the state.
The staff increases aren’t just teachers as the state’s public schools had 187 less licensed staff than in 2020 while adding 1,581 other staff and educating 63,165 less students according to numbers from the Department of Public Instruction.
The state added 973 teachers, added 11,108 non-teachers and lost 65,381 students between 2020 and 2025 according the numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics.
The numbers of special needs diagnoses have increased from 12% of public school first graders having an Individual Education Plan in 2010 to 15% in 2020 to 19% in 2026.
“When enrollment declines, adding staff suppresses teacher pay,” the report concluded. “Teacher compensation is down significantly in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2010 to 2024. But states like Iowa and South Dakota, which have kept staffing ratios stable, have raised teacher pay.
“Enrollment will continue to decline. Fewer newborns and incoming families are causing this decline. Private and home enrollment have not changed significantly since the pandemic.”

(The Center Square) – Sports betting legalization is supported by just 31% of Americans with 47% saying they are opposed, according to a new Overton Insights poll exclusively provided to The Center Square before the poll’s full release Thursday.
The poll asked 1,377 registered voters questions between May 16-20. The poll showed that, overall, 16% strongly support legalized sports wagering while 15% somewhat support it, 15% somewhat oppose, 32% strongly oppose and 22% are either not sure or don’t have an opinion.
Sports wagering first became legal in 2018 in the United States after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned a federal ban on state-authorized sports betting.
Currently 39 states offer some form of legalized sports wagering with 30 offering mobile sports wagering and Wisconsin still in the process of reaching an agreement with the state’s 11 tribes before launching online.
The opposition to legalized sports wagering reached across party lines with more Republicans, Democrats and independents in opposition than supporting it. Republicans were the closest to showing support with 32% supporting legalized sports wagering, 36% against it and 32% not sure.
“Sports betting has become one of the most debated issues at the state level over the past several years, with more and more states legalizing it since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door,” said Overton Insights Poll Director Mark Cunningham. “Even with that rapid expansion, voters in our poll remain skeptical.
“Though opposition stops short of a majority at 47%, the issue is still underwater (-16%). Only 31% support it, while a striking 22% remain undecided. That level of uncertainty signals a debate that’s far from settled, even as more states weigh whether to legalize sports betting.”
The strongest age group supporting legalized sports wagering in the poll were the 53% of those ages 45 to 54 while just 24% of those ages 30 to 44 supporting it.

(The Center Square) – More than three-dozen Wisconsin lawmakers want Gov. Tony Evers to pause his plan to cut sentences short for some criminals in the state.
Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk, R-Hubertus, released the letter to the governor, saying crimes victims in the state need more time and more of a voice in the process.
“Many Wisconsinites are stunned that convicted cop killers are even being considered for commutation. Cases like Ted Oswald’s murder of Waukesha Police Captain James Lutz are exactly why so many families believed Wisconsin’s truth-in-sentencing laws finally brought certainty and finality for victims and their loved ones,” the lawmakers wrote.
Evers announced in April he is ending a pause in commutations in Wisconsin, and he is reviewing thousands of requests.
“It’s time for Wisconsin to join red and blue states across our country and finally move our justice system into the 21st Century by reforming our criminal justice and corrections systems to improve public safety, reduce the likelihood that individuals will reoffend when they enter our communities, and save taxpayer dollars in the long run,” the governor said in a statement.
Piwowarczyk said the governor’s announcement not only caught families off-guard, but has created a problem for what he called “overwhelmed” state and local prosecutors who are required to abide by Marcy’s Law that has protections for crime victims and their families.
“Victims and their loved ones deserve certainty, transparency, and respect from our justice system,” Piwowarczyk said. “Instead, families are being blindsided by commutation applications through social media posts and news reports. That is unacceptable. Wisconsin’s commutation process must put victims first, not reopen emotional wounds without proper notification or meaningful input.”
Piwowarczyk and the other lawmakers asked in their letter for a pause in commutations to allow lawmakers to:
● Create a robust public notification system and online tracking list for commutation applications;
● Extend victim notification periods to at least 90 days;
● Guarantee hearings that allow victims and families to be heard directly;
● Require full notification to district attorneys and sentencing judges;
● Remove all homicide offenders from eligibility for commutation consideration.

(The Center Square) – Sen. Chris Kapenga, was one of three Senate Republicans against Wisconsin’s $1.8 billion tax deal last week, said the plan to send taxpayers rebate checks of up to $600 was fiscally irresponsible.
“This is one-time money that was collected extra for the taxpayers,” the Republican from Delafield said in a broadcast interview. “We don’t want to do extra spending that is recurring, because that gets us into trouble financially.”
Kapenga also said there was never an agreement on the plan.
“There was no vote count taken at any point in the time up until probably the Monday before they started pinging people, and what happened was there were a couple of leaders in both the Assembly and in the Senate, along with the governor, who said we’ll just get it done and we’ll just push it to the floor and they’ll vote for it without talking to their caucus, which was really upsetting for me,” Kapenga said.
Democrat Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, also said there wasn’t an agreement on the tax deal before last week’s vote.
“Frankly, I think our Senate Republican colleagues, including Sen. LeMahieu, should have known from the start that just like the budget, there were likely going to need our help,” Spreitzer said, referring to Devin LeMahieu.
Spreitzer said in the budget process, there was negotiation with Gov. Tony Evers.
“I think if we had been able to play that role here, we could have ended up with a much better deal that could have actually become law,” he said.
The tax deal would have included those rebate checks, plus an end to taxes on tips and overtime in Wisconsin. It also would have sent about $600 million to local schools either to “buy down” local property taxes, or pay for special education needs.
Kapenga said there is “zero” percent that the plan will see another vote before November’s election.

(The Center Square) – Adults across the state of Wisconsin believe that the Legislature should have passed a $1.8 billion surplus bill that included income tax refund checks, $600 million for schools and an end to taxes on tips and overtime.
Eighty percent of the 454 Wisconsin adults polled on the top Wednesday and Thursday believed the bill should have passed, with that support crossing party lines and spanning statewide, according to results released on Tuesday. The Marquette Law School Poll used a sample from the SSRS Opinion Panel; the margin of error is +/- 5.5%.
The bill passed the Wisconsin Assembly and had the support of Gov. Tony Evers but fell 18-15 in the Senate as all Senate Democrats and three Republican Senators voted against it.
The bill was a $1.8 billion budget surplus agreement between Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu.
The bill included an income tax refund, an end to income tax on overtime and tips and includes $300 million in special education funding along with $300 million in general school aid that would replace property tax funding for the same.
The poll found that 77% of Republicans, 82% of Democrats and 81% of independents supported the bill.
The bill had 88% support in Milwaukee and 77% support in the Milwaukee media market allow with 78% support in the Madison media market.
Only 21% of voters agreed with a follow-up question about delaying the funding in the bill until next year.
“Fewer than 20% say the opposition from the gubernatorial candidates was the right thing for them to do, with a slight majority saying it was the wrong thing to do, while just under 30% say they don’t know if these positions were right or wrong,” a summary of the poll said. “In contrast, 65% say Evers’ support for the bill was the right thing to do, with 15% saying it was the wrong thing and 20% saying they don’t know.”

(The Center Square) – The University of Wisconsin-Madison would not release any documents related to its contract or payments to consultant Tripp Umbach weeks after the university released a document that made claims regarding the university’s statewide economic impact.
The university claimed that it does not hold the contract and that it was denying access to what it called “draft documents” related to Tripp Umbach and payments to the firm.
“The university does not hold the contract, therefore there are no responsive records,” a public records custodian wrote to The Center Square in response to a public records request. “After a thorough search, the university has determined no record exists at the University of Wisconsin Madison related to your request.”
The Center Square also requested the documents from the University of Wisconsin system administration following the public records denial.
In April, the university released a 58-page document making claims that the university makes a $38.9 billion total economic impact on the state.
Universities across the country contract with Tripp Umbach for the firm to produce similar reports, which are then used in requests for public funding or donations to the college or university.
Tripp Umbach produces reports for health care and economic development organizations along with colleges and says on its website that “our work enables leaders to make informed decisions, secure support, and implement strategies that deliver measurable results.”
Economists regularly criticize economic impact reports produced by contractors such as Tripp Umbach for not following economic principles and only including revenue figures, along with invented multipliers, in order to produce larger numbers than the real economic figures.
Sports teams also use economic impact reports when they are seeking public funding for stadiums or large events in order to convince the public and politicians that those projects are worth large public funding figures.
UW-Madison athletics leaders used a 2022 consultant report that made economic impact claims to support sending $15 million annually to the University of Wisconsin athletics departments as part of a name, image and likeness bill ultimately signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin would have received an estimated more than $43 million in annual tax revenue from sports wagering if it had created an open marketplace for sports wagering, according to estimates from the Tax Foundation earlier this year.
The estimates were based upon a number of factors within the state including the population of more than 2 million between the ages of 18 and 144, the $77,488 median household income and the attendance figures at the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks and Wisconsin Badgers home games, which showed a relatively higher interest in sports than other states.
The estimate was based upon a 10% tax on a projected $432 million in annual gross gaming revenue.
Instead, state lawmakers opted to create a hub-and-spoke model similar to Florida where the state’s 11 tribes operate mobile sports wagering in the state through servers on tribal lands.
Gov. Tony Evers signed the sports wagering bill into law April 9 and now must negotiate gaming pacts with the tribes, which then must be approved by the federal government.
The Center Square was unable to receive an update on those negotiations from Evers’ office before publication.
“I have heard from each of the 11 affected Tribes that this bill offers an opportunity for their governments and for their people to improve the quality of life, health, and stability of their communities,” Evers wrote in a statement after signing the bill. “As governor, I am responsible for ensuring the state of Wisconsin upholds Tribal treaty rights and appropriately respects Tribal sovereignty in Wisconsin.
“Most importantly, this means respecting every Tribal Nation’s right to do what is best for its people. I do so today as I always promised I would, but I am not without reservations about signing this bill.”
Wisconsin currently receives payments that are a portion of the net win from tribal casinos but does not separately report sports wagering payments.
In 2024, the state received more than $66 million in shared revenue payments with nearly $66 million in 2023 and nearly $57 million in 2022. An open sports wagering market would have increased the gambling collections in the state to nearly $110 million, using the Tax Foundation estimates.
The Wisconsin sports wagering law received opposition from large national sports wagering companies like DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics and Bet365 through the Sports Betting Alliance because those groups believe the agreement will keep them out of Wisconsin sports wagering in favor of the tribes and partnering with the tribes would result in deals that would not cover the large sportsbook’s expenses.
“Wisconsin voters definitely want to have a say in this policy and they haven’t gotten that opportunity,” SBA President/CEO Joe Maloney said previously.
During committee discussion on the bill, Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia, pointed testimony from Sports Betting Alliance Counsel Damon Stewart, who said that a requirement that 60% of the gross revenue from mobile sports wagering under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act would be too high of a cost for top national brands such as DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics and Bet365.
“I think our citizens in Wisconsin are better served by keeping this new platform within our current gambling structure,” Wittke said.

(The Center Square) – The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas was $4.43 on Friday heading into the Memorial Day weekend.
That price was down 14 cents from the week before but up 75 cents from the same time in April, according to the American Automobile Association. The U.S. average price is now $4.55.
GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick DeHaan estimated that, overall, Americans will spend $2 billion more on gasoline over the four-day Memorial Day weekend compared to a year ago, which amounts to roughly $22 million more every hour.
Gas prices are the highest they have been on Memorial Day in four years, according to AAA, with demand rising and the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz impacting those prices.
Wisconsin was not one of the 16 states on track to set an all-time Memorial Day gas price record, above the current records set in 2022. Michigan and Ohio are expected to set record highs.
The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas was $4.49 in Madison, $4.44 in Appleton and $4.43 in Milwaukee as of Friday morning.
Diesel prices in the Wisconsin were $5.71 per gallon on Friday, down from $5.84 a week before.
“For the first time since May 6, wholesale diesel prices in the Great Lakes have dropped below $4/gal- get ready to ditch those $6 and $7 prices in MI, IN, OH, IL and WI- at least for now,” DeHaan wrote on social media.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s governor says he is trying to give the state’s election clerks the freedom and ability to do their jobs, but not everyone is buying it.
A federal judge dismissed the Trump Administration’s lawsuit that sought to get Wisconsin’s unredacted voter list.
The judge ruled that Wisconsin’s “voter registration lists are not documents subject to production under [federal law]. That makes it unnecessary to decide whether the government has complied with the other statutory requirements to demand records.”
Gov. Tony Evers cheered the ruling.
“The Trump Administration only wants this info so they can prevent eligible Wisconsinites from voting, sow doubt in our secure elections, make it harder for our clerks and administrators to do their jobs, and claim there’s fraud when they lose elections,” Evers wrote in a post on X. “This is great news.”
But Dan Lennington with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said the Trump Administration is not “sowing doubt.” Instead, he said the Trump Administration simply wants to make sure Wisconsin is doing what it has promised it would do for years.
“The Wisconsin Elections Commission has received about $77 million over the last two decades from the federal government to maintain its computer systems, which includes the statewide voter registration database. The feds now just want the opportunity to inspect what they are largely paying for,” Lennington told The Center Square. “They do this all the time in other areas like Medicaid, unemployment, and other federally funded areas.”
Evers has also refused to turn over Wisconsin’s food stamp and Medicaid lists, as well. The governor said he has worries about the privacy of the information on those lists.
“What’s really going on here is that the Evers Admin and the Elections Commission are desperately trying to prevent anyone from finding out whether illegals or felons are on the voting rolls. They are hiding behind ‘privacy’ as a pretext,” Lennington added. “They just don’t want scrutiny about who they are allowing to vote in this state.”
The Trump Administration already has a copy of Wisconsin’s public voter roll. But it wants more.
The administration said it needs names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers for Wisconsin voters in order to cross-check with other data bases.
Lennington said the judge’s Thursday ruling is a “very cramped reading of a broad federal law.”
He said he expects the decision to “be carefully scrutinized on appeal.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment remained the same at 3.5% but the state had 12,800 less confirm jobs than it did a year before.
The April numbers showed the state continues to have just more than 3 million people employed with a 64.4% labor force participation rate. The national average is 61.8%.
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Office of Economic Advisors Section Chief Scott Hodek said there has been a deceleration of the national economy that could also be seen in the Wisconsin numbers.
Hodek said that the underlying employment issue remains the aging baby boomer population, explaining the losses in employment.
“We’re not seeing an associated climb in unemployment claims,” Hodek said.

(The Center Square) – Quitting smoking has health benefits but the trend of less Wisconsin residents smoking cigarettes led to a nearly $370 million drop in cigarette tax last fiscal year, which ended in June 2025.
That amounted to an 8.2% drop in tax collections and the lowest cigarette tax collections on an inflation-adjusted basis since 1992 after the revenue peaked at $950.9 million in 2010, according to a new report from Wisconsin Policy Forum.
“Wisconsin’s massive cigarette tax increases in 2008 and 2009, adopted during a time of enormous strain on state finances, generated substantial revenue for the state’s main fund,” the report said. “They may also have contributed to our state’s long-term decline in smoking, which has been a major benefit for the state.
“Yet developments since then underscore how these two outcomes actually exist in tension. Using tax policy to reduce rates of use of a harmful substance may achieve that goal, but at the expense of diminishing a key source of revenue to fund state priorities.”
Wisconsin is unique in that it only taxes vapor liquid when it is sold along with a vapor product or device, not alone. The tax is 36 cents per four-pack of vaping cartridges and the state’s e-cigarette tax went from collecting $1.3 million when it began in fiscal year 2020 to $8.1 million in fiscal 2025.
At the start of the year, 34 states had a vaping tax.
“As our state increasingly trades cigarette tax revenues for vapor tax revenues, one implication is that the role of tobacco and nicotine excise taxes is dwindling as a contributor to the state’s general fund,” the report said. “As recently as 2010, nearly $6 out of every $100 that went into the state’s general fund, came from these taxes. That share has since declined from 5.8% in 2010 to 2.3% in 2024.”

(The Center Square) – People in Wisconsin continue to buy homes, even as prices steadily increase.
The Wisconsin Realtors Report for April shows both a jump in sales and a jump in prices.
“For the second straight month, existing home sales grew at a healthy pace, rising 7.4% compared to April 2025. Likewise, median prices increased to $340,000, which is up 6.3% over the last 12 months,” the report states.
The real estate agents say 5,573 homes were sold in Wisconsin last month. That’s up by about 400 from the year before.
Once again, most of those homes were sold in and around Milwaukee and Madison.
The report notes that 38% of homes sold last month were sold in southeast Wisconsin. Another 20% were sold in south central Wisconsin.
Home prices are also highest in those two areas. The median price tag for a home in southeast Wisconsin hit $345,000 and $400,000 in south central Wisconsin.
Still, the agent Amy Curler said people continue to buy.
“We’re pleased to see March’s sales momentum extend into April across Wisconsin. Even with limited inventory, the consistency in activity reflects resilient buyer demand and continued strength in our existing home market,” she said.
Strong sales, however, do have a downside.
“The spike in sales has put significant stress on the limited supply. With just 3.7 months of supply, we would need inventory to increase by nearly 62% to get to a balanced market with six months of supply. For potential sellers, this is an excellent time to list as we move into the all-important peak summer market,” Realtors CEO Tom Larson said.
The real estate agents said 21,587 homes were on the market in April, that’s almost the exact same number of homes for sale in April of last year. The average house is on the market for 76 days.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty reached a settlement to end the race- and sex-based criteria in three grant programs from the United States Department of Agriculture following WILL’s June 2025 lawsuit against the USDA.
The USDA also agreed to pay attorney fees to WILL as part of the settlement.
The lawsuit was filed regarding the USDA’s Loan Guarantee Program, Dairy Margin Coverage Fee and its EQIP Grant Program on behalf of Chilton farmer Adam Faust.
“The Trump Administration inherited dozens of discriminatory programs that supported certain farmers over others based on race and sex,” WILL Managing Vice President and Deputy Counsel Dan Lennington said in a statement. “Those shameful days are now behind us. We appreciate the USDA’s hard work in reforming important programs for American farmers.”
The USDA said in September 2025 that it would not defend the policies related to the Biden-era USDA programs, saying that it “determined that the [USDA] programs at issue in this case are unconstitutional to the extent they include preferences based on race and sex.”
Faust also won a 2021 lawsuit against the Biden administration for race discrimination in the Farmer Loan Forgiveness Plan with the help of WILL.
The lawsuit claimed that 2 million white male American farmers, accounting for 60% of all farmers, were harmed by discriminatory policies in the USDA programs.