If Gov. Walker really wants to help workers and grow our middle class, he could work to raise family wages, lower student loan debt, invest in infrastructure and expand child care tax credits.

MADISON – After years of Republican policies that have cut family wages, shrunk the middle class and increased student loan debt, Gov. Walker is proposing more restrictions on working families in need of assistance. His latest proposal creates new rules and regulations for workers struggling to make ends meet while adding additional layers of state bureaucracy.

“Once again, Gov. Walker is creating one set of rules for working families and another set of rules for the wealthy and well-connected," Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said in a statement. "Why should working families have to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get help with rising childcare costs while 11 individuals making over $35 million a year are handed millions in tax breaks with no strings attached?"

“For too many hardworking Wisconsin families, Gov. Walker’s race-to-the-bottom economy is not working for them," said Shilling. "Republican tax breaks that favor millionaires and corporations are shifting a greater burden onto workers."

Since Gov. Walker took office in 2011, Wisconsin has fallen below the national average for job creation for 20 consecutive quarters.

"If Gov. Walker really wants to help workers and grow our middle class, Democrats stand ready with a range of proposals to raise family wages, lower student loan debt, invest in infrastructure and expand child care tax credits," Shilling concluded. "It's time we reward hard work, not the wealthy and well-connected.”

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Tony Palese contributed to this story.