Low-income Wisconsin mothers could stay on Medicaid longer after giving birth and with less paperwork under a bill that has gained bipartisan support in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Nearly half of the state’s lawmakers have co-sponsored the bill that came before the Senate insurance committee for a hearing on Wednesday. Currently, Wisconsinites can enroll in the state-supported and federally-funded healthcare program if they are pregnant and qualify as low-income, but have to recertify for the program 60 days after giving birth. Under the proposal, they could keep coverage for a year, even if their household income increases.

Democrats have long supported Medicare expansion in Wisconsin and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is likely to support the measure, which is similar Medicaid expansion in his budget proposal last month. In areas of disagreement with Republican lawmakers, Evers has used issued a record number of vetoes.

A similar bill failed to pass the Wisconsin Legislature in 2021, and Republicans rejected Evers’ request in the last budget cycle to establish one year of postpartum Medicaid benefits, opting instead to extend them to 90 days. The state Department of Health Services is still waiting on federal approval for that extension.

But Republican lawmakers across the country are moving to expand access to postpartum health care after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion last June. They say the efforts are central to conservative anti-abortion platforms, but in many states, including Wisconsin, Republicans have long opposed efforts to expand Medicaid.

‘I am proudly pro-life, and this bill should be part of a pro-life package,’ said Republican Rep. Donna Rozar, the bill’s sponsor in the Assembly. ‘The best way to have healthy babies is to have healthy mothers.’

Roughly 40% of births are eligible for Medicaid coverage, and states are required to offer eligible mothers at least two months of taxpayer funded coverage. Thirty states including the District of Columbia have already expanded coverage to 12 months for new mothers, and 8 states have plans to implement 12-month expansions, according to the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation, which researches health care issues.

The Wisconsin measure is backed by medical groups including the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Medical Society, as well as anti-abortion groups such as Wisconsin Right to Life and Pro-Life Wisconsin.

Roughly 50 to 60 Wisconsin mothers die each year after childbirth, Dr. Jasmine Zapata, a chief medical officer the health department, told lawmakers Wednesday.

‘That is not something I would wish on anyone else, and when you are in that situation, even one life is too many,’ Zapata said.

Nobody attending the hearing spoke in opposition to the bill.

The proposed expansion would cost the state more than $21 million and extend coverage to nearly 5,300 more mothers, according to health department estimates.

Wisconsin remains one of just 10 states that have not accepted federal funds to expand Medicaid eligibility above the federal poverty line, despite pushes from Evers and other Democrats to do so.

If Wisconsin were to accept the federal Medicaid expansion, the costs of expanding coverage for new mothers would drop to around $17 million, according to health department estimates.

Activists on Wednesday demanded that the state of California pay millions of dollars to each Black resident in reparations as a way to make amends for slavery and subsequent discrimination, dismissing the idea of payments of $5 million per person as ‘nothing’ and ‘too little.’

The demands were made at an in-person meeting of the California Reparations Task Force, which was created by state legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020. The committee was hearing comments from the public as it considers final recommendations to submit to the California Legislature, which will then decide whether to implement the measures and send them to Newsom’s desk to be signed into law.

The task force is considering a proposal to give just under $360,000 per person to approximately 1.8 million Black Californians who had an ancestor enslaved in the U.S., putting the total cost of the program at about $640 billion.

Meanwhile, the city of San Francisco is weighing its own reparations proposals at the local level. Earlier this month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors expressed ‘unanimous’ support for a draft plan of more than 100 reparations recommendations for the city, including a proposal to dole out $5 million each to qualifying Black residents. The proposal would cost non-Black families in the city at least $600,000, according to Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Both ideas are skimping on what’s necessary to pay Black Californians, according to activists who spoke at the gathering.

‘I believe that 5 million in reparations is too little for the work that foundational Black Americans have done for this country and as well for other countries,’ one speaker said. ‘I believe that 7.6 million [dollars] is a number that can be used very wisely in our foundational Black American communities.’

Foundational Black Americans are descendants of Black people who were enslaved in the U.S. According to the speaker, reparations are overdue for all foundational Black Americans both for the suffering they endured and for helping ‘every culture get on their feet.’ He also called for various other reparations measures, such as giving 40 acres and a tractor and colleges agreeing not raise tuition prices for foundational Black American families.

‘To try to keep holding foundational Black Americans back from what is due for us is just another form of slavery,’ he concluded. ‘It is preposterous and totally absurd.’

Another activist identified as Reverend Tony Pierce similarly said current reparations proposals aren’t enough.

‘Where’s the money? Where’s the cash? Where’s the check?’ Pierce asked emphatically. ‘$5 million, San Francisco’s already made a move. $5 million is nothing, and I’ll tell you why.’

Pierce argued that $5 million spread over 50 years would only amount to $100,000 year, and then with taxes, ‘you’ll be lucky if you end up with $40,00 a year.’

The reverend added that $223,000 for housing isn’t sufficient, saying anti-Black discrimination such as ‘predatory lending’ is prevalent.

‘Where’s the money?’ he concluded with a raised voice.

It’s unclear how California would afford to pay more than $5 million to Black residents. Newsom announced in January that the state faces a projected budget deficit of $22.5 billion for the coming fiscal year. Then weeks later, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, a government agency that analyzes the budget for the state legislature, estimated in a subsequent report that Newsom’s forecast undershot the mark by about $7 billion.

Still, Lisa Holder, a reparations task force member and president of the far-left Equal Justice Society, vowed in a recent opinion piece that the committee’s ‘recommendations will be breathtaking.’

Last year, the state task force made several preliminary recommendations in an interim report. A final report with the panel’s official recommendations is due by July 1 to the state legislature.

In San Francisco, which has roughly 50,000 Black residents, the city board has expressed interest in various reparations ideas such as a guaranteed annual income of at least $97,000 for 250 years and a home in the area for just $1 a family.

Another idea under consideration is a ‘comprehensive debt forgiveness’ program that would clear all personal, educational and credit card debt of low-income Black households. 

Like California, San Francisco is also facing a massive deficit, estimated at $728 million, making it unclear how the city would pay for such a reparations plan.

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican congressman, 80 pastors and their spouses delivered a soulful rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda while on a tour.

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., led a Christian history tour of the Capitol Tuesday night that was made up of 80 pastors and their spouses from 16 states, as well as several current and former lawmakers.

While in the Capitol Rotunda, the group belted out their praise for the Almighty above in a moving rendition of the classic Christian hymn that reverberated throughout the dome.

‘I always enjoy taking friends and visitors through these hallowed halls, and it was a privilege to take this group of faith leaders on a special tour of the Capitol last night,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital.

‘They were greatly encouraged to see and be reminded of the religious and moral foundations of our country,’ the Louisiana Republican continued. ‘In these times of great division, all Americans would do well to be reminded of those truths and that important heritage.’

‘Church services used to be held routinely in the Capitol, and it is always moving to hear prayers and hymns echoing in the Rotunda today,’ he added.

The tour touched on the Christian history of the Capitol, the founders, and America itself.

Johnson led the tour that was joined by fellow lawmaker Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C., — who was not with the tour at the time of the hymn — as well as former Rep. Bob McEwen, R-Ohio, and Christian author David Barton.

The Louisiana Republican led a similar tour last week for a different group of faith leaders that prayed and sang in the Capitol.

The faith leader’s hymn came the day after the nation came to a standstill when a mass shooter killed three nine-year-olds and three faculty members at a Christian private school in Nashville.

The former pastor at Covenant Presbyterian in Nashville, Tennessee, declined to advocate for stricter gun laws after a reporter questioned if prayers were enough in the wake of the mass shooting.

CBS asked Pastor Jim Bachmann if he agreed with calls for more ‘action’ instead of ‘thoughts and prayers.’

 ‘I’ve heard so many people say lately, faith-filled people, ‘I don’t want your thoughts and prayers, I don’t want to hear about thoughts and prayers, I want action.’ As a man of faith, you will conduct Mike Hill’s funeral next week. You will preside over it. What do you say to those people who say that?’ reporter David Begnaud asked.

Bachmann, who was friends with slain custodian Mike Hill, started to say he hadn’t crafted his eulogy yet when the reporter pressed on gun control again.

‘But about ‘we don’t need your thoughts and prayers, we need action,’ what do you say to that?’ he asked. Begnaud clarified he was specifically referring to passing more gun laws.

‘That’s a little bit above my pay grade,’ the pastor responded.

Bachmann instead said a cultural and spiritual change was needed in our society.

‘I think what I say is we need to love each other, and we need to learn to disagree agreeably, and learn how to forgive,’ he answered. He went on to call for peaceful disagreements instead of violence.

‘You know, people from different ideologies, different theologies, different backgrounds, it’s okay to disagree. But it’s not okay to shoot each other, and particularly shoot children and innocent victims,’ Bachmann said.

The man of God then quoted Jesus to the reporter and viewing audience.

‘And so the message of the Gospel is we ‘love our neighbor as ourselves.’ And try to bear each other’s burdens and work through them, whatever problems — we all have problems. And you know, we all need help at times in our lives,’ Bachmann said, adding that helping people with their problems was part of his role as a pastor.

Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks contributed reporting.