Reps in the News: Gov. Walker Stops Presidential Campaign

Governor Scott Walker

The Wisconsin governor entered the primary in July as a front-runner in Iowa and a darling of both the conservative base and powerful donors after winning battles against public unions in his home state. But that promising start was quickly dashed after poor debate performances dried up support from donors. “Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately,” Walker said at a Sept. 21 news conference in Madison. “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner,” said Walker, referencing businessman Donald Trump. “This is fundamentally important to the future of our party, and, more important, the future of the country.”

Source: CNBC

Representative Reid Ribble

Ribble will be in Green Bay on Friday, Oct. 2, from 8 am to 3 pm, to host America-the Makers, an entrepreneurial summit. The free summit, which will take place in the Meyer Theatre, is a firsthand account from local business leaders on what works, what doesn’t, and how you can build your own small business success for anyone who may be interested in starting their own small business.

Source: Ribble press release

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin introduced two bills to address student debt and college affordability in America. Baldwin led efforts in the Senate to support students who work their way through school and students enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. “I have heard firsthand from students and graduates struggling with the cost of higher education in America. Student loan debt is holding back an entire generation and creating a drag on economic growth for our country,” said Baldwin. “Making college affordable is one of the most important steps we can take toward building a strong path to the middle class for all Americans. I’m proud to introduce legislation to help ensure that more students, in particular those who work while in school, have the opportunity to earn an affordable higher education, attain important in-demand skills, and succeed in the work force.” Baldwin recently traveled across Wisconsin, meeting with students and recent graduates who are struggling with the cost of a higher education. In August, Baldwin’s College Affordability Roundtable at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire was joined by higher education administrators, education policy experts, as well as CVTC and UW-Eau Claire students. Nearly 40 million Americans have outstanding student loans. According to data from the Federal Reserve, student loan debt totals more than $1.2 trillion across the country. The rising debt load makes it more difficult for young professionals to purchase homes, automobiles, and other goods, creating a huge drag on the overall economy.

Source: Baldwin press release

President Barack Obama

The United States has too long ignored the effect of high incarceration rates on minority and poor communities, Obama said in a TV documentary featuring an unprecedented presidential visit to a prison. “As a society we seem to be OK with certain communities being locked in this cycle where kids are being raised around drug crime. They naturally gravitate toward drug crime,” Obama told six inmates in July at the prison in the documentary, which is scheduled to air on Sunday. “They then get involved in the criminal justice system, and it just churns, and everybody thinks that’s normal,” the president told the nonviolent drug offenders at the medium-security El Reno federal prison in Oklahoma. His visit is part of HBO’s Vice documentary program.

Obama has made criminal justice reform a top priority of his final years in office and beyond. More than 1.5 million Americans were in state or federal prisons at the end of 2013, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. African-Americans comprised about a third of the prisoners at the time despite being 15 percent of the U.S. population.

Source: Yahoo News