Reps in the News: Sen. Johnson Looks Beyond Healthcare to Budget, Tax Reform

Governor Scott Walker

The benefits of a new Foxconn plant are worth $3 billion in incentives, according to Gov. Walker. Two weeks ago, the Taiwanese technology company announced it will invest $10 billion to build a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin, creating 3,000 jobs. At the time of the announcement, Walker said the agreement could eventually grow to 13,000 jobs, with 22,000 indirect and induced jobs, and 10,000 construction jobs. Last week, Walker ordered the state legislature back into special session to consider a package that would award Foxconn $3 billion over 15 years in mostly cash incentives and waive several state environmental reviews.

“The trade-off is $3 billion in incentives that they pay as they grow. It’s a good deal. I think the state legislature is going to go along,” Walker said. “You’ve got Republicans and Democrats in this part of the state working together because they know when you talk about these kind of jobs, it doesn’t matter what party you are, people and families benefit from it.”

Source:  CNBC

Congressman Mike Gallagher

Rep. Gallagher announced that Wisconsin’s 8th District will participate in the third Congressional App Challenge (CAC), an app competition open to all K-12 students in northeast Wisconsin. Students of all skill levels are strongly encouraged to participate and learn how to create their own apps. The Challenge will run through Nov 1. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges and be given Congressional recognition for their achievements in STEM and Computer Science. Their apps will be featured on a display in the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., on house.gov, and on the Congressional App Challenge website. The CAC was created because Congress recognized that STEM and computer-based skills are essential for economic growth and innovation, and that the U.S. has been falling behind on these fronts. By some estimates, the U.S. may be short by as many as a million programmers by 2020. Interested students can sign up at congressionalappchallenge.us/2017-student-signup/. For more information about the Congressional App Challenge, visit CongressionalAppChallenge.us, or contact Emma Buttke in Rep. Gallagher’s office at [email protected], or 920.301.4500.

Source:  Gallagher press release

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Sen. Baldwin joined seven other senators to introduce the Medicare at 55 Act, which provides an option for people between the ages of 55 and 64 to buy into Medicare. There are 41 million Americans between the ages of 55 and 64, and millions of them are burdened by high insurance premiums, unaffordable deductibles and limited options. “Wisconsinites have sent a clear message to Washington that they want us to work across party lines to make health care more affordable, not more costly,” Baldwin said. “Our legislation offers a choice for millions of older Americans to buy more affordable, quality health care coverage. For people between the ages of 55 and 64, this is a high quality option that can help reduce health insurance costs and increase competition.” People in the 55-64 age group face unique health challenges and especially high health care costs. The average person in this age group pays more than $1,200 in annual out-of-pocket costs and is at a greater risk of suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes or arthritis and medical emergencies such as heart attack and stroke. Under the Medicare at 55 Act, an individual between the ages of 55 and 64 who buys into Medicare would receive the same benefits and protections as an individual enrolled under Medicare parts A, B, and D.

Source:  Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

Sen. Johnson said it is probably time for legislators to focus on areas of work like taxes and the economy while continuing to negotiate on a health care bill in the background. Johnson was asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper about a tweet from President Trump aimed specifically at Congress’ upper chamber, stating, “Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!”

“I really do think we probably ought to turn our attention to the debt ceiling and funding the government and tax cuts until we can really get all the parties together,” Johnson said. “From my standpoint that really is getting the governors, House members, senators [and] the White House on the same page in terms of health care.”

Johnson went on to note that Obamacare markets are still unstable, and that the issues around health care “aren’t going away.”

With regards to the ongoing Russia investigations, a bipartisan Senate bill was introduced that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump.

“I don’t see that Bob Mueller is going to be fired,” Johnson said. “But at the same time I was pretty vocal, saying I would have preferred the congressional committees, the House and Senate Intel Committees finish their work, issue their report before we begin thinking about special counsel. Let’s face it, the history of special counsel, special prosecutors, sometimes they go off the rails, they start going on witch-hunts. And we have enormous challenges facing this nation. We don’t really need that kind of distraction.”

Source:  Washington Examiner

President Donald Trump

There’s also a clear solution to President Trump’s plummeting poll numbers – and it goes like this: stop tweeting. Or, at a minimum, stop tweeting about the things Trump is obsessed with tweeting about. Seven in 10 Americans say that Trump’s tweeting habits “too often seem to be in response to news he may have seen on TV” and believe that Twitter is a “risky way for a president to communicate.” More than six in 10 say his tweets “too often turn out to be misleading” and are “easy to misunderstand.”

These numbers don’t just reflect reflexive Democratic dislike for all Trump does – and tweets – either. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say his tweets are too often a response to what he sees on TV. Forty-nine percent of Republicans say his tweets don’t send the right message to world leaders. Fifty percent of Republicans believe the President’s tweets are a risky way to communicate. The message from all of these numbers is un-missable:  People don’t like Trump’s Twitter habit and don’t believe that it does good things for either Trump or the country.

Source:  CNN.com