Reps in the News: Gov. Walker Preparing for Re-Election Campaign Announcement

Governor Scott Walker

In a new campaign video, Gov. Walker touts his record and makes clear he wants to run for a third term in 2018.

“At the end of each day, after all of the miles and conversations, I can’t wait for the alarm to ring to see what opportunities tomorrow will bring,” Walker says in the video. “Are you with me?”

The one-minute video and an accompanying digital ad campaign are the clearest signs yet that the GOP governor will seek re-election. An official announcement is expected soon.

A number of Democrats are lining up against Walker, including: state schools Superintendent Tony Evers; Milwaukee businessman Andy Gronik; Rep. Dana Wachs of Eau Claire; Sen. Kathleen Vinehout of Alma; political activist Mike McCabe; and former state Democratic chairman Matt Flynn. Several other Democrats are considering a run, including:  businessman Kurt Kober, firefighter union President Mahlon Mitchell and former state Rep. Kelda Helen Roys of Madison.

First elected in 2010, Walker won a 2012 recall election and a 2014 re-election race before joining and then dropping out of the 2015 GOP presidential primary.

Source:  governing.com

Congressman Mike Gallagher

Congressman Gallagher introduced the bipartisan Leverage to Enhance Effective Diplomacy Act of 2017. This bill would impose tougher sanctions and policies on North Korea as the U.S. continues working on a diplomatic solution to the threat of North Korea’s developing nuclear capabilities. The bill authorizes efforts to combat Pyongyang’s widespread human rights and labor trafficking abuses, and applies economic and diplomatic pressure to North Korea and those who enable it. After the bill was introduced, Gallagher said:  “For more than 20 years, American foreign policy has failed to fundamentally change North Korean behavior. It is time that the United States change its approach to impose significant costs on actors that support and enable the Kim regime’s reckless aggression. The LEED Act takes an important step by making crystal clear that those who do business with Pyongyang will not be welcome to do business with America.”

Source:  Gallagher press release

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Sen. Baldwin released the following statement on President Trump’s plans to cut off cost-sharing reduction payments, which will lead to higher health care costs for Wisconsinites.

“The Trump Administration’s sabotage of the health care market has contributed to a 36 percent premium spike in Wisconsin. Now, President Trump is ending cost-sharing reduction payments that make health care more affordable for 110,000 people in our state,” she said. “Wisconsin families cannot afford the higher premiums that this chaos has created. We need bipartisan action in Congress now to lower health care costs by funding these cost-sharing reduction payments.”

The Walker Administration announced that average premiums in Wisconsin will jump 36 percent for people buying health coverage through the federally run exchange. The dramatic increase in premiums was based on the Trump Administration ending cost-sharing reduction payments.

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report from August, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that stopping cost-sharing reduction payments would raise the federal budget deficit, drive up federal marketplace subsidy costs, raise premiums, cause more insurers to withdraw from the marketplaces, and increase the number of uninsured next year.

Source:  Baldwin press release

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would “never support bailing out” health insurance companies – an ominous sign for the Obamacare deal crafted by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

“I am support of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made a fortune w/ O’care,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

It would be all but impossible for Republicans lawmakers to support the deal – let alone bring it up for a vote in the House or Senate – without Trump’s endorsement. Republicans, still smarting from their failure to fulfill their years-long promise to repeal Obamacare, would have an extremely hard time voting for anything perceived as supporting the law without political cover from the president.

Throughout the day Tuesday, Trump sent mixed signals on whether he would support the bipartisan Obamacare deal, which aims to stabilize the law’s insurance marketplaces. Early Tuesday, he suggested the White House was involved in the legislation and praised the work by lawmakers. In the evening, he commended the work but trashed the idea of a “bailout.”

Source:  politico.com