Reps in the News: Joel Kitchens Announces Listening Sessions

Representative Joel Kitchens

Rep. Joel Kitchens announced a series of listening sessions he will hold this month throughout the 1st District. “These listening sessions will be a chance for my constituents to share their thoughts with me on any issues that are important to them,” he said. The locations and times are:

• Algoma City Hall, 416 Fremont St., Algoma, Monday, Oct. 16, 3-4:30 pm.
• Door County Library, Jane Greene Room, 107 S 4th Ave., Sturgeon Bay, Saturday, Oct. 21, 10-11:30 am.
• Nelsen’s Hall Bitters Pub, 1202 Main Road, Washington Island, Monday, Oct. 23, 11 am-12:30 pm.
• Sister Bay Village Hall, 10693 Hwy 42, Sister Bay, Monday, Oct. 23, 3-4:30 pm.

“I am looking forward to hearing from my constituents so I can continue to advocate for the priorities of our district down in Madison,” he said.

Source:  Kitchens press release

Congressman Mike Gallagher

Last week Representatives Gallagher, Kinzinger and McSally, all veterans serving in Congress, called for a restriction on the gun modifier that was used during the recent mass murder in Las Vegas. “Bump stocks,” the accessory used by the attacker, were legalized by the Obama Administration in 2010. In the wake of this horrific shooting, the three representatives have coauthored a letter requesting that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) revisit and regulate these devices, as they do with automatic weapons. Gallagher released the following statement on the issue:  “In the military we spend months and sometimes years training to use automatic weapons. They were never intended for widespread civilian use; they are heavily regulated and incredibly difficult to obtain – and that is how it should be…. I am committed to protecting Americans’ Constitutional right to bear arms and protect their families, but to me this is a common-sense move. More broadly, rather than each side endlessly demonizing each other every time a tragedy like this happens, here are two more common-sense moves we can make: enforce gun laws that are already on the books (which any close look at the statistics suggests isn’t happening) and crackdown on straw man purchases. As Justice Scalia said, ‘Of course the [Second Amendment] right was not unlimited, just as the First Amendment’s right of free speech was not. Thus, we do not read the Second Amendment to protect the right of citizens to carry arms for any sort of confrontation, just as we do not read the First Amendment to protect the right of citizens to speak for any purpose.’”

Source:  Gallagher press release

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Sen. Baldwin and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced The Stronger Way Act, bold tax reform legislation that rewards work and creates a new partnership to support local jobs programs that will raise incomes for working families. “Tax reform needs to reward hard work, raise incomes and help working families keep more of what they earn. Too many people are being left behind by Washington and The Stronger Way Act starts helping them get ahead,” Baldwin said. “The Stronger Way Act offers tax reform to reward work and a new partnership to invest in local jobs programs that will help raise incomes for working families.” Specifically, The Stronger Way Act rewards work with tax reform that raise incomes for working families and individuals, strengthens tax credits for working families with children and creates a new federal partnership to support state and local transitional jobs programs that move unemployed individuals into the workforce and raise incomes for working families.

Source:  Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

Sen. Johnson is defending the federal government’s response in Puerto Rico after visiting the hurricane-ravaged island, but warns of a crisis if the electrical grid isn’t repaired. Johnson was part of a 10-member delegation of Republicans and Democrats who spent Oct. 7 in the U.S. territory, assessing the damage after Hurricane Maria ripped through in late September. The lawmakers got briefings from Federal Emergency Management Administration officials and local elected leaders. Only 11 percent of the island has power, lawmakers said. “All of our efforts have got to be to stand up that electrical grid, or else what you will see is a growing crisis,” Johnson said on a conference call with reporters on Sunday.

Source:  fox6now.com

President Donald Trump

Bring on the IQ test! Mensa says it’s willing to host President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a battle of the brains. In an interview with Forbes published Tuesday, Trump suggested he and Tillerson – who allegedly once called the commander in chief a “moron” – go head-to-head in an intelligence quotient showdown. The State Department has denied Tillerson ever made the comments. “I think it’s fake news,” Trump told the magazine of Tillerson’s “moron” remark, “but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.” “American Mensa would be happy to hold a testing session for President Trump and Secretary Tillerson,” said Charles Brown, the group’s communications director.

Source:  thehill.com