Reps in the News: Southern Door Earns Fab Labs Funds

Governor Scott Walker

Thanks to the Governor’s 2015-17 biennial budget investment in the Fabrication Laboratories (Fab Labs) Program, the Southern Door County School District has the ability to fund new fabrication laboratory facilities, which will bring Wisconsin students into the 21st century’s global economy. Southern Door was awarded $25,000 to create a Fab Lab. In the biennial budget, Walker implemented the Fab Labs Program, making $500,000 available to school districts through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). In response to an overwhelming number of applications, WEDC added $101,000 to the initiative, allowing awards for 25 school districts, including Southern Door. WEDC’s Fab Labs Program requires matching funds from each school district and is designed to prepare students for manufacturing jobs in the future. WEDC recently announced the statewide recipients of its Fab Lab funding to support the purchase of Fab Lab equipment for instructional and educational purposes by elementary, middle, junior or high school students. “This grant is an important step in giving us resources to continue our development of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational experiences for all students. The Fab Lab will provide a hands-on environment for project-based learning and real-life experiences in many manufacturing processes that will set our students apart from others in their jobs and further education,” says Patti Vickman, district superintendent. “Once the Fab Lab is established for students, the district plans to extend the experience after hours to interested residents who may wish to develop their own personal business skills.” For more information, visit inwisconsin.com/fablabs.

Source: Southern Door School District press release

Representative Reid Ribble

Ribble announced that funding for three Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), rather than the two requested by the Administration, has been passed out of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee. This crucial first step improves the likelihood that funding for three Littoral Combat Ships will eventually be part of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. “Our first Constitutional duty is to provide for the common defense, and fully funding the LCS program is an integral part of that duty,” Ribble said. “With the language that passed out of the House Armed Services Subcommittee, we will fund the construction of three new Littoral Combat Ships, which Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has repeatedly called crucial for the Navy’s mission. Some of these new LCS ships will be built in our very own Marinette facilities, and I am extremely proud of the work men and women in our community are doing to help keep America safe.”

Source: Ribble press release

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin joined U.S. Representatives Ron Kind, Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan in calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a review of Wisconsin’s voter identification requirements and consider bringing a legal challenge or join litigation in Wisconsin’s Eastern and Western District Courts. “The barriers these requirements have set up and the harmful impact they have had for many Wisconsin voters demonstrate that now is the time for a full and thorough review of the constitutionality of the voter ID law,” the members of Congress wrote. “These developments raise serious questions about the impact the voter ID law has had on the ability of many Wisconsinites to exercise perhaps their most fundamental constitutional right – the right to vote and participate in our democracy. As such, we believe it is critical that the Department of Justice carefully review the effect of this law and what steps it can take to help uphold the voting rights of all Wisconsinites.” In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the Wisconsin Congressional Democrats urge the Justice Department to conduct a review of Wisconsin’s potentially discriminatory voting requirements to determine whether they are consistent with the Voting Rights Act and federal constitutional protections for the right to vote. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that eligible voters facing difficulty obtaining ID have the right to challenge the law as it applies to them. This issue is now back before Wisconsin’s Eastern District court. A separate challenge brought in the state’s Western District is scheduled to go to trial in May. While Wisconsin’s voter ID law has been under the scrutiny of federal courts for several years, the April 5 primary election was the first instance in which the law, one of the nation’s most restrictive, was implemented.

Source: Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

An amendment introduced by Johnson calls for internationally adopted children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to be united with their families. The amendment passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 28 as part of a manager’s package to the Fiscal Year 2017 Department of State authorization bill. “It’s been enormously frustrating,” Johnson said of the suspension implemented in Sept. 2013 by the Congolese government, halting exit permits for children adopted by foreign parents. “I welcome the recent progress the DRC has made to unite some of these children with their families, but we still have families waiting. We will continue to press the DRC until we get all of these kids home.” Johnson’s amendment urges the DRC to resolve international adoption cases as soon as possible and calls on the U.S. government to continue to treat the release of internationally adopted children from the DRC as a priority.

Source: Johnson press release

President Barack Obama

In a May 2 interview with an ABC affiliate in New Hampshire, the President said Republican front-runner Donald Trump is not equipped to deal with the challenges of being president. “I think that he is not somebody who even within the Republican Party can be considered as equipped to deal with the problems of this office, but look, we live in a democracy.” And if Trump does become the Republican nominee, Obama said he’s confident the Democratic nominee will win in a general election match-up. “If in fact the Republicans nominate Mr. Trump, then it’s going to be an interesting fall season,” he said. “I’m confident that ultimately the Democrat in that circumstance will win.”

Source: ABC News