Walker Plans Continued University Tuition Freeze

Governor Scott Walker

The governor told state agencies he plans to extend the University of Wisconsin tuition freeze in the next two-year state budget he’ll introduce in early 2017. Walker said in a letter to state agencies last week that most should submit budgets for the next two years that don’t spend any more money than they were allotted this year. He said there will be exceptions, including for aid to K-12 public schools, cost increases for Medicaid, the state prison system and institutions run by the state Department of Health Services. Walker also issued similar “no-increase” budget instructions in 2014 and 2012. The UW tuition freeze is in its fourth year. Walker previously indicated he wanted to see the freeze continue. State agency budget requests are due Thursday, Sept. 15.

Source: Wisconsin Public Radio

Representative Reid Ribble

Ribble joined Dan Benishek (R-Mich.), Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Scott Rigell (R-Virg.), and Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) in introducing the Save Our Social Security (S.O.S.) Act, a balanced and comprehensive bipartisan 75-year fix for Social Security. “Social Security is the single biggest step we have taken to reduce senior poverty, and if we do nothing, seniors will see their benefits cut by 21 percent in 2034,” Ribble said. “The problem gets worse the longer we wait, and I am very proud to be working with a bipartisan group of members to put forth a sensible solution today that will preserve Social Security for generations to come.” The S.O.S. Act uses a combination of revenues, benefit adjustments, and raising the retirement age while preserving early retirement to fill the tremendous funding gap.

Source: Ribble press release

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin and Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), were joined by a bipartisan coalition of 57 other members of the House and Senate, in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack asking for assistance for dairy producers struggling with declining milk prices. Specifically, the members are asking for the USDA to use its authority under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to expand and maintain U.S. domestic markets. “Wisconsin dairy farmers work hard every day moving our economy forward, so we need to do everything we can to reward their hard work by giving them a fair shot at getting ahead,” Baldwin said. “Keeping our economy strong means ensuring our rural communities and farms make it through this challenging time for the dairy industry.” Farm milk prices have dropped 40 percent since 2014, due to both an increase in U.S. production levels and changes in the European Union’s regulation of milk production. In vastly different dairy market regions of the United States, farmers are facing similar margin shortfalls while still adjusting to changes in federal dairy support programs from the 2014 Farm Bill.

Source: Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

Johnson and his Democratic challenger Russ Feingold are scheduled to debate Oct. 14. The debate was announced Monday by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation. The hour-long debate on a Friday night, a little more than three weeks before the Nov. 8 general election, will be somewhere in the Green Bay-Appleton market, but the exact location was not announced. This is the first announced debate of the campaign between Johnson and Feingold. It marks the first time the two have debated since their first contest in 2010. Johnson won that year, ending Feingold’s bid for a fourth term.

Source: Fox6now.com

President Barack Obama

President Obama declared Donald Trump unfit for office on Tuesday, calling on Republicans to distance themselves from their party’s presidential nominee. “Yes, I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president,” Obama said at a press conference with the prime minister of Singapore. “I said so last week, and he keeps on proving it. The notion that he would attack a Gold Star family that has made such extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our country, the fact that he doesn’t appear to have basic knowledge around critical issues in Europe, in the Middle East, in Asia, means that he’s woefully unprepared to do this job.”

Source: USA Today