Your Representatives in the News

Governor Scott Walker

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Politifact Wisconsin, a project that fact checks statements made by politicians, has been tracking progress on Walker’s promises with a tool called the Walk-O-Meter. Walker’s scorecard shows he’s kept 40 percent of his promises, compromised on eight percent of his promises, broken 14 percent of his promises, been stalled on 14 percent of his promises and is working on 10 percent of his promises. Here are some examples:

• Lift nuclear moratorium – stalled: during his campaign Walker promised to lift the state’s nuclear moratorium to encourage investment in the energy source. The moratorium says a reactor can’t be built unless it is economically advantageous or until the federal government creates a place for nuclear waste. No bills to lift the moratorium have been introduced.

• Create “jobs hotline” for direct access to governor’s office – promise broken: during his campaign Walker promised to create a jobs hotline to give businesses access to his office within 24 hours if they were considering expansion or relocation. The hotline was set up in his first month in office, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in October 2011 that 40 percent of calls were not returned in 24 hours.

• Have lieutenant governor lead statewide “small business roundtables” – promise kept: Walker promised to open communication between his administration and businesses by having his lieutenant governor lead roundtables around the state to learn more from business leaders. Those roundtables have been taking place, and one was held in Door County in June. To read more about the Door County business roundtable, read the Peninsula Pulse story “The Regulatory Horrors of Small Business” in Volume 19, Issue 15.

Source: Politifact Wisconsin

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin introduced the Small Business Innovation Act of 2013 to provide up to $4 billion in leverage to small business investment companies, which will help finance, grow and modernize small businesses. The act is meant to encourage entrepreneurship.

According to a press release from the LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Wisconsin had the fourth lowest percentage of residents involved in entrepreneurial activity and the second largest decline in entrepreneurship in the past decade.

Source:  LGBT Chamber of Commerce press release

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson

Johnson worked across the aisle with Senator Tammy Baldwin to introduce legislation that would allow trucks currently operating on Highway 41 to continue to use the highway after it’s converted to a federal interstate. Trucks currently driving on the highway can weigh up to 97,000 pounds, but the weight limit for federal interstates is capped at 80,000 pounds.

“The importance of grandfathering in the current weight limits to our state’s manufacturing and trucking community is enormous,” Johnson said. “Federal approval of this legislation will represent another vital step in a lengthy intergovernmental process that will ultimately give 41 official status as part of our Interstate Highway System.”

Representative Reid Ribble is working on similar legislation in the House of Representatives.

Source:  wispolitics.com

U.S. Representative Reid Ribble

As of press time, Ribble was scheduled to unveil a Make Government Work! Package of nine bills designed to make government more efficient. The announcement will take place with more than 70 Republican and Democratic members of Congress.

“Lately, it has been pretty rare to see Democrats and Republicans even saying a nice word about one another, let alone coming together on the grounds of the Capitol,” Ribble said. “But that’s what you’ll see on July 18 when more than 70 members of our Problem Solvers coalition gather to make a significant announcement.”

Source:  Ribble press release

President Barack Obama

Former president George H.W. Bush was honored at a White House ceremony to give the 5,000th Daily Point of Light Award. The Point of Light Awards are an initiative, started by Bush, meant to honor American volunteerism. Obama credited Bush with starting a national culture of service.

Source: NY Daily News