Your Representatives in the News

President Barack Obama

In his weekly address, President Obama said he will do everything he can to restore opportunity for all. The President already lifted the wages for federal contract workers, and he calls on the American people to tell Congress to finish the job by boosting the federal minimum wage for all workers to $10.10 and give America a raise.

Source:  whitehouse.gov

Governor Scott Walker

Thousands of documents in the Milwaukee County John Doe case unsealed Feb. 19 link Walker to a secret email system used to avoid public scrutiny when he was Milwaukee County executive.

The documents unsealed by the courts show how intertwined Walker’s campaign operation was with his county staff in the months leading to the November 2010 general election. It is against state law in Wisconsin for public employees to work for political parties and campaigns while being paid by taxpayers.

The John Doe probe led to the convictions of six former Walker aides and allies, including criminal convictions of two aides for performing political business on county time. Appearing on Fox News on Feb. 23, Walker reiterated his claim that the emails are “old news,” and he dodged the question of whether he knew about the secret email system.

Source:  The Washington Post, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI) have introduced legislation to preserve the history of the iconic Ashland harbor by transferring the Ashland Harbor Breakwater Light from the Coast Guard to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. For years, the U.S. Coast Guard has been looking for another organization to take over management of the Ashland Breakwater Light, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service, the only public or private entity to express interest in obtaining and maintaining the Ashland Light, is not able to accept a transfer of the property without legislation to provide a boundary adjustment. Baldwin and Duffy’s legislation establishes that new park boundary and allows for the transfer of the lighthouse from the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard to the National Park Service, which already manages eight lighthouse towers on six of the Apostle Islands.

Source:  Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

In a Feb. 21 blog, Johnson aired his views on gun laws, headlining the piece “If Stricter Gun Laws Were a Magic Wand, Chicago Would Be Safe.” He cites FBI crime statistics that place Chicago, with 500 murders, as the nation’s murder capital, even though it has some of the strictest gun laws on the books. You can read the full blog at Johnson’s website, ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/in-the-news.

Representative Reid Ribble

Ribble led a bipartisan letter with 21 of his colleagues to President Obama stating the importance of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program to the U.S. Navy and its future procurement needs. Recently, the Navy announced they were planning to reduce by 20 the number of the small, fast warships built in Marinette, Wis., and Mobile, Ala. The letter included this statement from Ribble:  “The Navy continues to want and need this vessel and Secretary Hagel himself described it as the ship of the future. Our nation needs a lean, quick vessel as part of its ongoing transformation to a more nimble, efficient military. The LCS is precisely that vessel. It doesn’t make sense to reduce a program with declining costs to make up for other Navy programs whose budgets are ballooning.”

Source:  Ribble press release