Your Representatives in the News

State Assembly Representative Garey Bies

Bies briefed other legislators on the economic impact of low Great Lakes water levels. He and other legislators from shoreline districts created a Great Lakes Caucus that will visit places around Wisconsin’s Great Lakes coasts to better understand the issue.

Source:  Door County Daily News

Governor Scott Walker

Walker said he and Republican lawmakers have reached a deal to expand school vouchers statewide. Walker originally proposed allowing vouchers in only nine cities with no enrollment caps after two years. Recently he voiced support for expanding vouchers to every district in the state but limit enrollment to 1,000 students, or up to 1 percent of students from any district, after next year.

Source:  The Associated Press

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Johnson said the country needs to balance preserving civil liberties and fighting terrorism through intelligence gathering.

“And so, we have to maintain that and it is a very delicate balance and that balance shifts based on circumstances, and based on the time,” Johnson said.

Johnson was responding to information leaked by a National Security Agency contractor that revealed the agency’s monitoring of phone calls and Internet data.

Sources:  Fox News, Chicago Tribune

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin has co-sponsored the Free Flow of Information Act, a bill that would protect journalists from having to reveal information received under a promise of confidentiality, or the sources of such information. If the bill becomes a law, courts would have to balance law enforcement and the public interest in newsgathering.

The bill includes exceptions, such as cases dealing with classified leaks and national security.

Source:  Wisconsin State Journal

U.S. Representative Reid Ribble

Ribble responded to a column written by David Wondrich for Esquire calling legislators from across the aisle to sit down for rounds of drinks, loosen up and work on bipartisanship.

“I have some great friends who are Democrats and we try and get together on a regular basis. I am also from Wisconsin, which means if there is an opportunity to have a round of beers you take it — turning it down would be considered blasphemy,” Ribble said.

“My friends and I would be happy to sit down for drinks if it would help disprove the notion that there aren’t any Republicans and Democrats in Congress who are friends.”

Source:  Roll Call’s Heard on the Hill blog

President Barack Obama

Obama defended the data-gathering programs that sift through phone and internet records at an event on Friday, June 7. He said it’s important for Americans to discuss the balance between privacy and security.

“I welcome this debate,” Obama said. “I think it’s healthy for our democracy. I think it’s important for everybody to understand, and I think the American people understand, that there are some trade-offs involved.”

He said details of phone numbers dialed and duration of calls are collected, but not the content of the calls.

Source:  Politico